Homemade Gluten Free Churros + Caramel Sauce

Directions

MAKE THE DOUGH:

1. Mix the flour, sugar, xanthan gum and salt together in a bowl.
   Heat up the butter and water on low heat in a non-stick pan until fully melted, then turn the heat off and immediately add your flour mixture, mixing and squishing it with a spatula until there are no lumps left.
2. Turn the heat back on to very low and cook the dough briefly (no more than 30 seconds to 1 minute) to get rid of any excess liquid. Make sure you’re squishing/mashing it and scraping the bottom constantly to prevent it form sticking.
3. Then turn the heat off and transfer you churro dough into a bowl. Allow it to cool down for a bit, you can squish and mash it up to let the steam out and speed the process. Note: don’t skip this step as we’re adding the egg next and we don’t want the heat to start cooking it.
4. Crack the egg and beat into a separate bowl. The quantity of egg needed may vary so don’t add it all in one go. Depending on the flour you’re using, the amount of liquid left in your dough and the size of your egg, we may not want to use it all.
5. Add half of the egg and mix with a spatula until smooth. At first it will look all lumpy, but it’s normal, keep going. Then keep adding more egg, little by little, until the texture looks right. It should be pretty thick and not runny at all (as you can see in the picture above). Note: if you accidentally add too much egg, don’t worry, you can add more flour (one teaspoon at a time). Although it’s not the ‘right’ way to do it and would be a disaster with other choux pastry desserts like eclairs and cream puffs, for churros it works and still yields a good result!

PIPE THE DOUGH INTO STRIPS:

1. Transfer your churro dough into a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle and pipe the dough into strips on a sheet of baking paper, leaving enough space in between them. Then cut them into individual pieces with scissors. Note: you could pipe them directly into the oil (and cut the dough with scissors), but it’s more messy in my experience.

COOK THE CHURROS:

1. Heat up your oil to 175C (345F). If you don’t have a fryer, it’s ok, you can simply use a saucepan with a couple of inches of oil and use a food thermometer to keep track of and adjust the temperature. I’ve done this so many times and it works just as well.
2. When the oil is ready, carefully lower each churro into the oil by flipping the baking paper sheets upside down. The dough will quickly unstick and you’ll be able to remove the paper with tongs. Start your timer and cook each batch for about 5 minutes or until they are crispy and slightly golden.
3. Drain and immediately dip your gluten free churros in a cinnamon sugar mixture.

FOR THE CARAMEL SAUCE:

1. Put the brown sugar, butter and milk (or water) into a non-stick pan, turn the heat on to low and stir constantly until the butter has fully melted and the sugar has completely dissolved.