Mochi churros 2 ways - gluten free!

A chewy yet fluffy yet crispy spin on the classic churro. A textural playground.

Choose between a thick and rich five-spiced chocolate sauce or a peanut powder coating. Or just toss them in a classic cinnamon sugar mixture, delicious either way!

Jump to recipe

I’m one of those people who never want to deep fry things. The thought of the oil splashing, or getting oil burns, or accidentally starting an oil fire and burning the house down and losing all my belongings and important documents and becoming homeless and in debt, has always put me off making donuts and things.

So what got me to make churros?

Gonna be 100% honest, I work at a high school and the kids made (regular) churros. A) the smell of them made me want churros and B) I figured that if literal children can make them without starting a fire, surely I, an adult, can too. I mean, also because I realised that they really don’t splat oil anyway since they don’t release water like meat or vegetables. Yes, I know, a bit silly that I couldn’t have arrived at the conclusion myself sooner, but better late than never.

As for the mochi and flavour ideas? I always like putting spins on things, and I’m sure there are plenty of amazing regular churro recipes out there. The sweet peanut dust reminds me of a crumbly sweet peanut snack I used to eat. I have no idea what it’s called, but it was delicious and I miss it.

The images in this post show two different batches - a batch coated in a peanut coating, and a batch coated with cinnamon sugar and that thick five-spice chocolate sauce.

This recipe is still made the classic, choux pastry way, however instead of using plain flour it uses glutinous rice flour. When hot and fresh it is chewy yet fluffy, and as it cools it becomes chewier.

If you have access to kinako (roasted soybean flour) or black sesame powder, I bet they would pair amazingly too! You could even make it with a matcha sugar dusting - honestly the possibilities are endless. The green from the matcha might look a bit wacky, but it’d definitely be a look.

This recipe makes quite a thick dough (essential for the big chew factor!), so please use a sturdy piping bag and not a plastic bag. The plastic bag will likely break. If you don’t have a sturdy piping bag, you can just dollop spoonfuls of the dough into the oil to cook or roll it into balls (though make sure you oil or flour your hands first so it doesn’t stick).

The recipe below includes making a peanut powder from peanut butter as I feel like people are more likely to have peanut butter in their pantry than peanuts, but if you already have roasted peanuts at home I’d say make your powder from those instead.

As for the chocolate sauce, the longer you cook it, the thicker it will be, so you can always cook it for longer or shorter depending on your preference. If you prefer ganache, I would not be offended at all if you just make that instead! I thought I’d provide this option because I know not everyone just has cream lying in their fridge.

If you prefer a more browned look to your churros, use milk instead of water. The milk solids will help it brown better when frying. The peanut covered ones in these images were made with water, whilst the other batch was made with milk.

Although most recipes will tell you to cook them in oil heated to 180°C, I found that 130-150°C works well for these churros as it allows for easier control of browning whilst the inside cooks.

Recipe

For the churros

Makes roughly 12 10cm long churros

INGREDIENTS:

• 50g butter

• 15g castor sugar

• 125g milk or water

• 1/4tsp salt

• 150g glutinous rice flour

• 1 egg

METHOD:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the butter, sugar, water, and salt until melted and starting to bubble.

2. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and add in the flour, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon or a sturdy silicone spoon to combine until the mixture pulls together and is smooth.

3. Add in the egg and continue to mix vigorously until completely incorporated. This may seem impossible at first, but keep at it! If you’re struggling, use an electric mixer on a low speed.

4. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a star tip. The dough is very thick, so please use a sturdy piping bag - a plastic bag is likely to break! Alternatively, instead of piping, you can spoon the dough into the oil. Prepare a plate lined with a couple of layers of paper towel.

5. In a large saucepan, heat about 5cm of oil until a small piece of dough dropped in sizzles lightly, about 130-150°C if using milk and about 180°C if using water. This allows you to better control the browning. Pipe (or spoon) the dough into the oil and use a knife or scissors to cut the dough off when you’ve piped out the length you’d like. Cook for roughly 1.5 minutes on each side. It should be a golden colour if using milk or a light golden colour if using water.

6. Remove from the oil and place on the paper towel lined plate to drain and cool slightly, then toss in either the peanut coating or cinnamon sugar (see recipes below). If using the peanut butter coating, allow for a longer draining and cooling time to reduce clumping.

For the peanut coating

Peanut butter option adapted from Just Crumbs

INGREDIENTS (peanut butter option):

• 25g tapioca starch

• 40g smooth peanut butter (I used the natural kind, but it should work with the regular kind)

• 15g icing sugar

• 1tbsp castor sugar

INGREDIENTS (peanuts option):

• 50g roasted unsalted peanuts

• 15g icing sugar

METHOD (peanut butter option):

1. Blend together the starch and peanut butter, stirring and scraping down the sides and around the blades regularly, until it forms a powder. Add in the icing sugar if the mixture is still a little too wet, and blend. If still too wet, add a little more starch, however avoid adding too much as the flavour will be compromised.

2. Combine 1tbsp of the peanut mixture with the castor sugar in a separate plate ready to coat the churros. Store the rest of the peanut powder in an airtight container for use in other things like smoothies or oats.

METHOD (peanuts option):

1. Blend the peanuts with the icing sugar until relatively fine pieces, stirring and scraping down the sides and around the blades regularly. The sugar helps to prevent the peanuts turning into peanut butter, however avoid processing the peanuts for too long as they will still turn into peanut butter if processed for too long.

2. Spoon 2tbsp of the mixture onto a plate ready to coat the churros. Spoon more on whilst coating if necessary.

For the five-spiced chocolate sauce

INGREDIENTS:

• 125g milk

• 1/2tsp corn flour

• 65g dark or milk chocolate, chopped or broken in pieces

• 1tsp five-spice, or to taste

METHOD:

1. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, heat the milk and flour, whisking until smooth. Heat until it starts to bubble.

2. Add in the chocolate, continually whisking until chocolate is melted and sauce is lightly bubbling. Cook until thickened to your liking, then stir in the spice.

For the cinnamon sugar

INGREDIENTS:

• 1tbsp castor sugar

• 1/2tsp cinnamon

METHOD:

1. Stir together the cinnamon and sugar in a plate until evenly combined.

That’s it!

Enjoy fresh, or crisp it up again in an airfryer, the oven, or a pan.