Churro ice cream bowls

This week you get a 2-fer in the recipe department. Because on the same day that we spotted the video for the salt-encrusted beef tenderloin, we saw another one for Churro Ice Cream Bowls.

I have to confess, I don’t believe I have ever had a real churro in my life. But something that looks like doughnut dough, deep fried and coated with cinnamon sugar?! I’m all in!

Now in all reality, I drooled over this recipe and was ready to mentally filed it into the “someday” category, never to be seen again. However, there is Papa. Did I mention how spoiled I am in having him as a husband? He immediately said to print out the recipe and set out to work on making them. This was before the fast trip to the store for the tenderloin.

It amazes me that he was willing to try two new recipes in one night (well, the tenderloin pictures were awfully tempting), because this recipe was a bit on the fussy side. It’s one of those recipes that the first time around seems to take a while, but you know that if you were to make them again, you’d be more organized and it wouldn’t be as tedious.

For this one, I would recommend viewing the video as it will help you be prepared in all the steps:

1. Make the churro dough.
2. Spiral the churro dough on an upside-down muffin pan
3. Freeze to harden the dough
4. Deep fry the churro bowls
5. Roll in cinnamon sugar
6. Eat and enjoy!

Written out like that it doesn’t sound too bad actually. Papa’s biggest struggle was that his hand was cramping while trying to pipe out the dough so we switched off. This may have been caused by a too-small piping tube. Another reason I think the tube might have been too small: we ended up with 10 churro bowls instead of the 8 the recipe indicated.

The great thing is, the cups don’t have to be perfect. Ours certainly weren’t. But it doesn’t matter because 1) frying seemed to puff up the dough a little to fill in holes along the side and 2) for us, the ice cream didn’t have time to melt before the dessert was gone :-).

We first tried them with chocolate sauce and some whipped cream we just happened to have in the house. While eating however, I was reminded of Mexican fried ice cream so I wanted to try and see if honey would be a better topping than chocolate. I found it delicious and actually preferable over the chocolate; and that’s saying something for this chocolate-loving fiend fanatic.

Wait, did I actually eat two of these in one night? Yes. Yes, I did.

Print Recipe

Churro ice cream bowls

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter cubed
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• Cooking-oil spray
• Oil for frying
• Cinnamon sugar
• Ice cream
• Ice cream toppings chocolate, caramel, or honey would be good; optional

Instructions

• In a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, salt, and water. Turn up the heat to medium-high. As soon as the butter has fully melted and the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat to low and add in flour. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the dough comes together to form a ball (about 1 minute). Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes (to prevent accidentally cooking the eggs).
• Mix in the vanilla extract and add in the eggs, one at a time, being sure to fully incorporate each egg before adding the next. Once all the eggs are mixed in, transfer the dough to a piping bag with a star tip.
• Invert a muffin tin and spray thoroughly with nonstick cooking spray. Pipe the dough around the inverted cups in spirals to form the bowls. Immediately transfer the tray to the freezer and freeze until solid (about 3 hours or overnight).
• Heat oil in a deep pot to 350°F (175°C). Remove the muffin tin from the freezer and flex it to release the churro bowls or use a small knife under the bottom edge to carefully release them. Return extras to the freezer while you fry so they don’t thaw too much.
• Fry them in batches of 2-3 at a time, until nicely browned. Be sure to roll them in the oil so they are cooked inside and out. Once they become a medium brown color, remove them from the oil to a plate lined with a paper towel. Dab off any excess oil with more paper towels, then roll them in cinnamon sugar, coating all sides. Shake to remove excess cinnamon sugar.
• Fill the bowls ice cream and your favorite toppings

Notes

Other equipment needed:
Piping bag with a small or medium star tip
Muffin tin (12 cups)