A Star Piping Tip Is Key For Perfect Homemade Churros
A churro is a remarkable comfort food. If you're not familiar with this cinnamon-dusted treat, imagine a hybrid that tastes like a donut but looks like a french fry. When this ridged dough stick is deep fried, the result is an irresistible treat that has a doughy interior and a crisp exterior that satisfies both taste and texture cravings. To elevate that experience, these treats are rolled in cinnamon-laced sugar, and then dipped into the sauce of your choice. This can be anything from chocolate or caramel to a fruity raspberry sauce.
However, as important as the cinnamon, sugar, and dipping sauce are, if your churro doesn't have the right shape, it will never be the best it can be. A smooth, round churro isn't what you want; you're looking for that familiar star-shaped churro. Before you even begin mixing up your dough, make sure you have the right piping tip or your treat won't turn out as satisfying as you hoped.
Why the shape of your churro matters
You might think the reason you want to use a star-shaped piping tip is simply to make a churro look right. Yes, you want those fins on your churro because otherwise it may end up looking like a crunchy hot dog, which probably isn't what you're going for. However, this technique goes beyond aesthetics, and there are three other reasons those ridges are important.
First, the fins cook to a nice crisp, which gives your treat that crunchy texture like french fries, making them more satisfying to bite into. Second, the increased surface area created by the star-shaped tip also means the steam inside the churro has more places to escape. Conversely, if you use a round tip, the pressure from the stream that forms inside your frying dough will cause the treat to rupture. That increased surface area serves another purpose as well: All those ridges and crannies give the cinnamon and sugar more places to cling, making your treat sweeter than any flat, round churro would.