Churro Bites

How often do you cook together with someone in the kitchen? Do you tend to cook solo? Have kids or others help prep ingredients? Most of the time I cook solo, but I appreciate how The Baron always comes into the kitchen to ask if he can help out with anything. Not just once, but a few times during the course of preparing our meal. He's just so considerate! We happened to have a Mexican inspired dinner when I made these Churro Bites for dessert. A cooked dough is carefully squeezed into strips and fried to a golden brown before being tossed in cinnamon sugar. Fried dough with sugar. That alone is enticing enough, right?!...

The Baron was intrigued with how to make churros from scratch so he joined me in the kitchen to help. Preparing these together has to be one of the most fun times we had in the kitchen so far. I'm *still* laughing to myself about that night! After making the dough and transferring it to a pastry bag, frying the short strips proved to be quite comical. From inconsistent strips of frying dough, uncooked dough rolled in cinnamon sugar and trying to explain how these are made while keeping a straight face, we managed to get a bowl full of Churro Bites done. We enjoyed these drizzled with caramel sauce or dipped in a hot chocolate sauce. Actually, any ice cream sauce would do!

Churro Bites
recipe adapted from AllRecipes

1 cup water
1 cup all purpose flour {or gluten free flour blend}
2 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
oil for frying

Coating:

1/2 cup white sugar or to taste

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar, salt and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in the flour until the mixture forms into a ball and pulls away from the side of the saucepan. Transfer mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a large tip or a plastic storage bag with a corner snipped off.

Heat up the cooking oil in a deep fryer or deep skillet to 375 degees.

When the oil is hot, pipe short strips of dough into the hot oil using the pastry/storage bag. Fry until golden and drain on paper towels.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon coating together in a shallow container. While still hot, toss the cooked churros into the cinnamon sugar to coat.