GF Churro Pancakes

Gluten-Free Churro Pancakes

Oh,  I have your attention now, don't I?!

Since discovering my food sensitivities 4 years ago (yikes! Time flies!), there have been just a few foods (surprisingly) that I have missed - and pancakes are one of the few. Over the last 4 years there does seem to have been an explosion of restaurants offering gluten-free (and dairy-free substitutes) and that is most excellent! I am fortunate in that my "allergies" are not anaphylactic, but the foods that I am sensitive to do make me ill enough to interfere with everyday life. I digress, this is not the important stuffs.

Because I am also "allergic" to dairy (lactose AND casein), soy, and tapioca, I am typically still unable to eat the gluten-free pancakes at restaurants, or use the store bought mixes at home, because it is my experience that 95% of all gluten-free baking mixes contain tapioca starch, and many still contain milk and soy.

Coco's Restaurant and Bakery (which is like a Perkins, for anyone not familiar with Coco's) serves gluten-free pancakes that I can have and they are DELISH! And so began my search to discover the magic ingredients/mix that they use.

After searching and searching and searching (to no avail) I stumbled upon Bisquick's gluten free baking mix which is, surprisingly, free of all the things I can't have! The mix is pretty decent on its own (using the pancake recipe on the box), but I've played around with a few things and today....

EUREKA!

Gluten-Free Churro Pancakes.

I die. I can't think of anything pastry like that I have eaten in four years (that didn't have at least one ingredient in it that made me sick later) that tastes SO DELICIOUS.

Honestly, like walking along Disneyland's Main Street, delectable cinnamon and sugary treat in hand. It takes me back to better days!

Dramatic performance aside, here are the deets:

2 cups Bisquick Gluten-Free Baking Mix
2 cups original almond milk (or milk of your choice, we tried vanilla almond milk initially because that is what we had, but I wasn't a fan).
2 eggs
4 tablespoons canola oil (calls for veg. oil, tried with olive oil and like canola better)
1-2 tablespoons vanilla extract (I only used 1 this time, but think it would be better with 2)
Cinnamon and sugar mixture

Mix together: baking mix, milk, egg, oil until blended
Heat up canola oil in pan, pour approx 1/2 cup batter into hot oil to fry, flip when ready
Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar to taste when done



I made big and small "cakes" and found that we actually preferred the bigger size to the smaller ones. Silver dollar sized "cakes" ended up being mostly fried and more like a fritter while the large pancake size had crispy edges and soft dough in the center like a churro.

Let me know if you try it, and what you think! I'd also love to hear any other adaptations you may make. :)

Enjoy!