I don’t know that I’ve ever had apple fritters before, but the idea has always sounded great to me. So I decided to make some. There are hundreds of recipes out on the web and they’re all very different from each other in terms of proportions. I settled on a bit of a hybrid from a few different sources, so here’s my take. This makes about 25 fritters, which is a lot – you can always cut the recipe in half, although if you’re going to the trouble of making them, it doesn’t hurt to make a big batch.
Apple Fritter Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 2 cups (at least) tart apples, peeled and diced in 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch pieces
- Vegetable oil or shortening for frying
Procedure
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the eggs, milk, and melted butter in a separate container and whisk well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined, then fold in the apples.
Heat about an inch of vegetable oil or shortening in a high-sided pan until it reaches 350 degrees F. You’ll want to keep the temperature as steady as possible for even frying. Drop the batter in the oil using a dinner spoon – I heap it pretty high to wind up with a fritter a little larger than a golf ball once it puffs up. Cook for about 2 minutes and then flip and cook on the other side for another 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels.
I was going to do a simple glaze for these, but that takes time to firm up, and I was in a hurry, so instead I just dusted them with powdered sugar. I think they turned out really well!
Glaze recipe: 1/4 cup milk, 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract – warm the milk to about 100 degrees, add sugar and vanilla. Dip the fritters in the glaze and place on a rack until the glaze firms up (about 5-10 minutes).