Gluten Free Churros

These gluten-free dairy-free churros are both delicious and easy!

If you ever thought it was hard to make gluten free churros, I’m here to tell you it’s not. At least not according to my 11 year old daughter. She said to me “Mommy, I thought churros were so hard to make; they are easy!”. That of course was after watching a cooking show where the contestants had to make them on a challenge. When we used my recipe below, she had no problem. I made the first batch with her and the second day (because why not just make 2 more batches while you are at it), she made a double batch by herself. To be honest, she is really a much better baker than I am in the sense she is more patient and precise.

Here are the basics of making a churro. The fact that they are gluten-free (and dairy-free as well) is almost irrelevant. I didn’t notice a big difference in texture. 3 gluten-eating friends tasted these and they said the same thing.

Here are the basic instructions:

• Bring liquid, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil.
• Add “flour” and stir vigorously until a ball forms. Let this cool.
• Add egg and blend until mixed well.
• Pipe using a star tip into hot oil. Fry until golden and remove.
• Toss with cinnamon and sugar or leave plain.

Here are some photos I took while we were making our churros:

First step in gluten-free churros: make the dough

Next step: add eggs and mix to create the dough

Get the oil hot. Using a pastry bag, carefully pipe dough into hot oil, snipping with scissors. Serve plain or with cinnamon and sugar. Yum! Get the recipe below.

For one batch, I used Bella Gluten-Free Baking Mix.

Gluten-Free Churros (with a dairy-free option!)

1 cup Amy’s Gluten-Free Flour Blend (I used Bella Gluten-Free Baking Mix for one batch)

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend has gum)

1 cup water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter or 50 gm Earth Balance Soy-Free stick for dairy-free

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine sea or kosher salt

1 large egg, room temperature

1/4 cup organic white sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Oil for frying

1. Mix flour and xanthan gum in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter or butter substitute, sugar, and salt. Bring to boiling over medium heat.
3. Add flour and gum all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Turn heat to low. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 2 minutes.
4. Remove from heat. Cool for 10-15 minutes.
5. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a bowl that will be used to coat the churros. Set aside.
6. To the flour mixture, add egg, beating well with a wooden spoon to form a dough. You can also blend with a hand held or stand up mixer.
7. Place into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.
8. Heat vegetable oil in a deep pan (should be at least 1” of oil) on medium to medium high.
9. To test oil, place a small amount of dough in pan. The dough should bubble immediately if the oil is hot enough.
10. Pipe dough into pan, using kitchen scissors to cut off end. Do not overcrowd pan. Cook until golden brown. Place on a plate lined with a paper towel briefly, then toss with cinnamon sugar mixture.