Puffy and lightly crisp, these keto churro donuts are one incredible low carb dessert… at just 1g net carb a pop!
Gluten Free & Keto Churro Donuts
At just 1g net carb!
If baking overall takes a little practice, gluten free (and particularly keto!) baking is a completely new skill in the kitchen. You need to learn new textures in batters, things that you thought you knew come out horribly wrong… so if you’re struggling a bit, know that you’re definitely not alone!
I’ve been there… so many times.
Which is why, when possible, I like to make your life a little easier. And that’s were these keto churro donuts come in.
A hybrid recipe that proofed to be much easier than its ‘parents’ lol. They’re much more hands off than our proper keto churros as no frying is required (a bunch of saved calories here too!). And they don’t need as much cuddling as the donuts, which can be temperamental and can collapse if not handled properly.
The Method
Top tip: watch the video! Reading the instructions might come off as a little intimidating, but it really is quite simple and totally worth it (it’s surely one of my favorite keto batters to work with-ever).
The recipe for the base is the same as for our keto churros, which many of you have asked if they can be baked rather than fried. The batter is very akin to traditional Mexican churros, with it essentially being a choux pastry (used to make anything from eclairs to gougeres).
But this is just a fancy way of saying that you first boil together water with sugar, butter and salt. Adding in the flour and cooking it until it forms into a ball. And step three, mixing in the eggs off the stove.
After some experimenting it turned out that making a proper choux pastry keto is totally doable, and with excellent results. Just keep in mind that it doesn’t crisp up like the original (still working on seeing if that’s possible to whip up some cream puffs!).
Now, when you mix in the eggs the dough will be very stiff and take a few minutes to incorporate fully. The final dough will also be rather stiff and form into a ball easily, but also very elastic (courtesy of the eggs and xanthan gum). You can also always use a hand mixer here for even faster results.
For the shaping you’ll need a pastry bag (disposable ones are terrific) and a star tip (think Ateco #824).
The Flours
I like a mixture of super fine almond flour and coconut flour best (Anthony’s is the best imo). Add a touch of psyllium husk and xanthan gum, and we’re golden.
And don’t skip the psyllium husk. It helps retain moisture, create structure (i.e. it’s highly responsible for the killer crumb). And it just so happens to be a killer source of fiber.
Borrowed from molecular cooking, xanthan gum is the binding agent which makes your toothpaste jelly-like (and your cream cheese, well cream cheese-like). And it’s also the most common gluten-replacer in gluten free baking. And there’s absolutely no skipping it here!
In all honesty, no substituting anything here. You really do need the full combo of grain free flours to get the choux just right.
In terms of brands, for the almond either Anthony’s or WellBees work great. Both are super fine grinds. And for the coconut, we always favor Anthony’s.
The Sweetener
The choux pastry to make churros is always very lightly sweetened (and fairly bland solo), think just a couple tablespoons. But this is really to accommodate for a generous cinnamon sugar dusting. So to sweeten the keto choux pastry itself you can use anything from sugar alcohols (erythritol and xylitol) and allulose.
Now for the cinnamon ‘sugar’ coating, allulose or xylitol are probably your best bet for the most sugar-like result. Having said that, if you’re not too bothered by the cooling aftertaste of erythritol (which gets greatly diminished by the cinnamon), it works great too.
And if just grain free, coconut sugar is your best bet here. And of course, raw sugar works great too.
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
(1g net carb!) Gluten Free & Keto Churro Donuts
Puffy and lightly crisp, these keto churro donuts are one incredible low carb dessert... at just 1g net carb a pop!
Oh, and if baking with cups rather than grams is your thing, just click on US Cups for an instant conversion.
Ingredients
For the keto churro donuts
- 64 g almond flour
- 28 g coconut flour
- 1 tablespoon psyllium husk ground
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 240 ml water
- 57 g grass-fed butter or coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons allulose erythritol or xylitol*
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 55 g mozzarella for extra crispness, see notes*
To garnish
- grass-fed butter or coconut oil, melted
- 1/4-1/2 cup allulose or sweetener of choice, to taste
- 1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon we use 2
- chocolate sauce optional
Special equipment
- pastry bag
- star tip such as Ateco #824
Instructions
See recipe video for guidance!
Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a baking mat.
Whisk together in a medium bowl almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk and xanthan gum. Set aside.
Heat up water, butter, sweetener and salt in medium pot (or Dutch oven) until it just begins to simmer. Lower heat to low and add in flour mixture, mixing constantly to incorporate. Continue to cook and stir until the dough pulls away from the pan and forms into a ball, 1-3 minutes.
Transfer dough back to the bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes. The dough should still be warm, but not hot enough to scramble the eggs.
Add in one egg at a time, mixing until fully incorporated. The dough will be very stiff, but keep going until fully mixed in. Mix in vanilla extract. The final dough should still be stiff and form into a ball easily, but will also be very elastic. You can use a hand mixer here for a faster approach if you prefer. NOTE: If you want your churro donuts lightly crisp, feel free to mix in a touch of a neutral cheese (think mozzarella, see notes).
Allow the dough to rest until it comes to room temperature (10-15 minutes) and spoon dough into a piping bag with a star tip (say #824 works great). Pipe out rounds onto the prepared baking tray, we made 12 out of a batch.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until deep golden. Baking times will vary a lot here depending on your oven (convection etc), so check in at minute 10. Brush with melted butter right out of the oven and sprinkle with cinnamon 'sugar'.
Store in an airtight container for 3 days, giving them a quick re-warm before serving again.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
*As many of you may’ve noticed, the keto grain free flours generally stay on the softer side (i.e. are near-impossible to crisp up!). My suggestion? Just throw in a tiny bit of cheese. Yup, for real! I got this hack from our cheese puffs, which turn out beautifully crisp. You’ll be adding much less though, and with all the toppings you won’t bat an eye lash!
The Sweetener
The choux pastry to make churros is always very lightly sweetened (and fairly bland solo), think just a couple tablespoons. But this is really to accommodate for a generous cinnamon sugar dusting. So to sweeten the keto choux pastry itself you can use anything from sugar alcohols (erythritol and xylitol) and allulose.
Now for the cinnamon ‘sugar’ coating, allulose or xylitol are probably your best bet for the most sugar-like result. Having said that, if you’re not too bothered by the cooling aftertaste of erythritol (which gets greatly diminished by the cinnamon), it works great too.
And if just grain free, coconut sugar is your best bet here. And of course, raw sugar works great too.
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
Please note that nutrition facts were estimated per one churro donut, and I found a batch to yield roughly twelve.
When do you put the cheese in and melted or unmelted??? Read the entire article and it doesn’t say