Gluten-free churros - churros sin gluten con chocolate

I had never before baked churros, let alone eat any. 

But I have been drooling over the sugary, cinnamony smell of them in Cadiz (Spain) and sipped tea in a cafeteria, jealously watching the Spanish families gather over their morning coffees and a tray of warm, possibly crunchy (really, I don´t know) churros, dipping them in hot chocolate. 

(And what did I have - a cup of hot tea.)

Anyway, yesterday morning I finally had time, due to HOLIDAY. So me and my daughter, aged 5 ½, collaborated and baked churros. They were ridiculously simple to prepare and soooo yummy.

The recipe I used originated here:

http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-churros-recipe/

But, as in Finland we do not have all of the ingredients, and since I never really follow a recipe to the full,  this is how they were done by us.

Ingredients

2,5 dl milk
4 tablespoons (56 g) salted butter
186 g gluten-free flour mix (I used one with wheat-starch, but a naturally gluten-free mix will do, too)
1 teaspoon of xantham gum
4 eggs

½ dl sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Coconut oil, for frying

Chocolate sauce
100 g dark chocolate
1 dl of heavy cream
1 teaspoon corn starch

Directions

• Cook the milk, butter and salt in a large saucepan until the butter is melted and the mixture begins to boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the flour and stir vigorously. Return the pan to the heat and continue to stir vigorously for about 3 minutes, until the mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and comes together in a ball. A thin film will form on the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for about 3 minutes.
• Transfer the dough to a blender. Pour the eggs on top. Pulse and whisk until the mixture is smooth and uniformly well-blended. Can take a couple of minutes! Set the dough aside to cool. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a shallow baking dish, and set it aside. The mixture will be used to garnish the churros. 
• While the dough is cooling, chop about 150 grams of coconut oil to a heavy-bottom pot and heat the oil over medium heat until the temperature of the oil reaches about 160 C. The original recipe suggests piping the dough, but mine was way too thick for that. So, just use your hands to roll them into thin tubes.  Fry until golden brown and firm. (About 1-2 minutes.) Remove from the oil and toss in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Repeat with the remaining pastry dough.
• Once the churros are ready, make the chocolate sauce. Place the chocolate and cream in a small, heavy-bottom saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the milk begins to simmer. While the chocolate is melting, in a separate small bowl, whisk the cornstarch into a small amount of cream (or milk) until smooth. Pour the cornstarch and cream mixture into the saucepan, and stir to combine until it simmers again. Pour into a small container for dipping.
•  This will create quite a heavy sauce. If you want it to be more liquid, add more cream or milk, or simply just temper some dark chocolate - that is what my Spanish friend told me to do next time. In the area he lives, that is the way to eat churros. That and less sugar than on my version. But well, if the sugar-coating is done by a 5 year old, what can you really expect?