Apple Fritters!

My father-in-law went to the local orchard and got a couple baskets of apples.  He picked a variety.  And, he shared some with us.

My boys love to eat apples in just about any form.  And, some of those apples will definitely be eaten in their purest form - crunching down into the apple itself.  But, I also felt inspired to do something fun with some of the apples.

I considered doing something basic with them, that I've done a hundred times before, like bake an apple pie or apple crisp.  But, the more I thought about it what I really wanted were apple fritters.  I knew it involved deep frying, so I've never attempted it before.  

My cookbooks surprisingly didn't have any recipes, so good ole' Google came to the rescue and I found this recipe at a site called No Fear Entertaining.

picture taken from No Fear Entertaining

This recipe truly is as simple as can be.  I had all the ingredients (and there aren't a ton) on hand.  This was a non-yeast recipe so it took literally 5 minutes to whip up the batter.  And they were SO good!

I made a batch right after dinner for dessert (because they really are best warm!).  The deep frying wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be because I simply filled the pan with oil (about 1 1/2 inches), heated the oil, and fried each fritter about 2 minutes each side.  (You have to watch though, because if your oil is too hot the fritter can start to burn in those 2 minutes.  Also, keep the children BACK.  This is a tough one at our house, because the boys feel like they HAVE to be in the kitchen if I'm in the kitchen and they love to see everything that's going on.)

We gobbled those up right quick (the recipe makes enough to make about 2 fry batches of 6-8 each depending on how big you make your fritters).  Then we had to leave for a small group meeting from our church.

When we got home we put the boys to bed.  I looked at the oil still sitting in the pan and thought I couldn't let it go to waste when the recipe was so simple.  So, I made another batch late last night so there would be fritters for breakfast.

Yum!  Yum!  Yum!  

Here's the recipe.  Try it!

Apple Fritters (as taken from No Fear Entertaining)

Fritter:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chopped apple

Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons milk

Directions: Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon. Stir in milk and egg until just combined. Fold in apple. Pour oil into skillet so that it is approximately 1 1/2 deep. Heat oil on high. Oil is ready when dough floats to top. Carefully add dough to oil in heaping teaspoons. Cook until brown, about 2 minutes, then flip. Cook another 1-2 minutes, until both sides are browned. Transfer briefly to paper towels to absorb excess oil, then transfer to cooling rack. Make glaze by stirring milk and powdered sugar together in a small bowl. Drizzle over apple fritters. Wait approximately 3 minutes for glaze to harden, then flip fritters and drizzle glaze over the other side. Best served warm.

Enjoy!