Baked Churro Donuts with Spicy Chocolate Sauce
Churros just got a little bit healthier! No deep frying needed. Baked churro donuts are make in a donut pan and rolled in cinnamon sugar. This means you can totally justify the spicy chocolate sauce to dip them in.
Servings 12 donuts
Ingredients
Churro Donuts
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups cake flour, or all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Spicy Chocolate Ganache
- 4 oz 60% cocoa bittersweet chocolate chips, BY WEIGHT
- 4 oz heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp salted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- a pinch or two of cayenne powder
Instructions
Baked Churro Donuts
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter (or oil) the cavities of the donut pans.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Watch the butter and swirl the pan occasionally so that the butter cooks evenly. The butter will go from yellow to a nice, medium brown and develop a nutty aroma. Once the butter is browned, take it immediately off the heat and pour the butter into a bowl so it stops cooking. Set the butter aside to cool while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
- Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Add the cooled brown butter and whisk in. Then add the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir with a large spoon until just combined.
- Scoop the batter into a gallon sized resealable bag. Lay the bottom of the bag flat on counter and scoop the batter directly to the bottom. Close the bag and cut a 3/4 inch piece of off the bottom corner. Pipe the batter into each well, filling the cavities 3/4 full. Bake the donuts for 9-11 minutes, testing to see if they are firm to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. Turn out the donuts onto a cooling rack and cool for a few minutes, until just warm.
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- Mix together all the topping ingredients and put them in a shallow bowl. Melt the butter. Brush each donut with some of the melted butter and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Allow them to sit on the rack to dry.
Spicy Chocolate Ganache
- Put the chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl. Heat the cream until it is just starting to bubble, around 190-200F with instant read thermometer. Add the vanilla and soft butter to the cream. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute or two, or until it reaches 100-110F. Gently stir the ganache starting in the middle of the bowl until it comes together into a sauce. Add the cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne. Taste the sauce and add more spice if needed.
- Serve the donuts with the sauce on the side.
Notes
- Recipe inspired by the Basic Baked Donut Recipe by Wilton.
- This looks like a lot of ingredients and instructions! But we are talking about a basic cake recipe and some cinnamon sugar. And you can stop there with great donuts to eat. However, I would recommend the ganache since it was really good!
- You will need donut pans to make this recipe. I used two Wilton 6 cavity donut pans.
- Be careful not to start stirring the ganache together too soon after you pour the cream over the chocolate! The cream needs a little time to cool so that you can mix them without the ganache breaking. I also like to stir starting in the middle and get that combined properly before bringing in the chocolate and cream from the edges.
- Don't worry if your first donuts look a little messy when you pipe them out. They will still taste good! And, after the first couple, the motion will get easier.
- I prefer to brush on the butter rather than dunking the donuts in melted butter. You just need a light, even coat to allow the sugar to stick. Dunking them makes for a thicker coat of butter which is too wet.
- You can make the ganache with half and half. However, half and half is much more fiddly than cream and is more likely to break. If it breaks, try adding a little more chocolate to the ganache, a bit at a time, stirring carefully, until it comes together.
- It is very important that you don't use a 4-oz volume measure for the chocolate. (As in a 1/2 cup measure.) Both the cream and chocolate are measured by weight, though with the cream you can fudge it and use volume since they are about the same. With chocolate, they are not. Use weight, not volume for a happy ganache.