These Churro Cookies are amazing bakery-level specialty cookies yet are made right at home with only 30 minutes of hands-on prep time! Made with simple ingredients and an easy-to-follow recipe!
For another dessert made with Dulce de Leche check out my Banoffee Pie! Made in just 20 minutes using other tasty ingredients such as bananas, whipped cream, and chocolate shavings!
If you love classic, deep-fried Churros, then you don’t want to miss out on these Churro Cookies! Their cinnamon sugar coating, chocolate drizzle, and caramel-like filling will impress any churro or cookie lover!
One batch of these incredible cookies will instantly put them on your favorites list! Share them with friends or family, or keep them all to yourself; I won’t judge!
All About These Churro Cookies
Taste: These inspired Mexican churro cookies are similar in flavor to the classic deep-fried treat! The cinnamon sugar-coated cinnamon sugar cookie (say that three times fast 😆) has a dark chocolate drizzle and a Dulce de leche filling!
We call for vanilla instant pudding in this recipe but tested with white chocolate pudding also, and both were wonderful. You could also use chocolate pudding for a chocolate churro cookie!
Texture: Churro cookies are deliciously tender and moist, with a slight crunch from their cinnamon sugar finish. Hidden in the middle of each treat is a sticky, gooey center that resembles caramel!
Dulce de Leche
Dulce de Leche is the hidden filling in this Easy Churro cookie recipe! Dulce de Leche is a confection made by slowly cooking sugar and milk for hours.
It originated in Latin America, and its name is a Spanish phrase that means caramelized milk or milk candy. The creamy, sticky sauce has a caramel-like color and taste!
In this recipe, I used a whole can of Nestle Le Lechera Dulce de Leche. When making this recipe, I tested it with other brands but found they were too runny to be sealed in the dough. The best way for me to describe the texture you’re looking for is almost like Vaseline.
However, if you have to use a different brand and find it to be runny, you can try placing it in the freezer for an hour before using it. This trick doesn’t always work, but it’s worth a shot if you’re in a pinch!
You can also make it right at home; check out this Instant Pot Dulce de Leche by Garlic and Zest for the right consistency. It’s simple to do using only sweetened condensed milk.
Kitchen Tips & Tricks For Making Churro Cookies
- Measure By Gram – I strongly recommend making these cookies by measuring the ingredients using a kitchen scale. Grams are the most accurate way to ensure that these cookies come out perfectly delicious! If you need to use measuring cups, make sure you measure out the flour correctly.
- Bread Flour – Using bread flour in this cookie recipe delivers slightly softer cookies! You can use all-purpose flour if you don’t have any on hand. But again, make sure you measure the flour correctly to avoid accidentally adding too much. Too much flour and you may end up with dry, crumbly cookies!
- Assemble Cookies – Don’t let the finished dough sit out too long, as it does start to dry out. Leaving you with dough that’s difficult to work with! Therefore, prepare the cookies immediately after mixing up the dough!
- Get A Good Seal – As you wrap the dough around the filling, it’s important that you get a good seal. Give it a nice pinch, and then roll the cookie around in the palm of your hands. If your cookie isn’t sealed securely, the filling may leak out!
- Enjoying – As hard as it may be to wait, I suggest allowing the cookies to cool for at least 2 hours! This way, the inside of the cookie finishes cooking and setting up. Then, if you want to enjoy your cookie warm and have an ooey gooey center, you can just pop it in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds.
Time in the kitchen making delicious cookie recipes like these Churro Cookies always pays off! For more cookies with a caramel taste, bake up a batch of my Twix Cookies or Delicious Turtle Thumbprint Cookies!
Or enjoy a Crumbl copycat recipe such as these Cookie Dough Cookies or Key Lime Pie Cookies!
Storage Instructions For Churro Cookies
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Can I Use This Recipe To Make Large Bakery Style Churro Cookies?
Yes, you can make large bakery-sized cookies! To do so, measure the dough into 5-ounce portions and then divide each in half.
Afterward, create a well in one half and fill it with 1 1/2 tablespoons of dulce de leche. Then, enclose it with the other half, pinching the two portions together to seal and then rolling it into a ball.
Bake the large cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. Lastly, allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
However, I will say that the general consensus among friends and family who tried out multiple test batches was that the large cookies were less enjoyable than the smaller size, so we opted for the smaller size in the main recipe. This way, you get a more even amount of each part of the cookie in every bite.
