Kim Tries: Disney Churros

Since the U.S. Disney parks closed over a month ago (how has it already been a month?!), Disney has blessed us with nuggets of park magic for us to enjoy at home — including a recipe to make Disney churros!! I was apprehensive to try this one at home (because I’m a straight up chicken when it comes to handling bubbling oil), but, with encouragement from some friends (thanks for believing in me, Greg and Shannon!), I gave it a go today. Let me take you through how it went.

Disney Churros – Supplies

Like I mentioned above, this recipe comes from Disney Parks Blog, so I take no credit for its curation whatsoever. You can check out the source post here (which also has a short video to help take you through the steps)!

The ingredient list for these is super short:

• 1 cup water
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil (you do NOT want to fry in olive oil)
• 1/2 cup sugar

For additional supplies and equipment, you’ll need

• A small saucepan (though it’s easier if you have two so you don’t have to wash it in the middle)
• A metal spoon with holes in it or a mesh spoon
• A frosting piping bag or a Ziplock bag
• A large star piping tip (optional)

Disney Churros: The Steps

Here are the steps, generally copied from Disney Parks Blog, but with some bold notes and tips added by me!

• Combine water, butter, salt and 1/3 teaspoon cinnamon in a the saucepan over medium heat. Bring pot to a rolling boil and reduce heat to low.
• Add flour and stir vigorously until mix forms a ball. I found that I was more “folding” the dough than mixing. Mixing was very ineffective here. Remove from heat and let rest for 5-7 minutes.
• Add eggs, one at a time, and stir until combined. Here, again, stirring did not happen. I ended up just mixing by hand to get the eggs to combine in. I don’t know if I used some massive eggs (they seemed normal-sized), but at this stage, my dough was literally paste. My limited baking experience told me that it was WAY too sticky to use, so I sprinkled on some flour (just a bit at a time), until my dough more resembled dough than Spackle. Set aside.

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• Heat oil in saucepan (this is why you want a second saucepan) over medium-high heat or until temperature reaches 350. You want to make sure your oil sits low in your pan or you will end up with a splattered mess all over your stove. I don’t have a cooking thermometer, so to check when the oil was hot, I dropped in a tiny pea-sized ball of dough. If it immediately started bubbling and fizzing, it was ready. If nothing happened, the oil wasn’t hot enough for frying yet.

• Spoon dough into a piping bag fitted with large star tip. The tip really is optional here. I just used the piping bag, which I cut a larger hole into. I tried to cut a star-pattern into the edge of the bag because the internet told me that would give me star-shaped dough. That is a LIE. The star pattern did nada.
• Pipe 1-inch strip of dough over saucepan, cut with knife (I used kitchen scissors, which were MUCH easier to use), and drop into hot oil. Try to get close to the oil here to avoid splatter, but also stay far away enough to be safe. Hot oil is no fun on your hands. Repeat until churro bites fill saucepan with room to fry.

• Fry churro bites until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon or mesh spider strainer.
• Drain churro bites on paper towel.
• Mix sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in medium bowl. Toss in churro bites until coated. Place on serving plate and serve with favorite dipping sauce.

Disney Churros: Kim’s Bonus Tips

• This recipe made a LOT of Disney churros. If I made a rough estimate, I’d say I probably made over 100 churro bites (and I even threw away the last bit of dough because my oil was getting pretty dark).
• I made these in probably 6 or 7 batches. In between each batch, I turned off the burner and removed my oil from the heat to help prevent it from burning while I strained and sugared my Disney churros.

• As it cooked, my dough puffed up but also shortened. Don’t cut your bites too short.
• As the dough cooked, the raw part liked to float, so make sure to poke at and move your bites around to get them to cook evenly. I used some long tongs to make sure I didn’t get splashed with any oil.

• I wish I could tell you how to store these, but I can’t. What I can do is tell you how NOT to store them. Last night, I smushed my churros into a glass bowl and sealed them with a plastic lid. I left this on the table over night. When I went to snack on some for breakfast, I opened the bowl to find a sticky mess of wet churro bites (see below). They’d become soggy and oily and all of the sugar and cinnamon had dissolved. They smelled like oil nuggets. Maybe the moral of this story is that Disney churro bites should all be eaten in one day! (Note: I am not a dietitian.)

• Deep frying foods really isn’t so scary! Make sure you stay safe and always watch your oil while it’s on a hot burner. If anything goes wrong, remain calm and make sure you are prepared (NEVER use water to try to put out an oil fire). Nothing went wrong, here, and I felt in complete control the whole time.
• Definitely listen to Disney park soundtracks while cooking — it sets the tone.

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We’re always seeing great recipes, DIY projects, and generally perfect homes online. For some reason, when us mere mortals try those projects, they don’t always turn out quite right. It can make taking that first step intimidating. Who wants to invest all that time and money into something that will look more like a Rorschach test than a mural on their wall? With the “Kim Tries” series, I’m here to be the guinea pig for you, so check out all of my adventures and let me know if there are any projects you’d like me to try! Drop a comment below or find me on Instagram @castleboundkim.

For more great Disney projects in the kitchen, check out how to make Mickey Waffles here and get tropical with homemade Lapu Lapus here!

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