The Best Red Velvet Churros (Baked)

The Best Red Velvet Churros (Baked)


1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
⅓ cup reduced-fat butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup water
¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons red food colouring (or 1 tablespoons beetroot juice)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
¼ cup caster sugar


Preheat the oven to 200°C | 390°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment (baking) paper and set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and oil together. Add the water, brown sugar, food colouring and salt; bring to a boil for 5 minutes, mixing occasionally. Add the flour/cocoa powder mixture to the liquid, stirring with large wooden spoon until well blended.
Take off heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes, or until just warm to the touch. Add the vanilla and egg and quickly beat until completely incorporated (it will look like it's not coming together, but keep beating)!
Spoon dough into a strong double lined pastry bag with a large star tip nozzle (or use a cookie press). Squeeze dough onto prepared baking sheet in 4-inch (10 cm) length strips, with 1-inch (about 2cm) between each churro to allow to expand. Bake for 10 minutes or until crispy to the touch. Reduce oven temperature down to 176°C | 350°F, and bake for an additional 7-10 minutes to allow the centres to set. Remove from the oven and coat in sugar immediately.
Serve with Nutella or chocolate of choice!

Notes
*You must use a good quality double sided piping bag or a cookie press! Use a large star nozzle if you can. When piping, divide the dough in half inside the piping bag with your fingers and pipe a little at a time. The dough is quite thick so you will need to be careful with this part to ensure you don't burst your piping bag.