Late last week, my dear fb friend Modern Mrs. Cleaver (yes, I think she probably does wear pearls when she makes dinner) mentioned that she was craving apple fritters. And for some reason, I decided that I would make some “for her.” Which means that I would make some for myself and post a lovely picture on her page. I am a helper.
The strange thing is that I had never before made apple fritters. I didn’t even like the ones I’d had at the donut shops either. But on this Particular Day, they sounded Dreamy, and I was feeling all Altruistic, so I went forth to find a Likely recipe.
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Friends, what I found was just a mess. Seems that folks in the UK make one kind of apple fritter and folks in the US make another kind, and each Camp feels rather Proprietary about its own version. In the UK, rings or chunks of apples get dunked in a batter, deep fried and then served alongside fish and chips or What Not as a Side Dish. In the US, it is more likely that chopped up bits of apple get mixed up in a batter and then fried.
And then there’s the batter. I saw everything from a beer batter to almost a pancake batter to a yeast-based batter. So, since I was making these for MMC, I asked her what kind she wanted. She responded: “yeastie and chopped. It changes daily.” Which just goes to show that even among the one person surveyed, there is not much Brand Loyalty when it comes to fritters.
Still, since on that Particular Day, MMC had a hankering for yeasted dough with chopped apples, I decided to Make That Happen.
The recipe I Settled Upon to Tinker with is this one from cdkitchen. I also saw the same recipe over on SeriousEats. I have no idea where it actually originated, though.
Anyhow, here’s what I did to what they did.
Yeast Raised Apple Fritters
Ingredients
For the Apples
- 3 large-ish apples , peeled and chopped into about 1/2" dice
- 1 tablespoon sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw, or you can use maple syrup or honey)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- salt , to taste
- ½ teaspoon Baker's Brew Coffee Spice (or use apple pie spice or just cinnamon)
- a wee splash apple cider vinegar (or a squirt of lemon juice would work)
- a couple of splashes of apple cider or apple juice
For the Dough
- 1 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ⅓ cup whole milk , warm
- 2 tablespoons apple juice or apple cider , warm
- 7.5 oz all purpose flour
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw)
- 1 oz melted butter
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Baker's Brew Coffee Spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the Confectioners Sugar Topping
- 2 cups 10x sugar
- ½ teaspoon Baker's Brew Coffee Spice
- heavy pinch of fine sea salt
For Deep Frying
- 2 " peanut oil in a large Dutch oven
Instructions
For the Apples
- Cook the apples in the sugar, butter, salt and spice until they turn a bit golden brown.
- In the meantime, reduce the cider and cider vinegar by half.
- When the apples are starting to get some color, add the reduced liquids and cook together until almost dry. If the apples are getting too much color before the liquid reduces sufficiently, simple drain them in a colander and call them done.
- Set aside.
For the Dough
- This dough uses the straight dough method, so just put all the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and turn it on medium-low speed.
- Once the dough has come together, turn the speed up just a bit and let the mixer knead the dough for about 5 minutes. The dough will be extremely soft--sort of on the edge of being a batter.
- Spray the top of the dough very well with pan spray and then cover and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours. It does not need to double, and it might not because of all the yolks and butter.
- Once the dough has risen, spray your hands well with pan spray (or rub them with coconut oil or something) and press the gases out of the dough.
- Press the dough up the sides of the pan a bit and then put about 1/3 of the apple mixture in the center.
- Fold all the sides in and press down again. Pan spray as necessary to keep things from sticking.
- Press the dough down again and up the sides of the bowl, and add another third of the apples.
- Fold in and then add the last third of the apple in the same way. Press down and fold over a couple of more times.
- There will be a lot of apples, so if some poke out, don't worry. Just keep going.
- Cover and let rest for about 20 minutes.
For the Confectioners Sugar Topping
- Place the sugar, salt and baking spice in a gallon-sized zip top bag. Shake to distribute the spices and salt. Taste and add a bit more seasoning if necessary.
To Fry and Finish
- Heat the oil to 350F.
- Have a cooling rack set over several layers of paper towels ready.
- When the oil has reached 350F, scoop the batter using a 1.5 ounce disher (about 3 tablespoons). Fry no more than four at a time. Total fry time will be about 5 minutes, until the fritters are a lovely deep golden brown.
