A cinnamon sugar dusted churro cookie stuffed with a melted chocolate center. Completely egg and dairy-free, but still packed with nostalgic flavor.
Why You’ll Love These Churro Cookies
- Stuffed cookies are like little presents. It makes for the most fun experience when you bite into one of these cookies and get a lovely bite of melted chocolate. Reminiscent of a stuffed churro.
- Surprisingly easy to make. The stuffed aspect of these cookies may sound intimidating, but don’t let it scare you off! The dough comes together easily like normal cookies, and when chilled properly, is easy to stuff.
- Completely dairy-free and egg-free. Whether you avoid dairy and eggs because you’re vegan or have allergies, the substitutes used in this recipe will still give you the best cookie experience.
What is a churro?
Churros appear as long tubes of fried dough that get coated in sugar. You can also find varieties that are dusted in cinnamon sugar or stuffed with chocolate. The concept for churros originated in Spain with the ideas eventually spreading to American and Spanish colonies. So, why not use the idea to inspire some cookies?
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour: I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour. I have not tested this with gluten-free flours and am not sure if the switch to a different flour will yield a flexible dough. Experiment at your own risk, but if you find success, please let me know!
- Yogurt: I’m using a non-dairy yogurt. This behaves as our egg substitute, which will help bind our ingredients together. For this recipe, I used Forager Project plain yogurt. You can use a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed with 3 tbsp water), but the downside is that visually you may see the ground specs of the flaxseed in your cookie.
- Sugar: We are using a combination of both brown and white sugar for our cookie dough base and filling.
- Butter: To keep this dairy-free, I am using vegan butter. When baking, I most often will use either Earth Balance, VioLife or Country Crock’s plant-based butter.
- Cinnamon: Used for the cinnamon sugar coating. Feel free to add more cinnamon if desired!
- Espresso Powder: Espresso helps to bring out a lot of those chocolate notes in our cookie. You can absolutely omit it from your cookie if desired.
- Chocolate: Only use chocolate that can be easily melted. That means rely on chocolate bars and not chocolate chips. Chocolate chips will not fully melt the same way that a chocolate bar will.
How to Make Churro Cookies
Cream the butter and sugar: Do this in a large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Then whisk in the yogurt, vanilla, and espresso powder.
Mix the dry ingredients: Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt then fold into the wet ingredients.
Chill the dough: Cover the bowl and and chill in the fridge for least 1 hour. Portion the dough into balls on a parchment lined tray then place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Prep the remaining ingredients: Chop the chocolate so you get 2 squares of chocolate per cookie scoop. Then, in a bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon.
Stuff the dough: Lightly flatten a dough ball in your palm to form a cup shape. Stack 2 squares of chocolate together and place in the middle of the dough. Bring up the sides of the cup up to meet together in the middle then pinch to seal. Roll the dough ball until smooth then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on a lined baking tray.
Bake: Bake in the oven on the middle rack for 13 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.
Expert Tips
- Please chill your dough as recommend. Chilling will allow the dough to develop more flavor and help control the spread.
- To get the most accurate results, measure your ingredients using a digital scale.
- If using cups to measure, make sure to properly spoon and level your flour. This will ensure you get as close to the recommended measured amount if you don’t have access to a scale.
- For any leftover cookies, you can get the melted chocolate center again by placing a cookie in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.
- If you don’t want to stuff your cookie, feel free to serve the cookie as is or enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Allow the cookies to completely cool before storing. When ready to store, place the cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days. To freeze, place parchment paper between each cookie to prevent them from getting stuck together. Freeze up to 2 months. When ready to enjoy after freezing, allow to thaw, then to get the center to melt again, pop a cookie in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.
This can be a result of using too much flour. This can happen if you are measuring with cups and not properly spooning and leveling your flour. If you are scooping your measuring cup straight into the flour, this can make the flour more compact and less aerated, which means you end up adding too much flour to the recipe.
Swap at your own risk. This recipe was developed with the ingredients listed. Ingredient weights and how the ingredients interact have been accounted for. To get an idea of what issues can occur when certain ingredients are changed or manipulated, I recommend you watch this video.
Baking is truly a science, and even when it comes to a lot of developed recipes by different recipe developers, recipe fails can be a matter of technique or even elevation. For example, if you over cream your butter and sugar, the butter can separate and lead to a very greasy cookie. Another example comes with altitude. I am located closer to sea level. If you are baking at a much higher elevation you may need to adjust your flour, sugar, and liquids to compensate for the differences in elevation. I like to reference The Baker’s Appendix, and highly recommend if you are needing help with conversions and making needed adjustments.
Enjoy It
Cookies are cookies. Enjoy them when appropriate. Enjoy them with friends or during special occasions. And of course, practice balance based on your specific nutrient needs. This can look like pairing your cookie with other fiber/protein rich foods. Going for a walk after having your cookie to help keep your blood sugars in better control.
More Cookies to Try
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, then let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you loved it, don’t forget to rate it too. Feel free to follow on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok for the latest nutrition tips and recipe videos.
Description
A cinnamon sugar dusted churro cookie stuffed with a melted chocolate center. Completely egg and dairy-free, but still packed with nostalgic flavor.
Churro Cookies
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- Add the butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl and use an electric hand mixer to cream the ingredients together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- To the bowl, add the yogurt, vanilla, and espresso powder. Beat the ingredients again for about 1 minute.
- To a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and use a rubber spatula to fold the batter together until just combined.
- Cover the bowl and place in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour. Then use a large cookie scoop (1.5 oz/3 tbsp scoop) to portion out the dough onto a parchment lined tray. You should have 9 even scoops.
- Place the dough into the freezer to set for 10 minutes while you prep the chocolate bar. You will want to have 2 chocolate squares per each scoop. Then, in a separate small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grab a dough ball and lightly flatten it in your palm then carefully curl the edges up like a cup.
- Stack 2 squares of chocolate together and place into the middle of the dough. Using your palm bring the sides of the cup up to meet together in the middle then pinch to seal together. Roll the dough ball between your palms to smooth the sides out then repeat with the remaining dough.
- Roll each dough ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture until completely coated, then place on a parchment lined baking tray making sure there is about 2 inches of space between each dough ball so they have space to spread.
- Bake in the oven on the middle rack for 13 minutes. Tap the pan on a counter once they come out of the oven and then allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.
Notes
Please chill your dough as recommend. Chilling will allow the dough to develop more flavor and help control the spread.
To get the most accurate results, measure your ingredients using a digital scale.
If using cups to measure, make sure to properly spoon and level your flour. This will ensure you get as close to the recommended measured amount if you don’t have access to a scale.
For any leftover cookies, you can get the melted chocolate center again by placing a cookie in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.
If you don’t want to stuff your cookie, feel free to serve the cookie as is or enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate instead.
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