When the hot water and oil mixture first hits the flour, it can be a little scary! A dough won’t form immediately and you may assume you’ve made a mistake, but don’t worry. You’re all good. Just keep mixing. You can, of course, delegate this job to a stand mixer if you have one.
Once the dough is smooth, it’ll still feel warm to the touch. It needs to cool to room temperature before moving onto the next step, so cover it with a tea towel and leave to rest. This also allows the gluten to relax, which means a finer texture in the finished churros!
For the perfect churros, use a piping bag with a star-tip piping nozzle. The smaller your nozzle, the shorter you’ll need to fry the churros for.
Once fried, let the churros rest for a few minutes before tossing in cinnamon sugar. If you don’t allow the churros to sit (ideally on paper towel) the cinnamon sugar will soak up the residual oil on the churro surface and result in a greasy texture.