Allergy-Free Disney Churros - Gluten-Free & Vegan

My first food love was donuts. It still is, even though I haven't had a store-bought one in a couple of years (darn corn allergy!). I mean, we had a donut bar at our wedding if that tells you how much I love them. I couldn't let the most important day of my life go on without donuts showing up somewhere!

Just because donuts here in the States usually take on the form of a circle with tons of icing and sprinkles, it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate any other version of fried dough with sugar, like a churro.

Sure, you can grab a giant-sized churro at Costco's food court or at a few Mexican restaurants around here, but the best churro I've ever had was in Spain. My friend and I went on a little European backpacking adventure before we had many true responsibilities, and after we grabbed some tapas we found a cafe in the middle of a courtyard that served us a mug full of rich, chocolate dipping sauce alongside fresh churros. It was heaven.

Here at home, Hudson has mostly seen churros at Costco and Disneyland. At Costco, the food court hot dogs are an easy distraction for him, but at Disneyland we aren't so lucky. You can usually smell the deliciousness of a churro food cart in the park before you actually see it. Unfortunately, most Disney treats are not safe for our allergy family. Just like the Disney chocolate chip cookies that I posted about a few weeks ago, I knew I had to make the churros allergy-free when I saw that Disney released their recipe.

When we go places like the fair or Disneyland, I usually bring extra treats for him so he feels like he has something special to eat when everyone around him is enjoying their treats, but how amazing will it be to have something that looks exactly like the food being sold at the park?

Now, in full transparency, churros really taste the best straight out of the frying oil. They aren't meant to be stored overnight and brought on a day trip. We taste-tested these several hours later and the next day and noticed that the quality starts to decline fairly quickly, but you better believe that Hudson didn't care at all! He gobbled his up just like he did the day before, so I will still be packing some of these for him whenever we get to head to Disneyland again.

Don't be intimidated by this recipe because they have to be fried! The dough comes together so easily and they are easy to fry up, too! Just give yourself some time to stand over the stove, and try not to eat them all fresh out of their cinnamon and sugar bath!

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INGREDIENTS:

1 cup water

1/2 cup dairy-free butter (I use Smart Balance)

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cup gluten-free flour (I use King Arthur)

4 Tbsp aquafaba (liquid in chickpea can)

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups canola or other high smoke-point neutral oil (for frying)

Heat oil in skillet or saucepan (I used a cast iron skillet) to 350 degrees.

1. Add water, dairy-free butter, 2 Tbsp granulated sugar, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, and salt in a saucepan over medium high heat. Melt the butter and stir to combine. Bring to a rolling boil and reduce heat to low.

2. Add gluten-free flour and aqaufaba. Stir to combine well.

3. Let dough sit until cooled slightly so you can handle it in a pastry bag without burning yourself.

4. Add dough to pastry bag (or ziptop bag with hole cut out of one of the corners) with large star tip attached. When oil is hot, pipe churro dough out and use a knife to detach it from the bag and slowly drop into oil, being careful not to splash hot oil. Pipe several churros into the oil, but do not overcrowd the skillet so they can cook thoroughly.

5.Cook churros until golden brown. Turn churros over in the oil so the other side cooks until golden brown also. Remove churros onto paper towel-lined plate to allow excess oil to drain off.

6. Combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar with 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon in bowl and stir well. Toss churros in cinnamon sugar mixture until well coated. Transfer to plate and enjoy fresh, or alongside chocolate sauce, dairy-free chocolate ice cream, or dairy-free vanilla ice cream!

Recipe Notes:

1. The aquafaba does not need to be whipped for this recipe. 2. Monitor the oil temperature carefully. The temperature can elevate quickly over time or it can drop if there are too many churros frying at once. If the oil temperature is too hot, the outside will get overly browned and burned before the inside has a chance to cook through. A thermometer is extremely helpful to ensure the oil temperature is accurate!

The original Disney churro recipe can be found at the following link: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/04/cooking-up-the-magic-create-disneymagicmoments-at-home-with-disney-parks-churro-bites-recipe/