I have spent all weekend trying to write this post, and I am not sure why the words are not finding their way to the page.
I keep writing. And deleting.
And writing.
And deleting.
So, I think it is best just to move on to the food. Because I really can’t think of something witty to go with these delicious treats. Other than I have now learned my lesson: frying food before work is not a good idea when you have a 9am client meeting. Because you will spend the whole meeting wishing that you were outside the conference room eating. You will have your fingers and toes crossed and then you will eat 4 of them after the meeting. And still want more. Because they are all you have thought about since 5am. So just don’t do it.
I first made these bad boys last Sunday, when I was busy on a Mexican-themed cooking blitz. (I came up with the chilaquiles and a vegetarian taco bake that you will be able to find on Stockpiling Moms next week). I was bringing the taco bake to a dinner that some of my coworkers have with their friends on a regular basis, and I had to make sure that my food was worthy.
You know that is a major concern. I wanted to be invited back.
You are going to a potluck with people you don’t know. You have to bring food. And, if you are me, you want that food to be something stand out that people are going to remember.
And then, you have to make a dessert. Because, first, you are FrannyCakes. Second, you always want dessert and the likelihood that someone is bringing a gluten-free dessert to a potluck is highly unlikely.
So, I tweeted, and got a response.
@frannycakesblog churros!
— Kurt Cruse (@kurtcruse) October 7, 2012
How do you argue with that? Particularly since it was someone else who was going to be there.
Well, they were a hit – the people who didn’t know that I am gluten-free were genuinely surprised by that fact.
I made them a second time this week, to test some additional changes to the recipe, and it was the first time an office treat was gone before lunch.
- For the Dough
- 70 grams (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 7 tablespoons milk
- 5 grams (1 teaspoon) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 egg white
- 11 grams (¾ teaspoon) baking powder
- 80 grams (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon) gluten-free all purpose flour with a binding agent such as Cup4Cup or Jules’ Nearly Normal Flour*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- Vegetable Oil
- For the sugar coating
- 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, milk, sugar and salt together and bring to a boil.
- Lightly beat together the eggs and egg white. Add the baking powder to the eggs and let stand for about 5 minutes while your ingredients are heating up. The baking powder should start to foam.
- As soon as the mixture is boiling add the flour and stir like crazy. A paste should form leaving a film on the bottom of the pan and it will start to turn into a ball.
- Place this dough ball into a food processor and pulse for about 20 seconds to loosen it up.
- Add the egg and baking powder mixture to the food processor, making sure that you get all the baking powder in. Also add the vanilla bean paste.
- Let the food processor run for 2 minutes.
- Put the paste, which will be really sticky, into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.
- Let the dough stand for 20 minutes.
- In a pot or frying pan with at least 3″ sides, bring 2″ of oil to 350 degrees (if you don’t have a thermometer, the oil is hot enough when you put a skewer in the oil and bubbles form around it).
- Pipe 4-5 inch snakes of dough into the oil, using a sharp knife to cut the dough from the pastry tip.
- Cook them for a minute and a half on each side. They should be a deep golden color.
- Drain on paper towels.
- When all of the churros have been cooked, combine the sugar and spices in a 9×13 baking dish and toss the churros in the sugar mixture to coat.
- Serve promptly. These go great with my pumpkin pie dip.
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie Dip
- 1 15.5 ounce can (~440 grams) pumpkin puree
- 1 16 ounce package (~450 grams) marscapone cheese
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
- 170 grams (1 1/2 cups) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the pumpkin and marscapone.
- Add the brown sugar, beat in and scrape down the sides.
- Mix in the powdered sugar in 2 parts, scraping down the sides to make sure everything is mixed evenly.
- Stir in the spices and adjust to taste
Clearly, there is something wrong with me. I woke up at 6am to work out & bake muffins before going to work. I really wanted something cinnamon raisin. And, after seeing on how quickly these muffins were gone (who can resist still-warm muffins?) they were quite a success.
