Can we talk about churros for a quick minute? Churros are a fried doughnut often made with a light and eggy choux pastry dough. They’re often fried in long strips, drowned in cinnamon and sugar, and wrapped in paper before devoured. Most of my churro experience has come from childhood visits to the county fair or some Disney-themed amusement park where I would enjoyed churros roughly as tall as I was. They were never exactly fresh, or warm, or particularly delicious but they were still fried dough with sugar and thus…. AMAZING!
It’s hard to make proper churros at home. Most of us don’t have the ability to make 2 foot long strips of fried dough a reality.
Nooooo problemo. I might have life-hacked us a baked churro! These light and eggy popovers are doused in butter and cinnamon sugar and happily mimic the elusive churro. Light, eggy, warm, and sweet.
They’re best enjoyed hot from the oven, barely held by two fingers, standing over your kitchen counter, with your third cup of coffee because I’m thinkin’ about your weekend.
Popovers are wonderfully easy to create.
As the name would suggest, their looks are pretty bold and impressive… unlike their rather simple assembly.
First, room temperature eggs are whisked well.
To the eggs we add a good dash of pure vanilla extract and whole milk. For this recipe, I like to use milk that has been sitting at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Like the eggs, I want to take the refrigerator chill off of our ingredients.
A cup of flour in a bowl like so.
Cinnamon, sugar, and salt for our simple flavorings.
Wet ingredients meet dry ingredients and are whisked until no lumps remain. This batter is fairly thin… like a loose pancake batter.
It’s about this point in the process that I realize my muffin tin is nowhere in sight and missing from my kitchen cabinets. A few frantic text messages reveal that I’ve left my muffin tin at a friend’s house. That’s what you get for taking fresh muffins to friends…? Clearly.
In the absence of my muffin pan and a proper popover pan, my hack is the humble foil cupcake liner. Well sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, and filled with 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter, these cups have enough strength to stand on their own on a baking sheet in the oven. Phew.
If you haven’t left you muffin tin at a friend or neighbors, feel free to bake these puffs in a well-greased muffin or popover tin. In the absence of proper equipment and the presence of an intense donut craving, thank goodness for foil liner life hacks.
The result is a rustic, puffed, golden, and light pastry bite.
We’re not done yet. Ooooohh no.
Melted butter is generously drizzled over the warm puffs because OF COURSE IT IS.
Cinnamon sugar is sprinkling lovingly then aggressively over the buttery bites
Piled in a bowl and served dang-near immediately, these bites are light and eggs. Soft and somewhat hallow in the center. They’re crisp around the edges with the occasional crunch of too much sugar which I’m guilty of loving all too much.
These Weekend Casual Cinnamon Sugar Popovers take about 40 minutes to come together, start to finish, and are best served piping hot from the oven. Like… over-the-moon-DELICIOUS hot out of the oven. I think of them as super easy soft doughnuts. Super light and satisfying.
Print
Weekend Casual Cinnamon Sugar Popovers
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 popovers 1x
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place 12 foil cupcake liners on a rimmed baking sheet and generously spray with nonstick cooking spray. You can also use a muffin tin (lined or unlined) generously sprayed with nonstick spray. I used the foil liners without the muffin tin and baked up rustic and delicious popovers. Set pan aside.
- Place melted butter in a small bowl. Mix together 1/2 cup sugar and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a separate small bowl. Set both to the side.
- In a medium bowl whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk well, about 2 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and remaining cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients all at once to the wet ingredients and whisk together until no lumps remain. The batter will be thin. That’s perfect.
- Divide batter between the greased foil liners. Between 3 and 4 tablespoons per foil liner. They shouldn’t be too full. Less than half full is best.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to cook until puffed and golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Don’t open the oven until near the end of the banking time or the popovers will deflate.
- Remove from the oven and generously drizzle each warm popover with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar. Sprinkle with even more cinnamon sugar. Serve immediately. They’re best right out of the oven. Enjoy and happy weekend!
69 Responses
I just made these and it’s the first time I’ve had popovers fail. They never got higher than a muffin, a small one at that. I’m pretty certain I followed the recipe exactly as written, what a bummer.
My husband just made these and they didn’t rise. They looked like little peanut butter cups. Bummer. What did we miss? What causes them to rise?
This recipe came up on my Facebook feed yesterday so I decided to give it a whirl… The flavor was great, but the baking time was WAY off for my oven. I cooked these little guys one shade shy of fully burnt. We scraped the caps off and ate them drizzled with butter and cinnamon sugar, but the bottoms weren’t salvageable. I might try again, adjusting down 5 minutes during the higher heat bake or I might use the flavor profile for a Dutch baby which seems less fussy. Either way, butter drenched dough drowning in cinnamon sugar is a winner!
next time you’re in philly, you must try the churros at jamonera; ordered them begrudgingly because the table wanted to, and walked away changed. ;)
Oh.my.god. These are the most heavenly thing I ever had. I can die happy now… Although I may wait for your next recipe first. :-7.
