Churro Popcorn

We’ve all eaten churros, right? If not, go get some immediately because they are insanely delicious. They’re sort of doughnut like, in the sense that they are essentially sweetened and fried dough. But also not like doughnuts because the batter is completely different. They’re made with choux pastry, the same type used to make cream puffs. But, instead of being baked, the dough is placed in a pastry bag and piped into hot oil. Once fried, they are tossed in cinnamon sugar to coat. The surface of churros is usually ridged as a result of being piped through a star tip and that gives more crevices to hold the sugar. So good, right? Can we recreate the flavors in popcorn? Yes, yes we can. Our churro popcorn comes really close to the aroma and flavor of a fried churro but without the frying.

Churros likely originated in Spain and Portugal but soon made their way to Mexico. In the US, you’ll usually find them on the dessert menu of Mexican restaurants and they’re definitely our choice to have with a margarita when we’re celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

Dessert aside, they’re also sometimes eaten for breakfast or just as a sweet afternoon snack. Our popcorn version is definitely a snack although, if you want to eat popcorn for breakfast, we are not here to judge you. The churros are sometimes presented alongside either a cup of hot cocoa or a bowl of chocolate sauce to be used as a dip. Likewise we love our churro popcorn dipped into chocolate sauce.

We start with a fresh batch of either our Movie Theater popcorn or our mushroom kernels because we are looking for large, fluffy popcorn as the end result. Then we add the flavors of dough by combining butter, sugar and cinnamon, along with a pinch of salt, of course. Salt always brings out flavor.

Then we toss our freshly popped popcorn into the sweet mixture and stir really well until all the kernels are coated. At this point it already tastes great but not yet fully like a churro. Just as the fried dough needs the coating of cinnamon sugar, so does our popcorn. Combining both granulated and powdered sugar with the cinnamon helps it adhere and more closely replicate the fried dough flavor. Pour the cinnamon sugar on generously and then spread the popcorn out to dry a bit. It will get a lovely crunch, slightly similar to the crisp texture of a churro. And the sugary topping will complete the experience.

Don’t forget the chocolate sauce, store bought or homemade. Use what you like. But when you get a taste of the churro popcorn with a dab of chocolate sauce, you’ll swear you were digging into a plate of churros.