- Place the first four on the draining rack.
- When the oil is back to temperature, fry four more.
- While those four are frying, place the first four in the gallon bag and shake so the fritters are completely covered with the spiced powdered sugar.
- Continue frying and "sugaring" until all the fritters are done.
- Dig right in.
- They are lovely with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, too.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
If you are interested in trying the Baker’s Brew Coffee Spice, you can get it here. I am in no way affiliated with Savory Spice Shop. They didn’t ask me to write this post, and the only compensation I got was being able to eat fritters. I got the spice as a Christmas present from a dear friend and have fallen in love with it!
So, dear readers and dear Modern Mrs. Cleaver, I hope you love these fritters.
Here’re a couple of questions for you: Have you ever had an apple fritter? What is your favorite kind?
Please weigh in in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading and have a lovely day.
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Ha! I also just this week decided I couldn’t stomach another donut shop fitter and wanted one like Mom used to make, back in the day before microwaves and toaster ovens. Hers were yeasty, puffy and gnarly. We could see the dough stretch as we pulled off a piece. After poking around a bit I came upon your blog. Yours look just like Mom’s, except she filled hers with raisins. I think I’ll make some both ways, because tender spicy apples, right?
Thanks for the recipe!
Tender Spicy indeed, Duffy! These were wonderful, and I hope these bring back great memories of your mom’s fritters. So glad you stopped in!
Love these, I lost my recipe and this is the closest one I could find. I dip mine in glaze, can’t wait to try the powder topping!
I’m so glad, Kristi! And I imagine that dipping them in a glaze of apple cider and powdered sugar would be an excellent plan! Enjoy!
I have made apple fritters for Hanukkah – the kind with apple slices but I’m thinking I like yours much better! I like that you can have them bigger or smaller, all with even amounts of apple. And the batter can’t slip off the apple! Perfect for Mardi Gras!
I really loved these guys a lot, Jamie! It didn’t even occur to me that they’d make great Mardi Gras snacks, but I guess they are sort of beignet-ish! =)
Loves me some fritters – especially the apple variety! So good to know you’ve got a recipe in your repertoire Jenni. Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad Modern Mrs. Cleaver happened to want some on that particular day or I would never have made them. And I’d have been missing out!
I’ve noticed more doughnut shops are moving away from the type of apple fritter that seems pulled like a cinnamon roll to the type that seems bubbly like cake. What do you call these two types of consistency? Is that what dough vs. batter is?
That’s a really good question, and I’d have to say the short answer is yes–a batter would give you a more bubbly type of finished product. It could also potentially be because of how long people let them rise–the longer the rise, the more the bubbles.
This is what I’d always pick on those midnight runs to the donut shop in college….I’m certain they weren’t high quality but they hit the spot. I’m thinking yours are 100x better!
I don’t have the ones you used to eat to compare them too, but if they had tasted as good as these, you wouldn’t be That Skinny Chick. 😉 LOL Very yummy, Liz!
You had me at fried dough. Even though I don’t usually eat sweet things, I have a weakness for all things fried. Hey, I didn’t get my well-rounded physique eating lettuce. And fritters and doughnuts hot out of the oil are bosom buddies with bliss.
Ha! Looking at me, you’d never know I’d ever eaten lettuce. Ever! lol These things are seriously good, and you can adjust the amount of sweet by leaving the powdered sugar off–there’s very little sugar in the actual Puffy Dough Balls. 🙂
Thanks for sending MMC the recipe! I will have to try this recipe. 🙂
And thanks to MMC for even suggesting it! If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have made them at all. I hope you enjoy them, @facebook-799454007:disqus !
I had no idea there were other versions of fritters. These look lovely! Nice use of the baking spice, too!
You know I can’t get enough of that baking spice, Elle! lol
Oh, these look fantabulous! But we JUST got the deep fryer off the counter after two months of it taking up space… dilemma.
Uh oh, Camille! I’d hate to be you… 😉 I def come down on the side of getting that bad boy back out again! 🙂
We had some apple fritters at a fair where they were cut into rounds and batter dipped and dusted in powder sugar like yours. Gosh So awesome!
They are perfect fair food, now that you mention it! Will have to keep my eyes peeled at the next state fair!