I recently posted my Choux Pastry Donut recipe – it’s a variation on the choux recipe from my book, My Paleo Patisserie. This French Crueller variation is equally as amazing, and maybe even more delicious, because…DEEP FRYING!! But this version is also slightly more labor intensive. Again, because…DEEP FRYING!! Regardless of that, I think this is a worthwhile trade-off.

Traditionally, French Crullers are made with a påte a choux dough variation – so this variant was a natural outflow of my own grain-free pate a choux recipe from My Paleo Patisserie. Due to the size of my book, we had to opt out of the donut chapter…but hey, that just means more recipes to give you here right?! I love both of these recipes equally. Each has a different look, feel and process. Make them both! One can never have too many donuts! You could even bake some and fry some from the same batch, for variety! For the crullers, I like to stick with a simple glaze. I find it just fits them the best.

Ingredients

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon (130 g) Arrowroot flour* (Get it HERE)
2 tablespoons Coconut flour (Get it HERE)
2 tablespoons maple sugar  (optional) and a pinch of salt
5 Tablespoons (65 g) non-hydrogenated, sustainable palm shortening (Get it HERE)**
½ cup (120 ml) full-fat coconut milk***
¼ cup (60 ml) water
2-5 large eggs, room temperature, # of eggs added will vary. (Egg subs won’t work.)

*You can sub tapioca flour here.

**You can sub ghee (casein & lactose-free) or even butter. You can use coconut oil, but it will affect the flavor and texture some, as it’s a different kind of fat solid. Sustainable palm shortening is preferred. Spectrum and Tropical Traditions are great brands. Thrive Market sells it too!

***You can use other milk subs, but if you do, you don’t have to add the water. Just use a total of 3/4 cup of liquid.

     Get the recipe and video instructions for the choux dough HERE (just ignore the pizza part, haha)

Method

Once you have your choux dough made (instructions HERE ), scoop it into a 12-16-inch disposable piping bag with a large tip like THIS one (Wilton 1A). There is no need to have an additional coupler attachment with the large tips. You can simply snip a hole for it to fit snuggly in the bag. Alternatively, you can just snip a hole in the bag and not use a tip at all. It’s just not as clean and uniform.

Fill a high walled frying pan with sustainable, non-hydrogenated shortening or other preferred frying oil, about 2-3 inches deep. Heat the fat till it reaches about 350 degrees.

Using the piping bag (and it gets a bit tricky here, but practice makes….well, almost perfect), pipe about 3-inch circles, directly into the hot oil. It’s best to do about two at a time or it gets too crowded to fry them. I like to use a spoon to ladle hot oil over the tops of them as they fry -this way they get the best puff! But this might not be your style, especially if you don’t like hot oil splatter burns. Let them fry for a few minutes on one side and then flip over with tongs or fork and finish frying till done.

Remove from the hot oil and let drain on a wire rack. They will soften some, but should not deflate really. If they do, you know to fry them longer next time. Every time you make pastries, you gain more and more good instincts and your methods will become very personal to you.

Alternatively, you can chill the dough and then pipe 3-3 1/2 inch or whatever size you like circles, onto a silicone baking mat. Pop them in the freezer till solid (about 10 minutes), then fry them as above. I find they don’t puff as nicely this way but you might have a different experience with it! Like I said, it gets personal, haha!

For the glaze, we’ll be pretty casual and not too precise: Just take1 cup of powdered sugar (organic and unbleached of course), add 1 teaspoon of honey or maple syrup (you can skip this part too but it makes for a gorgeous consistency), then add water by the teaspoon till it’s the consistency you desire. Not too runny, not too thick. Take it slow with the water as it gets runny very fast!.

Dip the tops of each donut in a glaze, let the excess drip off and then leave to set on the wire rack!

Serve and Enjoy!!!