Pinterest Tested: Baked Churros vs Baked Churro Bites

*DING*DING*DING*….let’s get ready to rumble! This is going to be my first Pinterest Tested post. The first ever Pinterest Tested: Baked Churros vs Baked Churro Bites recipe challenge! I decided to not only test out some of the recipes I’ve pinned, but to also compare two recipes against each other.  The contenders today – Baked Churros from The Baker Chick  vs. Baked Churro Bites comes from Lou Lou Girls.  I chose to compare these recipes because they are both baked and use totally different techniques to produce the churros.

Baked Churros from The Baker Chick

Let’s take a look at the Baked Churros from The Baker Chick that starts off on the stove and then moves into the oven for baking. This recipe was posted in 2012 and if you look at the reviews, there have been some issues with the recipe. Most of it deals with the consistency of the dough once the three eggs have been added in. I actually made this recipe twice and came out with two different results. The first time, my dough was really sticky and wet because I used extra large eggs. The churros  didn’t cook all the way through before becoming overly browned and I had to pop it in the microwave to finish the insides. Of course, then it made the outside less crispy and more soft and chewy…not what a churro should be.

The second time I made the recipe, I used large eggs. The dough was a thicker consistency, not as sticky (see the pictures), and came together into a ball fairly well. It was easy to scoop into the pastry bag and piped out nicely. I did make my churros a more finger food friendly 3-4 inches long, instead of the recipe’s 8 inch long version. This time, the churros crisped up nicely after 10 minutes and cooked all the way through. One note, both batches were made using a size 843 pastry tip which is smaller than the one used in the original recipe, but I also think this helped with the inside cooking all the way through as this was also an issue that reviewers had with the recipe.

Baked Churro Bites from Lou Lou Girls

The second recipe from Lou Lou Girls for Baked Churro Bites is the normal dump and mix in the bowl type of recipe. It has a few more ingredients and steps, but is still pretty simple to put together. This recipe was posted earlier this year and so far I don’t see any reviews from anyone that has actually made this recipe. So I guess mines will be the first!

Like I said before, this one is pretty straight forward and my 10 year old actually put most of it together herself. This recipe calls for baking the mix in a greased mini muffin pan. My muffin pan has a dark Teflon coating and my first batch (no pictures) came out too brown on the bottom half of the churros before the inside finished baking. It still tasted great, but I just didn’t care for the dark brown bottoms so I HAD to make the again 🙂

The second batch, I used the same mini muffin pan, but reduce the oven temperature to 325F and cooked it for 15 minutes and still had dark bottoms (see pictures), so I guess I’ll have to get a light colored mini muffin pan to prevent the dark bottoms. I also sprayed only half of the pan with cooking spray as I know that this can sometimes cause the dark brown bottoms, but that didn’t help either. The results…

Final Thoughts

So which churro recipe won the Pinerest Tested: Baked Churros vs Baked Churro Bites? After making both of these recipes twice, I think this is going to come down to personal preference. I know…not the answer you’re probably looking for, but take a look at the table below and make your decision from there.

Which one is right for you?	Baked Churros from The Baker Chick	Baked Churro Bites from Lou Lou Girls
Ease of making?	Very easy to make. Everything is mixed in one pot on the stove. However, it can be tricky to get the right consistency.	Very easy to make. There are a few more steps to get to the finished product, but nothing major.
How much does the recipe make?	I didn’t count how many, but there was enough to fill a large 13″ x 18″ baking sheet. Each churro was approximately 4 inches long and spaced about an inch apart.	Makes 24 mini churro bites.
Recipe ingredients	Uses very little butter and cooking spray to adhere the sugar to the outside.	Uses A LOT of butter, which causes it to pick up a lot of sugar on the outside coating.
Overall Taste	Tastes like the outside shell of a cream puff. Not much texture on the inside. Very light weight.	This is more like a mini muffin and has a muffin texture. Heavier weight and more filling.
What changes did you make to the recipe?	The recipe doesn’t specify what egg size to use and I used large eggs to get the right consistency. The only changes were the size of the pastry tip and shorter length of the churros.	None on the first batch. I had to lower the temperature on the second batch to try to prevent over browned bottoms, but it didn’t help. May have to try a lighter colored pan.
Which ones did the kids prefer?	My two girls and youngest son likes this recipe.	Oldest son likes this recipe.
Would I make this again?	YES, but it doesn’t keep well. It tastes best served fresh.	YES, but maybe next time I will just lightly spray the outside with cooking spray before rolling in sugar. It keeps well for a day in a sealed container.

Hope you liked the first ever Pinterest Tested: Baked Churros vs Baked Churro Bites recipe challenge. I hope to do more posts like this and would love to hear what recipes you’d like to have compared…I don’t mind using my family as the guinea pigs…lol.

What have you compared from Pinterest?