Cookie-Shaped Churros are Easy to Make (& Easier to Eat)

For those nights when you get home hungry, stressed, and impatient, Hangry is here to help. Each Monday, Kendra Vaculin will share quick, exciting meals to rescue anyone who might be anxiously eyeing a box of minute rice.

Today: The long, fluted churros are easy on the eye, but this rustic, puck-shaped version is easy to make at home and eat in front of the television—and they're Mexican-chocolate flavored.

I want Mexican hot chocolate in all of the forms. Probably because it was introduced to me in an already-riffed state — as a milkshake, at my college burger joint of dreams — I have always considered the flavor combination something worth playing with. Chocolate is addictive enough, but when its richness is balanced out with a hit of cinnamon and a sleeper kick of chile, good luck ever ordering any other type of milkshake again. Or buying a normal candy bar. Or eating normal tortilla chips. You get it. 

Taking this power trio to churros was only a matter of time. The time was last week; the result was just as trophy-worthy as I’d imagined. Fried dough rolled in sugar (or dipped in chocolate, if you’re doing things the Spanish way) is tough to be improve upon, but that subtle hit of spiciness cranks an already great dessert up to eleven. Is there anything chocolate-cinnamon-cayenne can’t do? 

(I mean it. If you find something, let me know.) 

Note: The most distinguishing feature of a churro is its long, fluted shape, but long, fluted pasties are hard to stuff into small Tupperware containers and hoard in front of "30 Rock." Small adjustments were made to account for this priority of mine; namely, these are churros in the shape of cookies. You’re welcome world. 

Mexican Chocolate Churro Rounds

Makes about 2 dozen

1 
cup water

2 
tablespoons brown sugar

1/3 
cup butter

1 
cup flour, plus more as needed

1 
egg

1 
teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch salt

Pinch nutmeg

Canola or vegetable oil, for frying

1/4 
cup sugar

1/2 
teaspoon cinnamon

Small shake of cayenne (a little goes a long way)

Regular shake of unsweetened cocoa powder (1/2 to 1 teaspoon)


See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photos by Mark Weinberg