Allison! Did you make a gluten free funnel cake? Yes. I did.

There are things you oughtn't make at home for various reasons:  home equipment isn't up to the task, it's somewhat dangerous, the ingredients are tough to find retail...and some food is so rich, greasy, and/or delicious that having access to it without at least having to put on pants is dangerous to a person's long term health.  (See this xkcd: Stove Ownership) These include (in my book) tiramisu, prime rib, and anything deep fat fried.

A person does not need uber convenient deep fat frying.  That way obesity lies.

But!  I have celiac disease.  I'm not on this diet for image or lifestyle reasons.  I'm a normal person. I just happen to have a gene that resulted in me not being able to tolerate wheat.  The gluten free "community" is dominated by people who are gluten free because it's the latest thing-to-be-given-up. And the people who produce commercial gluten free food do not make real junk food.  Even the cookies brag about how much fiber they have or low-glycemic index sweeteners or some such nonsense.  They put flax in things and talk about how old their grain varieties are.  Just look at how often gluten free bakeries are gluten free vegan bakeries. They're not down with Krispy Kreme, you know what I'm saying?

And although I can appreciate the leek, mushroom, and gorgonzola tart my husband made for dinner Saturday (America's Test Kitchen recipe with Manini's multiuso flour), there is no way to say that I'm too good for a doughnut - and they're all verboten now.

That's not to say there isn't some gluten free frying going on.  The Corbett Fish House and the Hawthorne Fish House in Portland both do fish and chips and chicken strips in rice flour.  The Bridgewater Bistro in Astoria has a celiac chef and they do fish and chips that are even better. But those are not here in Seattle and clearly have limited fried offering.

So if I ever, ever want to have anything fried again even in the healthy-enough once-or-two-times-per-year consumption rate, I will be making it myself.  It's taken me awhile to get there for a number of reasons - images of horrific grease burns come to mind, but really it has more to do with what does one do with the waste oil?  That's part of the reason I went with a funnel cake as my first fry job.  It doesn't require more than a quarter inch of oil.  After asking a lot of my friends who also cook, I was reminded that if you're doing a pretty mild thing (like a pastry), the oil can be used multiple times.  So I bought some coffee filters and poured in 2 cups of vegetable oil

The other thing I've had to learn to do is use a pastry bag.  This was another barrier to fancy food I would not have overcome if I had been able to leave it in the hands of a professional.  I'm getting better all the time but it tends to be a very big mess. So when I mixed up the

Cooking a funnel cake

My recipe is from the oft-used Gluten Free Baking with the Culinary Institute of America.  It uses the mid-level strength of flour with white rice, potato starch, guar gum, and dried egg white.  It's got an egg and some milk and baking powder and baking soda.  Whisk it up, scoop it up into a pastry bag with a small round tip.  Get the oil hot (I used a candy thermometer) by putting it over medium high heat and turn it down when it gets to the desired temperature.  Squeeze it in a swirl.  It cooks fast so it'll probably want to be flipped about 3 minutes later.  This has been flipped once.

Powdered sugar on top.

I wanted to try using coconut oil but I didn't actually enough on hand.  Coconut oil costs about $6 for 2 cups.  This is closer to 3 cups.  I'm hoping I could use the oil enough times to make it worth it but it's not going to happen this time.  The oil takes longer to filter than I realized it would - it's still filtering through the coffee filter while I write this.  It's going into a ball jar that used to have homemade jam in it.

The texture is delightful.  I was hoping for just a little more crispy outside squishy inside - it nailed it on the squishy.  It's possible leaving it in longer may work or else baking it in the oven for a little bit longer.  I'm also considering adding a bit of lemon to the batter.  I think a little tartness may help but I won't recommend it until I find out if the chemistry still works out.

I want to try apple fritters next time I get the oil out.