Churro lovers rejoice, I have a delicious and easy recipe for Churro Cupcakes for you today!
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros Cereal
Recently my friends at General Mills sent over a box of their new Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros cereal to try. After opening the box and seeing the cereal, two things then happened. First, I immediately ripped open the box and grabbed a handful. Second, I realized I had to make Churro Cupcakes as soon as possible. I love churros! Churros are my favorite thing about Costco. And maybe Disneyland. Making churros at home however is not my thing, and for very good reason.
Exploding Churros
Why don’t I make churros at home? That’s a good question! Once upon a time I did make homemade churros. Long story short, I made homemade EXPLODING churros. One minute I’m frying these doughy bits of golden goodness. The next minute, BOOM. With no warning one of the churros exploded in the oil. My entire kitchen, which was fairly small and very enclosed, was covered with hot oil. To this day I do not know how I didn’t get burned.
Thankfully my husband was home and came running into the kitchen. He found me standing there, pretty much frozen in shock, with no idea what to do. If you’ve never had your entire kitchen coated with hot oil, it’s one heck of a mess to figure out. Oil was on the ceiling, floor, every cupboard, every appliance, and my clothing. Bless him, he basically extracted me from the kitchen and took care of it. He probably went through a full size bottle of blue Dawn dish soap on clean up.
That was probably seven years ago, and to this day I’ve only fried food twice since the churro incident. Both times I was honestly terrified. Frying churro trauma, it’s a real thing my friends. But it’s not just me, there has even been a lawsuit over exploding churros! There seem to be different explanations as to what causes a churro to explode.
Why Do Churros Explode?
Most often exploding churros are said to be due to not being piped with the right star tip. The ridges on churros aren’t just for decoration, they help with even cooking and prevent steam from building up on the inside of the churro. Too hot of oil temperature was blamed in the lawsuit I mentioned. Either way, I won’t be frying churros again any time soon. And by any time I mean ever. But you know what I will make? Churro Cupcakes – no frying required!
Churro Cupcakes
Save yourself the trauma of exploding churros, and grab a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros. They are ridiculously good, and won’t explode! Truth be told they’ve yet to get paired with milk in our house, they are perfect for snacking straight from the box. And of course, for topping churro cupcakes.
Churro Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 egg whites room temperature
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream room temperature
- 1/2 cup whole milk room temperature
Frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt optional
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp milk half and half or heavy cream, as needed
- 1/2 cup cinnamon sugar mixture to garnish
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros cereal for garnish
Instructions
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cupcake pan(s) with 16 cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients together until well combined.
- Using a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients until combined. This mixture may look quite lumpy, don't be alarmed.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined, but do not over mix.
- Distribute the batter evenly into cupcake papers.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely prior to frosting.
Frosting
- Using a mixer, beat cream cheese until creamy. Add butter and beat until the two are well combined, approximately two minutes.
- Add one cup of powdered sugar, as well as cinnamon and salt, to the mixture and beat until combined. Add remaining powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating each time until well combined. Add vanilla and beat until combined.
- Add milk, half and half or cream, one tbsp at a time, until desired texture is reached. Less liquid will give you a thicker frosting, more liquid will give you a thinner frosting.
- Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture and top with Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros cereal for garnish. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Cinnamon and Sugar Recipes
I hope you enjoy these delicious, no frying required, Churro Cupcakes! If you love the combo of cinnamon and sugar, here are some more recipes to try!
- This Snickerdoodle Recipe is my go to cookie recipe! These are soft, chewy and just perfect.
- Churro Cheesecake combines everything you love about churros and cheesecake, into one easy to make dessert.
- Warning, these Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites are addictive.
- Easy Baked Churros from Crazy For Crust are just my speed.
- Brown Butter Churro Crispy Treats from Well Plated? Sign me up!
- If I was ever to attempt making churros again, I would go with this Churro Recipe from The Noshery. If there is anyone that I would trust and follow with making churros, it’s Meseidy.
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Delana says
My oldest has an egg allergy. When I make birthday cakes for my kids or just because desserts. I use egg replacer powder and mix together with water. Recipe says egg whites. Can I use the stuff like I normally do?
Christi Johnstone says
I’m not familiar with how the egg white replacements work in recipes, so honestly you are probably much more the expert here than I am on this matter. Good luck!
Jen says
I just took these out of the oven and there’s quite a bit of butter in the pan when I took them out to cool. Is that what you would expect?
Christi Johnstone says
Hmm, I don’t think I’ve ever had that occur with any cupcake or muffin. Was the butter softened and at room temperature, or was it melted? If it was melted, that might be the culprit.
Sabrina says
How do you store them?
Christi Johnstone says
Sabrina, however you typically store cupcakes should work. If it’s a day or two I tend to store at room temperature, longer than that I store in the fridge. Both covered.
Sandy says
Hi, there need to make a dessert for about 40 people and these look awesome. What measures would I use to quadruple the recipe? Can I just take all the measurements and multiply by 4?
Christi Johnstone says
Hi Sandy, you could do that.
Emma says
I need to make 50 cupcakes, does the recipe really only make 16???
Christi Johnstone says
You could under fill them and probably get closer to 20.
Judy Bakken says
Do mini cup cakes
Courtney says
Hi! Im baking these for a work potluck in a couple of days, and I was just wondering.. would these still taste good if I were to make them now and refrigerate them? It would be for less than two days, would that affect the taste, make them soggy, etc?
Christi Johnstone says
I think they might get a bit soggy, If you can make the cupcakes ahead of time and freeze them, then frost them the day of, that would probably work a bit better.
Melissa says
What would be the timing for mini-cupcake versions? TIA
Charlotte says
I am going to do this recipe tomorrow, and I don’t have any sour cream. Is there anything I can substitute for it?
Christi Johnstone says
Do you have any plain or vanilla greek yogurt?
Brenda Shipman says
These were absolutely amazing! THANK YOU for creating such a delicious Mexican-themed dessert. I took them to our Friday night dinner and Bible study meeting and everyone loved it.