Can I make these in a popover pan? I’m wondering how much batter to put in the cups and how long to bake them?
amazing I will try it soon ^^
Would almond milk work as a substitute for regular milk?
I made these in a popover pan today and they were awesome!! Thanks!!
Wow! These look so delicious! Love your hack. I’m currently muffin-tin-less so I will have to steal that from you!
I have made these and they are delicious. One question. Where does the two tablespoons of sugar go? It’s in the ingredients but not in the directions.
I tried these this morning and they were awesome! Was wondering what the texture was supposed to be like…mine were maybe a little tough on the outside, and I didn’t end up baking them quite as long at 350 (more like 5-10 minutes vs. 15). Is the tougher outside what it’s supposed to be like, or should I make adjustments next time? Thanks so much!
Amazing recipe!
It was soo much fun to make and bake! They taste so good ( I’m eating one right now!)!
These would also be good if someone is coming over to your house!
Hi Joy! These popovers turned out amazing! I didn’t get around to eating them warm because I was shooting them, but still so good! I just had one question, none of my popovers had a bottom! They came out of the muffin pan completely open on the other end, is that normal? I had greased the pan well and there were just a few bits sticking to the edge, not an entire layer. It was my first time making these, so not too sure if I went wrong somewhere :)
Mmmm… I love churros too but, for me, they have to be filled with dulce de leche like the ones sold by street vendors in Buenos Aires. Do you think there’s a way to back a dollop of dulce de leche in there or would it get burned or sink to the bottom?
So simple yet so delicious! They’ve been out of the oven for almost 5 minutes and my husband and I have already devoured half. Thanks!
Thank you for the recipe. I did add baking soda though. About 1 tsp or so. I didn’t see a leavening agent in here. They were really yummy, just wondering if I should have omitted it or not?
Thanks!!!
I’m making this tonight—reading through the printed out version, I realized you left out the sugar in step 4, presumably adding the 2 tbs to the dry mixture before whisking with the wet. Hoping this is correct since that’s how I’m making them :)
pacific northwest greetings, Joy! I just made these and they were oh so yummy! i was however a little confused over the sugar…add 2 T. to the flour mixture? (which I did), because the other amount seemed excessive or was it supposed to be the other way around? They were still very good. I liked that they tasted almost french toasty! :)
I just made these – they’re absolutely amazing! I halved the recipe so that my husband and I wouldn’t feel like complete pigs eating them all, and that was probably the right decision – they were all gone about 5 minutes after I took them out the oven, and I don’t think we would’ve been able to stop if there had been more ????
Churros means Salamanca, Salamanca means the best study-abroad experience ever so I’m for sure gonna try this version soon!
https://justsem.wordpress.com/
This looks amazing! Where does the ‘2 tablespoons granulated sugar’ in the ingredients list come in? Or have just missed it in the recipe…
I made these for my daughter’s birthday brunch and they were a huge hit. I figured that the extra sugar was supposed to go into the batter, but I only used a quarter or so of the butter and sugar on top which seemed like plenty….
Thanks for a great recipe!
These look simply to die for. Thank you! Planning to make them this weekend for guests!
You are awesome Joy! I think I may try these today!!
These look SPECTACULAR. And you used the word ‘casual’ in the title so I’m pretty well sold – you know, casual friend comes over for casual afternoon tea and I have just casually thrown these babies into the oven and am felling casually amazing.
Casually amazing is actually a thing I aspire to in my day-to-day life, by the way. I use the phrase regularly (which probs detracts from the effect)…
xx
being casually amazing… i dream, too!
Yourshire puddings with cinammon? Come on! Cinamm on! :D
Not long ago I did three posts which I called ‘The Popover Experiment’, with a different method/recipe for making popovers for each post. I’m going to add the link to these delicious looking little baby popovers to one of those posts – these look delicious! And I love the idea they’re little ‘bites’!
Yummy! I make popovers at least once a month so I actually made these in a popover pan this morning. Next time I think I will use a muffin tin so they are more bite size and more surface area for the butter and cinnamon sugar mix. Love the churros popover crossover!
joy, these look absolutely insane! they’d be perfect for when we have guests over – so quick & easy! i usually make bacon+eggs in a muffin tin when i’m ‘breakfast entertaining’ but these would be a welcome addition, i’m sure! gorgeous photos as well!
I’ve never made a popover, I think this needs to be changed. They look so yummy!
Churro-popovers in muffin cases. You are truly the Macgyver of baking!
when you put it like that… I kinda am!
So lovely! My family had popovers at every Christmas. They were always the last thing out of the oven and served the moment dinner started. Mmm, my mouth is watering.
Adding these to the must-try soon list!
