Waffle Iron Churros from Serious Eats

This technique worked amazingly well, and I would definitely make it again. The churros were crispy, retaining their signature custardy-ish interior and cinnamon sugared outside. A change I made with the recipe is that I omitted the step of brushing the butter on, and instead I dunked the waffle into the cinnamon sugar straight out of the iron. I just found brushing to be quite annoying, and as you can see from the picture, you get full coverage regardless.

As well, my waffle iron is kind of small (it churns out Eggo sized waffles), but I found it perfect for this recipe. I portioned the batter out with my mini ice cream scoop which led to twenty 2.75-inch churros. 

Churros are traditionally served with a thick chocolate sauce, but I don't have corn syrup for this recipe so I made a small batch of chocolate ganache with semisweet chocolate chips and heavy cream. I don't really have a recipe for a ganache, I just added the cream little by little and microwaved it until it reached my desired consistency.

I really like cinnamon, so I went sparingly with the chocolate. I found if you dipped the churro, the chocolate flavour overpowered everything else.

I highly recommend this recipe as it's the goodness of churros without the hassle of frying and a fun waffle shape. I think next time I make this recipe I will increase the cinnamon in the sugar by a teaspoon, because to reiterate I supremely enjoy the cinnamon flavour in these.

Recipe from: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/10/waffle-iron-churros-recipe.html

INGREDIENTS

For the Batter:

1/2 cup water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

For the Topping and Chocolate Sauce:

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

1 teaspoon corn syrup

Nonstick cooking spray

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

INSTRUCTIONS

1. For the Batter: In a small saucepan, bring water, butter, salt, sugar, and cinnamon to a simmer over high heat.

2. When butter has melted and sugar and salt have dissolved, lower heat to medium, add flour, and stir rapidly. The batter will form quickly as the flour absorbs the water mixture. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring, for 1 minute.

3. Remove saucepan from heat and allow mixture to stand for 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time to batter mixture, stirring until each is incorporated. The batter will be very stiff and look a bit like buttercream frosting.

4. Meanwhile, For the Topping and Chocolate Sauce: Mix sugar and cinnamon on a plate for dipping. In a saucepan over low heat, combine cream, chocolate, and corn syrup and stir frequently until chocolate begins to melt. Turn off heat and set chocolate mixture aside.

5. Preheat the waffle iron. (Set it to medium if it has temperature settings.) Coat both sides of the waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray.

6. Place about 1/4 cup of batter on each section of waffle iron. Do not overstuff waffle iron—the batter will expand considerably. (Err on the side of using less batter before you see how much it spreads out and rises.) Close the lid and cook until churros are golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer churros to a plate and repeat with remaining batter.

7. Brush churros with melted butter and then dip them in cinnamon sugar. Serve warm with chocolate sauce for dipping.