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OK, so I am posting our churro recipe, which isnt really our recipe. We combined it with a few recipes we found (one from watching Food Network) and experimented until we found something we liked.

One caveat: you need some sort of churro-formation device. We eventually bought an actual churro gun at Williams Sonoma, but I know you can get them through Pampered Chef or even some grocery stores (esp latino grocery stores, such as Los Albertsons). The key to the churro gun is the star-tipped edge. This star tipped edge is what gives churros their lovely iconic shape. If you dont have a star tip, you will end up with something akin to an Otter Pop made of dough. Note: if you try to use a normal cake decorator with a small star tip, you will get churros that are about 1/10 of an inch in diameter. This is not only offensive, but you should be ashamed for even attempting it. It angers the Aztec Churro gods.

Making churros is pretty easy once you get the knack for how long they should be in the oil. Oil speculation is the quickest way to ruin your churro. If the oil is not hot enough when you first put the churro in, the churro will be soggy and evil and an abomination to the Aztec gods. If the oil is too hot, it solidifies into petrified wood within about a minute. If this happens, remove wooden churro from oil, place around neck for bad luck, and enter surfing contest in Hawaii as the Bradys watch you wipe out from the beach.

Always plan on sacrificing one small churro to the gods when you are making your batch. It keeps the gods happy and they bless your kitchen for future churro-making activities. It also allows you to verify that the oil is hot enough.

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil (dont start pulling the health card and trying to put in canola oil or olive oil when nobody is looking. If you do, you and your healthy, tasteless churros can go to hell)
1 cup water (if you want to make authentic Mexican churros, use contaminated water; otherwise, tap will do)
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter
1 cup white flour
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp. ground cinnamon. (I prefer lots of cinnamon. Adjust to your own taste)

This will make about 15 or so 4-5 inch churros.
Total time is about 25 mins.

1. Fill your frying pan with about an inch or two of oil and heat to about 370 degrees. Judging from the girth of many online Cbers and CGers, I have a feeling most of you will have plenty of oil and frying pans around the kitchen...

2. If you are useless in the kitchen but want to say that you helped, mix the white sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and put the bowl on the counter. You are all done! Your gourmet effort will be used to coat the fresh, nubile churros once they emerge from their hot oil treatment.

3. In a saucepan, mix the water, brown sugar, butter, and salt to a rolling boil. Once boiling, you can put heat all the way down to low and add the flour. You need to keep stirring at this point because the flour will obviously make it thick and hard....keep using that hand....harder....faster....*ahem* I digress.....keep stirring for about a minute or so until the mixture basically turns into a ball of goo. You can now remove entirely from heat.

4. In a different bowl, mix your eggs and vanilla extract. Once beaten, then mix that with the large ball of goo in the other bowl. Mix both well.

5. Now you are ready to place your goo into a gun for the process known as In-Vitro Churrolization.

6. Test a tiny bit of goo in the oil to make sure the oil is hot enough. It should sizzle and bubble, but not splash or explode. It also should not just sit there submerged. If that happens, the oil is not hot enough.

7. If you are down with the oil temp, proceed to lay out small strips of churro....maybe 4 or 5 inches at a time. Put a few in the pan. Cook for about 2 mins on each side. This is also done to taste. Some people like their churros crispy and more well-done. These people are generally called "fools" or "suckas." Others like their churros delightful, flaky, and golden. Watch them like you would anything else you were cooking.

8. Remove newborn churro from oil womb using some sort of slotted utensil. I made the mistake early on of using metal tongs. This pressure squeezes your churro and hurts its feelings. Place churro safely on paper towel to absorb some last second grease, thereby making yourself feel better about the impending saturated fat intake you are about to experience. While still warm, roll churro in the cinnamon sugar.

Let cool for a few minutes. Congratulations. You are now Mexican!

We always dip our churros in a nice chocolate sauce or caramel sauce. Abe Lincoln, while not Mexican, believed it to be altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

PS If you want to be hardcore about your churro intake, you partake of chocolate drink, as well (which can also served as a dipping receptacle). Most latino markets sell Ibarra chocolate, which is that spanish brand that comes in a yellow cardboard cylinder that contains discs of dark chocolate. Mix these with milk and you are good to go.

Ole!