Churros with Caramel Sauce

I just recently discovered how easy and delicious cream puffs are to make (I will be sharing my method for those soon!) and imagine how surprised I was to learn that the choux pastry you use to make cream puffs ALSO MAKES CHURROS. Whaaaaat!!!

For real. All you do differently is shape them differently and cook them differently. *Boom* Two completely different amazeball desserts from one dough. 

I know, I know... I'm late to the game here... people have been doing this for a million years. But I am now officially jumping on the choux pastry train and never jumping off. 

Churros with Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

Caramel Sauce

1 cup butter

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Churros

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp sugar

1 cup flour

4 eggs

Oil for deep frying (about 1 liter) 

1/3 cup sugar

1 ts cinnamon

Directions

Prepare caramel sauce - combine butter, cream, and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and, stirring constantly, boil for 8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. (Don't worry if it still looks really thin - it will thicken as it cools!) 

Prepare choux pastry - In a deep pot, preheat oil to 350. While oil is preheating, prepare the churro dough. 

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the water, milk, butter, and sugar to a boil while stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in flour all at once. Place back on the burner but shut off the heat. Stir flour mixture for 2 minutes until film forms on bottom of the pan. 

Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes stirring a few times. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. 

Scoop the pastry dough into a piping bag. Line a cookie tray with paper towel and set aside. Have a pair of scissors ready beside where you are frying. 

Prepare the cinnamon sugar by stirring together the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside. 

When dough has reached 350 - pipe a strip of the dough into the oil and use the scissors to snip it off. Pipe 3 more into the pot - as many as will fit without crowding the pot. 

Fry about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes and then flip over and fry another 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on the other side. They should be a deep golden brown color when you flip them. 

Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked churros and place them on the paper towel (or on a wire rack above some paper towel). Continue to fry the rest of the dough. 

When they have cooled a few minutes, roll the cooked churros in the cinnamon sugar. 

Serve warm or room temp with the warm (or room temp) caramel sauce.

These are best the day they are made but I have been doing a little experimenting and have discovered that these can be frozen and reheated in the microwave and are almost as good as fresh. Just zap the frozen churros and caramel sauce for about 30 - 40 seconds and you should be good to go. (I did 6 churros and 3 Tbsp of caramel sauce on a plate/teeny bowl and this time seemed to work. You may have to experiment a little. Too long and they go a little soggy BUT let them cool and they crisp up again, too little and they are still cold - obvs - but are good to eat.)