Churros

Doneness

Surface ridges have gone deep golden-brown and crisp; the dough has puffed visibly; the cinnamon-sugar coating clings to the surface oil; ends look firm and slightly darker than the centre. A fresh churro snaps when bent rather than bending pliantly.

Oil & seasoning

Light vegetable oil spray on all sides BEFORE air-frying — the dough needs the surface oil to brown into the classic churro crust. Tossing the hot churros in melted butter then cinnamon-sugar after cooking gives the final coating.

Season with: all-purpose flour, water, butter, eggs, salt, granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg (optional).

Watch out for

• !Pipe the dough through a large star tip (Wilton 1M or similar). A round tip produces smooth-walled tubes that don't crisp into ridges and don't read as churros. Without star ridges, the surface area is too low for crust development.
• !Cut the piped dough with scissors greased with oil, not a wet knife — wet cuts make the ends crumble during cooking.
• !Spray oil generously. Under-oiled churros stay pale and chewy instead of going golden-crisp. Don't substitute butter spray, which can burn at 380 °F.
• !Frozen-bag supermarket churros (Trader Joe's, J&J, Goya) work too — cook from frozen at 380 °F for 8 minutes shaking once, no oil spray needed since they ship pre-fried.