By Joan Nathan
- Total Time
- About 1¼ hours
- Rating
- 4(125)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Squiggly churros are a crispy, crunchy alternative to sufganiyot for one of the nights of Hanukkah. Serve them coated in cinnamon sugar and, instead of injecting them with jam, dip them into strawberry sauce — or raspberry sauce, Mexican chocolate with cinnamon, even guava sauce. For fluted edges on your churros, you’ll need a pastry bag fitted with a large French star pastry tip, but you could also use a resealable plastic bag with a tip cut off. To prepare the churros in advance, try this trick: Pipe the dough into 6-inch lengths on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then freeze. Fry directly from the freezer in oil heated to 375 degrees (mixture will bubble up).
Featured in: The Golden Crunch of Churros for Hanukkah
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Ingredients
Yield:About 2 dozen churros
- 2pints fresh or frozen strawberries (about 24 ounces)
- 3tablespoons brown sugar, plus more as needed
- ½teaspoon vanilla extract
- Canola oil, for frying
- 1cup granulated sugar
- 1tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1½cups anise liqueur, such as Pernod
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- 2cups all-purpose flour
For the Strawberry Sauce
For the Churros
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (24 servings)
201 calories; 10 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 20 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 11 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 80 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Prepare the sauce: Wash, dry and hull the strawberries, then transfer them to a food processor. Pulse a few times until the strawberries are almost puréed. Transfer strawberry mixture to a medium saucepan, cover, and simmer over low heat until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, cool slightly, and stir in brown sugar and vanilla extract. Add more brown sugar to adjust sweetness to taste; set strawberry sauce aside. (You should have about 2 cups.)
Prepare the churros: Pour canola oil into a large pot to a depth of 2 inches. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Pour granulated sugar and cinnamon into a wide, shallow bowl and stir to combine.
Step
3
In a medium pot or saucepan (preferably nonstick) over medium-high heat, bring liqueur, salt and 1½ cups water to a boil. Remove from heat, then gradually add flour, stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat until well blended; the dough will be sticky and should resemble wet cement.
Step
4
When the dough is done, heat the oil to 350 degrees. Working in batches if necessary, scrape the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large French star pastry tip, or use a resealable plastic bag with the tip cut off.
Step
5
Pipe the dough into the hot oil in 6- to 8-inch lengths, using a knife to slice the dough away from the pastry tip as you go; do this in batches of four or five. Fry the churros, using tongs or chopsticks to turn them over a few times and keep them from melding together, until they are deep golden brown, about 6 minutes.
Step
6
Remove from oil and transfer to the prepared baking sheet to drain. While the churros as still hot, transfer them to the bowl with the cinnamon-sugar mixture and turn to coat evenly.
Step
7
Repeat with the rest of the dough. Serve warm with strawberry dipping sauce.
Ratings
4
out of 5
125
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Cooking Notes
Lee
The instructions say 1 1/2 cups water and liquer, the ingredients list says just the liquer. So how much liquer should I use?
Katie
Recipes often leave water out of the ingredient list and instead only list it in the step-by-step directions.My read is that, for Step 3, you combine the 1 ½ cups anise liqueur, the 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 ½ cups water all in the same pot or saucepan, then bring to a boil over med-high heat.In the related explanatory article (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/dining/churros-recipe-hanukkah.html), Joan Nathan makes clear that the total liquid should be half water and half liquor.
Maryland mom
You did not read properly. “... bring liqueur, salt and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. ”
Tamara
Someone in Food Section should check the cooking notes for recipe errors. Delighted to see recipe for churros. Will definitely use 1&1/2 cups water, NOT 1 & 1/2 cups of Pernod.
BLH
Step 3 of the recipe says bring liquor, salt and 1-1/2 cups water to a boil. Should it be "bring liquor OR 1-1/2 cups water to a boil"? The ingredients list 1-1/2 cups of liquor but there is no mention of water. Should the ingredients list the liquor OR 1-1/2 cups water?
EjF
In the recipe it says 1 1/2 cups of liquor is that correct?
Zola
I added a bit of heavy whipping cream to the strawberry sauce to thicken. Turned out absolutely delicious! I highly recommend.
Elijah
These look good I need to make them!
Johannes
An odd amount of liqueur. Following the directions to the letter, the “dough” was far too runny, nowhere near raw cement-like consistency.
maudE
Are we supposed to let the liqueur and water boil for a while so some of it evaporates? Because the mix was WAY too liquid. I had to add like an entire other cup of flour so I could pipe them into churros..
Dee
I just want to let you know that like everyone else in the comment section, I too was totally confused and put off by the 1.5C of liquor but I decided to go for it and report back the results regardless of the outcome. So, I used 1.5 C of liquor and 1.5 C of water as directed and it turned out great... Don't eat the dough uncooked though, you might get tipsy! ;)
Ben
Has anyone actually made these, using the half-liqueur, half-water ratio? I really would love clarity before I go to the effort! It's also unfortunate that the author or an editor hasn't piped in to answer the questions thus far. Chanukah is tomorrow night!
Dee
I tried it and they tasted great!
ez
I have a churro maker that uses no oil and works well. It is sort of like an electric waffle maker and makes Churros quite quickly. I bought it at ALDI. It is also at AMAZON made by Starblue.
patricia
Can they be baked instead of fried?
BLH
Step 3 of the recipe says bring liquor, salt and 1-1/2 cups water to a boil. Should it be "bring liquor OR 1-1/2 cups water to a boil"? The ingredients list 1-1/2 cups of liquor but there is no mention of water. Should the ingredients list the liquor OR 1-1/2 cups water?
Tamara
Someone in Food Section should check the cooking notes for recipe errors. Delighted to see recipe for churros. Will definitely use 1&1/2 cups water, NOT 1 & 1/2 cups of Pernod.
EjF
In the recipe it says 1 1/2 cups of liquor is that correct?
Maryland mom
You did not read properly. “... bring liqueur, salt and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. ”
stephanie
@Maryland mom, no @EjF did read properly. the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of liqueur, to be combined with 1 1/2 cups of water. not sure what recipe you and several others are reading and why there is so much confusion.
Lee
The instructions say 1 1/2 cups water and liquer, the ingredients list says just the liquer. So how much liquer should I use?
Katie
Recipes often leave water out of the ingredient list and instead only list it in the step-by-step directions.My read is that, for Step 3, you combine the 1 ½ cups anise liqueur, the 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 ½ cups water all in the same pot or saucepan, then bring to a boil over med-high heat.In the related explanatory article (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/dining/churros-recipe-hanukkah.html), Joan Nathan makes clear that the total liquid should be half water and half liquor.
Cora Blue
375 degrees fahrenheit or celsius?
stephanie
350 degrees fahrenheit.
Robert Wemischner
No eggs? These would seem to be quite heavy.....are they?
Ben
Eggs don't make things lighter... I mean whites do, if they are whipped into a meringue, but yolks are quite heavy. Compare egg bread to regular bread and see which is heavier!
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