I think this is our 6th week of “stay home” order. It does not seem that long but here we are, another week. Last weekend I was thinking about when will I be able to hop in a plane and go see my family in Peru.

Peru’s airport is closed, nobody is getting in or out. I’m sure they will re-open the airport at some point but I don’t think I’ll feel safe to travel without a vaccine. I can’t imagine getting the virus during my 2 flights to Peru and then spread it to my elderly parents. It’s hard to think that it’s going to be a long time until I can be with them. Let’s cross fingers that a vaccination can be found soon.

Thinking about Peru made me crave something that I used to eat when I was a child. They were churros filled with dulce de leche. So, today I’m showing you how to make churros BUT I’m not filling them with dulce de leche, I’m having it as a dipping sauce, so you can decide how much to eat.

Talking about dulce de leche, I usually buy it in a can at the store BUT I didn’t want to just go to the store for that so I made my own, I’ll show you how.

Let’s start with the recipe.

Yield about 15 5 inch churros

Ingredients

For the homemade dulce de leche sauce

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 stick of cinnamon

2 oven safe containers. One bigger than the other

a piece of foil

hot water

For the churros

1 cup water

1/4 cup unsalted butter, diced into small cubes

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour 

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vegetable oil, for frying

For coating

1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Directions

For the dulce de leche

1.- Preheat oven to 400 F. Pour the sweetened condensed milk in a oven safe container. Place a cinnamon stick on the top. Grab a piece of foil and cover it well.

2.- Grab the container with the foil and place it into a bigger one. Fill this bigger container with hot water (half way) . This is going to be a water bath for the sweetened condensed milk to cook in.

3.- Transfer it to the oven and bake for about 75 minutes. About 45 minutes later check in the water level is still the same. If not, fill it with more water.

4.- Remove it from the oven and take off the cinnamon stick.Then grab a fork or a whisk and mix really good until it’s smooth. This dulce de leche will thicken when it cools.

5.- Let it cool to room temperature. Grab a piece of plastic wrap cover it good and place it in the fridge until ready to use. I used a medium size mason jar with a lid.

Now, let’s make the churros.

For the churros

1.- For the coating whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Pour this mixture into a big dish.

2.- Mix water, butter, sugar and salt in a large saucepan, bring to a boil over medium heat.

3- Add flour and reduce to low heat. Mix constantly with a rubber spatula until mixture comes together into a ball and does not stick to the sides.

4.- Transfer this dough into a large mixing bowl and let it cool for 5 minutes. I used my mixer in low speed to help cool it off.

5.- Add vanilla and egg to flour mixture then mix immediately with an electric mixer. At the beginning, it will look weird like it separates but after a little bit the mixture will come together.

6.- Using a piping bag with a tip (I used 1 M Wilton tip) pipe the churros on a baking sheet with parchment paper . The length is up to you, but I made mine 5 inch.

7.- Transfer the baking sheet to the FREEZER. And let it chill for 30-45 minutes or until they are kind of hard and easy to grab.

8.- While your churros are chilling, heat about 1 1/2 inches vegetable oil in a large pan medium-high heat (360 F).

9.- When ready to fry, grab the churros from the freezer (just 4 at the time, no more). Let fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towels to absorb the oil for about 5 minutes and then roll them into the cinnamon sugar mixture.

10.-Repeat process with remaining dough and serve warm with the homemade dulce de leche you just made and/or chocolate sauce(just dip some chocolate chips).

These churros are the best when eaten the same day.

Enjoy!!