Simple Gluten Free & Dairy Free Churros

Freshly fried Churros have a magic all their own! 2 weeks ago, we were at the Allergy & Free From Show in Birmingham and spent two days frying these non-stop! Half way through the first day, we had been classed as a "Health and Safety Risk" as the queues to our stall stretched nearly the length of the whole hall in 3 directions and we had our very own security guard patrolling the queue to try and keep it under control. By the end of the first day, our stall was split into two and we were given a second stall to try and manage the queues. The churros had their very own stall and even with us frying as fast as we physically could, our wonderful customers were still patient enough to stand in a queue for over an hour to get a taste of these lovely little things. So we decided that our next Baking Secrets video simply had to show you how to make them at home!

People tend to be very nervous about deep frying but as long as you're careful, it's actually really safe! So I've popped my top tips for deep frying below:

1. Make sure that your oil is at the right temperature. You might think that frying at a cooler temperature is safer, but all that does is make your food greasy and horrible. The oil needs to be hot enough to instantly seal the outside of whatever you're cooking in but not so hot that it burns on the outside while it's still raw or undercooked in the middle. Luckily, that's not an issue with churros, they're so thin that you don't need to worry about them not cooking evenly!
2. Slide your food into the oil as close as possible to the surface of the oil. The higher up you pipe the churros, the more likely you are to splash the oil and burn yourself. If you watch the video, you can see that I start piping about an inch above the surface of the oil
3. Use enough oil. Your oil should be at least 2 times as deep as the final size of whatever you are trying to fry. So I've got about 2.5 inches of oil in the bottom of my lovely cast iron pan.
4. Remember that oil expands as it heats. If you over-fill the pan with cold oil, it may overflow as it heats. And remember, it's not just heat that affects the level of the oil in your pan. It's also displaced by the frying food! So you might need a bit less oil than you first thought.
5. Never add cold oil to the hot oil in your pan. As it pours out of the bottle, the oil will often glug and can therefore splash and give you really bad burns. Switch off your pan and allow the oil to cool down before adding more oil. If you don't have time to wait, hold the bottle of oil as close to the surface of the oil as you can and pour very very slowly and carefully to minimise any risk of splashing.
6. Use an implement with a nice long handle to turn the food over in the oil to ensure even browning. Never use a regular spoon and remember that metals will heat up in the oil so keep the end that dips into the oil as far away from bare skin as possible
7. Don't overfill your pan. Every churro you pipe into the oil will cause the temperature to drop slightly. So don't fill the pan more than 3/4 full.
8. Reuse your oil. Cooking oil can be reused until the colour deepens to a deeper caramel. Wait until your oil is completely cool before pouring through a strainer into a clean dry bottle to store until your next batch of churros!

Churro Recipe

• 250g Churro mix (the recipe on the video says 310g but it's wrong!)
• 1 medium egg
• 1/8 cup (3tbsp) sunflower oil
• 1 cup milk (can be dairy or dairy free)

1. Put your flour mix into a large bowl.
2. Add egg, oil and milk then mix with a strong whisk until the batter is smooth ad you've beaten out any lumps. The mixture will be very thick and a bit hard to beat. Just keep going until its smooth.
3. Scoop the batter into a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle. 
4. Heat your oil up on a medium high heat, until a drop of batter dropped into it floats straight to the surface.
5. Pipe your churros into the oil one by one. Use one hand to squeeze the piping bag and when the churro is around 10cm long, use your other hand to pinch off the end. 
6. Fry the churros on one side for about 1 minute then flip over. fry for about 1.5 minutes. Flip them over one last time and fry for about 30 seconds until they are evenly golden. Scoop out of the oil and leave to drain and cool on a wire rack. 
7. Drizzle with some cinnamon sugar and dip in chocolate ganache to serve.

You can also use our churro mix to make round doughnut holes (just use a very small ice cream scoop to portion into the oil instead of the piping bag) or even make baked doughnuts with the same recipe.

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

• 100g milk or dark chocolate (use chips or chop up a bar into small pieces)
• 100g single cream

1. Heat the cream in the microwave until it's nearly come to boiling point.
2. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and allow to sit for a minute.
3. Stir with a fork or mini hand whisk until smooth.