Easy Gluten Free Churro Ice Cream Bowls

Directions

MAKE THE DOUGH:

1. Mix the flour, sugar, xanthan gum and salt together in a bowl.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Add the egg and mix with a spatula until smooth. At first it will look all lumpy, but it’s normal, keep going. It should be pretty thick and not runny at all (as you can see in the picture above). Note: different flour blend can yield different result. If you accidentally add too much egg / your dough seems too runny, 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 BOWLS:

1. Transfer your churro dough into a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle.
2. Cut a sheet of baking paper into large squares, big enough to pipe a churro bowl onto each.
3. To pipe the bowls, start in the centre of the baking paper square and pipe in a spiral shape to form the base of the bowl. Then when the base is wide enough, keep piping upwards (2 layers) to form the sides.

COOK THE CHURROS:

1. Heat up your oil or fat to 175C (345F). If you don’t have a fryer, it’s ok, you can simply use a saucepan or a large wok with a few inches of cooking oil/fat 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 bowl into the oil by flipping the baking paper squares upside down. The dough will unstick and you’ll be able to remove the paper with tongs. If it’s sticking to the paper, just slowly peel each corner, bit by bit. It will eventually come off. Note: as an alternative, you can also freeze your bowls for a while first to avoid this sticking issue entirely.
3. Start your timer and cook each batch for about 5 minutes or until they are crispy and slightly golden. Occasionally turn them upside down throughout the process.
4. Meanwhile, prepare a bowl with equal parts of sugar and ground cinnamon.
5. Once your churro ice cream bowls are done, drain and immediately cover them in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
6. Set them aside and let them cool down.
7. Then serve with ice cream and toppings of your choice. I kept these simple with Mackie’s vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of dark chocolate sauce.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE:

1. Melt some chocolate of your choice with a little bit of butter. The quantities don’t really matter, I never use precise measurements for this. Just break up the chocolate pieces if you aren’t using chocolate chips and add a teaspoon of butter. You can always adjust by adding more butter or chocolate. Melt it in the microwave slowly, in 10 second increments, and stir in between each round.