I left a bundt pan at my aunt’s for a month. Actual panic attack when I had the batter ready but no pan. Struggle’s real, y’all.
https://www.youtube.com/sparklesandsuch26
Can you make just one? I have a feeling that if I ask my wife to make these she will bake two dozen and they will be gone before dinner! A recipe for a single serving popover would be much appreciated :) As always, great photos.
I recently made cinn-sugar popovers but did them in mini muffin tins. I LOVE your idea of muffin liners. Genius! That way no one has to buy and store a bulky popover pan! Amen! Pinned :) Have a great weekend, Joy!
This is awesome. However, as a noble Yorkshirewoman (a woman from the biggest, and best, county in England) these should technically be called Weekend Casual Cinnamon Sugar Yorkshire Puddings. Yorkshire at heart and Yorkshire all the way! Whatever the name, I’ll still be making and noshing my way through a load of these this weekend! Brilliant idea to turn them into sweet treats!
oh my… churros are really big in Barcelona or in Madrid… we dip them in thick hot chocolate in the early hours of the morning after a big night out… Soooo gooood
These look delicious! I tried making popovers once and it didn’t go so well. I may have to try again now!
http://www.lonestarlauren.wordpress.com
Can we nominate your for baking sainthood for figuring this out?!!!!
my face wants to pop open for these pigeons.
You are a mind-reader Joy. You knew just what I wanted, even before I did– baked buttery cinnamon sugar goodness. Thanks!
Perfect for Sunday morning brunch! I can’t wait to try them out!
xoxo
Taylor
Oh man. Can Saturday morning get here RIGHT NOW?!?
Yum! I will never forget the time, wandering the streets of old town Mazatlan (Mexico), we stumbled upon a lady with a cart where she was making fresh churros. Like, you saw the dough squeezed out of a little contraption into its famously ridged shape, the plopped into hot grease, then rolled in cinnamon and sugar, then it’s yours. No churro could ever compare now!
When I was like 12, I stayed home sick from school by myself one day and saw Martha Stewart make some popovers on the Food Network… I’d never even heard of popovers before that, thought they looked like the most delicious thing I’d ever seen in my life and knew I had to make them IMMEDIATELY. Well, I ended up not having any of the right ingredients, tried to make them anyway, completely destroyed the kitchen and ended up with a burnt-yet-underdone, sloppy, tasteless mess that stuck to my mom’s muffin pan and parents who were not too pleased with this girl who was apparently too sick to go to school but well enough to create a disaster in the kitchen… Needless to say, popovers have been a long-running joke with my family and they love to bring it up whenever I’m deciding on something to cook. To this day I have NEVER made popovers! My sister saw your post this morning, sent me a screen shot and said “Now’s your time.” I’m going to redeem myself and make these beauties this weekend!
That looks tasty!!!!!!!!! Churros are very popular here in Spain. We use to eat them with hot chocolate and they’re delicious. I’m glad to hear you like them, Joy.
How do you think GF flour would work in these?
It’ll work great Asha! Give it a go!
Oh I love the little rippled edge these have from the muffin cups! So adobs. And I’ve never really thought to make sweet popovers – I always go the savory route. I am excited to try these!
I love churros, but I totally agree that making long strips can be kind of difficult. I love that this recipe is something that I just can pop in the oven.
-Helen
https://www.sweethelengrace.com
well… these are in the oven (yes, already), coffee is brewing…. hello weekend! great timing on this recipe Joy!
the best! These are definitely happening this weekend!
THANK YOU!!! I have been wanting to make something sweet & tasty and these look like just the ticket. Plus I still have half of my 3rd cup of coffee left to enjoy with them! Hurrah!
These look amazing! Do you know if they freeze well?
Joy,
Going to give these a go tonight! (will try & substitute in my gfree flour) hopefully it will still come out as delish as yours look! They will make a great breakfast for my hubby and I, on our way to the farmers market tomorrow am!
How did this go with the gluten free flour? What type of flour did you use specifically?
Oh my goodness. Those look so good! Just looking at them makes me think of Spain and late night churros runs.
Loving this recipe! I’ve been wanting to make popover for like forever, so I might just have to give it a go this weekend :)
Ditto!
I’ll be giving these a go this weekend. My daughter will be so happy. Thanks for the recipe!
i like this idea a lot! you had me at churro. i saw a muffin tin hack on the kitchn (i think, maybe?) that used canning jar ring lids to help steady/prop up a paper liner. but i love the shapes these take. is that a tracy shutterbean tie dye towel? (sometimes i feel like a stalker)
I am loving the camera angles in this post. Also, the new flour/sugar/butter/egg combination idea. Are the combinations endless? I hope so. Keep doing what you do, Joy. You do it well.
I find it very hard to believe that Joy The Baker only has one muffin tin?! Good improvising though! Haha. I’ve always wanted to make popovers, these sound awesome.
yep. really only one muffin tin!
Mini churros?!! Heck yes girl! These look awesome!