In a small bowl, whisk together the ½ cup white sugar and 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon to use as a coating. I like to set this aside in a medium size casserole dish so it is ready to roll the churros in right out of the oil.

To make the batter, place water, white sugar, salt, and butter into a large saucepan. Use medium-high heat to bring this to a boil.

Turn off the heat. Stir in the vanilla.

Then stir in the flour (a wooden spoon or spatula works best). You will need to stir this for a minute or so, until it is smooth and thickened, almost playdough-like.

Transfer the thickened batter to a large bowl and allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes.

While the batter is cooling, pour the oil into a large pot to use for deep frying. You want the oil to be about 2 inches deep. I highly recommend starting your oil on medium heat and using a candy thermometer to check the temperature to make sure it heats to around 350 - 360 degrees fahrenheit. This is important because if the oil gets too hot, you will quickly fry the outside of the churro but the inside will not cook fully and you will end up with a burnt outside and gooey, undercooked middle.

Place a paper towel on a plate next to the pot for draining the churros later.

Now that your batter has cooled some, use a hand mixer to beat the egg into the batter until well combined. Begin beating as soon as you put the egg in so it doesn’t start to cook.

Move the mixture into a piping bag with a star or flower tip. (Important note: You need to have a sturdy piping bag for this. I don’t recommend using a plastic baggie or thin disposable piping bags. The batter is almost the consistency of dough, it's very thick so it will easily bust a thin piping bag when trying to push the batter through the piping tip. A reusable, silicone piping bag is really best, promise, I learned the hard way.)

Pipe churros into 4-5 inch long ropes, directly into the hot oil, using scissors to cut the batter.

Fry a few churros at a time but do not crowd them. It should take about 5 minutes to fully cook them but they float to the top of the oil once you pipe them in so turn them at 2.5 minutes to allow both sides to become golden brown.

As you remove each churro from the oil, roll it quickly on the paper towel. Then place it into the cinnamon-sugar mixture, toss to cover, and place it on a cooling rack.

Best when warm, so serve right away! They are delicious plain but it never hurts to dip them in chocolate sauce!