If you’ve never had chrusciki before they are a delicious Polish dessert of fried dough sprinkled with powdered sugar. It’s a fried dessert so I don’t think I need to tell you more to keep you intrigued but let me keep going. They are delicate and satisfyingly crunchy yet gluten-free. When you think gluten-free the words delicate and airy don’t really come to mind but these really are. There’s nothing dense about them and no one would believe you if you said they were gluten-free. They’re kind of like funnel cake but so much better because there’s something homey and soul warming about them. My mom and my grandma made them often when I was a kid and I will always remember the delicious smell that filled the kitchen as these beauties were fried to perfection.

Now the key to make chrusciki taste amazing is to use amazing ingredients. I’ve come to love baking with Cup4Cup Multipurpose Gluten-Free Flour because it’s so easy to work with and always turns out great. Being gluten-free can make baking more challenging so you want to make sure you’re using the best flour that you can find. And you’ll know it too because the dough will look and feel like it should.

Chrusciki may look like they take a lot of effort but they are so easy to put together. One bowl and a little bit of rolling and shaping and you are ready to fry (the regular recipe takes way longer because there’s much more kneading and waiting to be done). Trust me anyone can make them and because they look so pretty you will definitely impress a lot of people.

Chrusciki

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup gluten free flour (I recommend using Cup4Cup Multipurpose Flour)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. Swerve granular sugar (or another sugar-free alternative)

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup greek yogurt or sour cream

1/4 cup unsalted butter, soften and cut into small pieces

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. vodka or vinegar

Avocado oil for frying

Powdered sugar (or sugar-free alternative)

Directions:

Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the egg yolks, greek yogurt, butter, vanilla extract, sugar, sea salt and vodka and mix into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter. Form into a ball and cut into four equal pieces. You may need to add extra flour depending on how sticky the dough is, you want to be able to roll in out without it sticking too much.

Roll out one of the pieces into a thin ractangular shape (about 2 mm thickness) adding extra flour as needed. Cut lengthwise into 1 1/2 inch wide pieces. Then cut into smaller pieces diagonally, they should be about 5 inches long. Cut a slit into each piece. Now take a piece and flip the bottom edge through the slit so it looks something like this:

Heat avocado oil in a frying pan or a saucepan. Make sure the pan is deep enough and don’t overcrowd the pan. Fry the chrusciki for about a minute per side or until they are golden. Take them out of the oil and onto a plate covered in paper towel to absorb the extra oil. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Makes about 40-50 chrusciki