Baked Churros

Churros are like a mexican version of donuts. They are best eaten the day of, because 
they retain their crispy texture and the sugar coating will not get soggy. This baked version is crispier than a regular churro (the type that are deep fried) BUT they are just as delicious! 










 Ingredients 
1/4 cup unsalted butter (does not need to be softened)
1/4 tsp salt 
1/2 cup water
1/2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/2 egg (see *note* on how to get 1/2 an egg)
1/2 tsp vanilla
cinnamon sugar (see *note*)

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with wax paper. In a medium saucepan, bring butter, salt, and water to a boil.

This is what your butter, water, salt mixture should look like.

Remove pan from heat and dump in flour. Use an electric beater to mix the flour and butter mixture together, it should resemble mashed potatoes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add in the vanilla and mix well. Transfer batter to a pastry bag that has been fitted with a #21 star tip.

Pipe long strips of batter onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Toss the churros in the cinnamon-sugar while they are still warm. Serve with chocolate sauce if desired.

*Note* to make the cinnamon-sugar, combine the cinnamon powder and icing sugar (also called "confectioners sugar") in a large bowl.

Beat 1 egg in a small bowl and simply use half of the liquid. 
                                                        Here's a little GIF I made of the process :)

Sugar Crusted Bread

This recipe is a great way to use up bread crusts, and pairs well with a cup of coffee of hot chocolate.
 Makes about 16-20 1 inch pieces

Ingredients
1 slice of bread toasted in a toaster, or tossed in a small saucepan, on medium flame, with butter; until brown. I chose to use whole wheat, but white bread works well too (see *Notes*)
2 1/2 tsp butter or margarine
3 tsp condensed milk (see *Notes*)
2 tsp white granulated sugar

Toasted Bread

 Method

This is what your butter mixture should look like.

1. Cut the slice of bread into 1 inch cubes, set aside.
2. Heat a small saucepan (you can buy one here) on medium flame and melt the butter. Once it is melted, stir in the sugar and condensed milk. Cook the butter mixture until it pulls away from the sides slightly. Turn off the flame.
3. Dump the bread into the pan of condensed milk, butter and sugar and toss to coat, make sure each piece is coated evenly. Place the pieces of bread onto a plate and allow to cool. The sugar will form a "crust" on the bread once it is cool.

I found this recipe from a youtube video and slightly adapted to my liking:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM2BGthY4AM
*Notes* For substitutes for the condensed milk go here, if you are going to use the white bread either make sure it is stale or toast it really well. If it is not crispy enough the bread will get soggy and the sugar will not form a "crust".