Is There A Good Substitute For The Vanilla Pudding Mix?
The instant vanilla pudding mix can be replaced with 2 tablespoons of powdered milk or powdered coffee creamer and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.
Can I Drizzle Milk Chocolate Over These Cookies Instead Of Dark Chocolate?
Since these cookies are pretty sweet, I prefer drizzling them with dark chocolate to help balance out the sweetness. However, if you love very sweet cookies, feel free to drizzle them with milk chocolate! You can also omit the chocolate completely if you’d like.
What Should I Do If After Mixing The Dough, It’s Still Sticky?
If your cookie dough is still sticky and does not resemble a play-doh like texture, then mix in 2 additional tablespoons of flour.
For dough that seems too dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk to the dough.
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Churro Cookies
Ingredients
Coating
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dough
- 3⅔ cups bread flour (or 500g)
- 1 (3.3oz.) box instant vanilla pudding mix (93g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (12g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoons salt (10g)
- 1 cup salted butter (226g) room temperature
- 1½ cups light brown sugar (315g) packed
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 (13.4oz.) can dulce de leche (380g) use Nestle La Lechera
Optional Topping
- ¼ cup dark chocolate melting wafers
- Sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line two 12×17-inch baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.½ cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dough
- In a large bowl, whisk together the bread flour, dry pudding mix, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.3⅔ cups bread flour, 1 (3.3oz.) box instant vanilla pudding mix, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1½ teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- In a separate large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar for 1 minute until smooth.1 cup salted butter, 1½ cups light brown sugar
- Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing after each just until incorporated.3 large eggs
- Add the vanilla and mix for 2 minutes until light and fluffy (it will resemble buttercream frosting), scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients a little at a time to the wet ingredients until fully incorporated. The dough should come together in a play-doh texture and not be sticky. If the dough feels too dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk to the dough. If it's sticky, mix in 2 additional tablespoons of flour.
- Immediately, measure the dough into 2.5-ounce (71g) portions of dough and create a well in one half and fill with 2 teaspoons (20g) of dulce de leche filling. Then enclose, pinching to seal, and then rolling into a ball.1 (13.4oz.) can dulce de leche
- Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place them on the pan. Add 9 cookies to each pan with 2 inches of space between them. Bake one sheet at a time.
- Bake for 7 to 9 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, melt the chocolate melting wafers in a small bowl at 30-second intervals, stirring between each one, until fully melted.¼ cup dark chocolate melting wafers
- Drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the cookies, add sea salt if desired, and let harden before enjoying.Sea salt
Video
Notes
- It is best to go by the gram measurements in this recipe. During testing, we measured both ways for each batch to ensure that the measurements were correct both ways, but grams will be the most accurate. If you are going to use measuring cups, make sure you are measuring your flour correctly.
- This dough shouldn’t sit out long as it will start to dry out and become more difficult to work with. So prepare cookies immediately after mixing the dough.
- You can make large bakery-sized cookies with this recipe, also. Measure the dough into 5-ounce (142g) portions, then divide each in half. Create a well in one half and fill with 1½ tablespoons (49g) of dulce de leche, then enclose with the other half, pinching to seal and then rolling into a ball. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for at least 15 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
- It’s best if these cookies cool for at least 2 hours before consuming; this allows the inside of the cookie to finish cooking and set up. You can pop the cookie in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds if you want an extra gooey center.
- All-purpose flour may be used instead of bread flour, but we found the bread flour yielded a slightly softer cookie.
- Using two baking sheets is important because you don’t want to put the cookie dough down on a hot pan.
- 2 tablespoons of powdered milk and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch can be used in place of pudding in this recipe.
- These cookies are pretty sweet; I recommend using dark chocolate over milk chocolate to balance out the sweetness.
- You do not need to chill the dough or freeze the dulce de leche. This dough can be prepped and immediately stuffed and baked. Ensure your seams are pinched and smoothed out nicely, so you don’t have any leaking.
- I use Nestle Le Lechera Dulce de Leche, and this recipe uses the whole can. During testing, we found most other brands were way too runny to be sealed in the dough without leaking. If you find your dulce de leche is running, you can try popping it in the freezer for 1 hour before using it, but this doesn’t always work.
- You can also make it at home. Check out this Instant Pot Dulce de Leche by Garlic and Zest for the right consistency.
- Recipe adapted from Crispi Cookies.
Nutrition
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