Yeast Raised Apple Fritter Recipe

A square image of glazed apple fritters on a cooling rack with 3 apples in the background.

Yeast Raised Apple Fritter Recipe

Warmly spiced cooked chopped apples get folded into a warmly spiced slack yeast dough--almost a batter--and deep fried. Afterwards, they get either a dusting in powdered sugar or an intensely-flavored apple cider glaze. Your choice.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 4

Rise Time 2 45

Total Time 3 5

Servings

Calories 449kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Ingredients

For the Apples

3 apples Washed, peeled and chopped into about 1/2" dice. (I used 1 Granny Smith and 2 Honey Crisp)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter
pinch salt to taste
½ teaspoon cinnamon (or use apple pie spice in place of cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger)
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (several gratings)
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
2 Tablespoons apple cider
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar , sub lemon juice if you prefer

For the Dough

1 ¼ teaspoons yeast
2.67 oz whole milk 76 grams or 1/3 cup
1 oz apple cider 28 grams or 2 Tablespoons
7.5 oz all purpose flour 213 grams or 1 3/4 cups, sifted, spooned, and leveled
2 egg yolks
1.5 oz sugar 43 grams or 3 Tablespoons
1 oz butter 28 grams or 2 Tablespoons
½ teaspoon kosher salt if using fine salt, use 1/4 teaspoon
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (several gratings)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Apple Cider Glaze

12 oz apple cider 340 grams or 1 1/2 cups
1.5 oz butter
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (several gratings)
heavy pinch salt
12 oz confectioners sugar 340 grams or 3 cups
boiling water as needed

For Deep Frying

vegetable oil enough to fill a large skillet by about 1", or fill a Dutch oven by 2 1/2-3" for true deep frying

Instructions

For the Apples

In a large saute pan, heat butter, sugar, spices and salt until butter melts.
Add the apples and cook for 2 minutes.
Pour in the apple cider and apple cider vinegar, and cook until pan is dry and apples are beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and spread on a tray to cool to room temperature.

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 oil) and press the gases out of the dough.
Press the dough up the sides of the mixing bowl 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.
Once the apples are incorporated, portion into 8 or 16 fritters (see next step).
Cut a piece of parchment into 16 squares for small fritters or into 8 pieces for large ones. Place them on a half-sheet tray. Divide dough into equal portions and with oiled hands, shape each into an oval shape and put on a square of parchment. Let rise in a warm place for about 30-45 minutes.
Alternative: After incorporating the apples into the dough, allow it to rise in bulk for 30-45 minutes. To fry, use a disher, ice cream scoop or cookie scoop to scoop up portions of dough to fry. You will probably end up with about 20-24 fritters depending on the size of your scoop.

For the Apple Cider Glaze

In a small pan, reduce the 12 oz apple cider to 3 oz. Check by periodically pouring the cider into a measuring cup on your scale. If you're working with volume and not using a scale, you want a little over 1/3 cup of cider. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, melt butter in the microwave.
Add salt and spices, and then dump in the powdered sugar all at once. Whisk together as well as you can. There will still be a lot of loose powdered sugar. Worry not.
Whisk in the reduced apple cider. You will end up with a spread the consistency of stiff frosting.
Whisk in boiling water, a bit at a time, until you have a loose, thin glaze. (See video) For an alternative to glaze, see Notes, below.

To Shape, Fry, and Finish

Have a cooling rack set over several layers of paper towels ready.
Heat the oil to 365-370F.
When the oil has reached temperature, carefully lower each fritter on its parchment square into the oil. Use tongs to pull the parchment out from under each one.
Fry for about 2 minutes on the first side and about 90 seconds on the second until fritters are deep amber in color.
As the fritters are done, scoop them out of the oil with a skimmer or spider, let some oil drain off, and then remove to the paper-covered pan to cool.
Once the fritters have cooled to warm, immerse each one in the loose glaze to coat the entire thing. Remove from glaze with a fork or spatula and allow most of the glaze to drip back into the bowl so you have a very thin coating of glaze on the fritters. Let them to cool to room temperature to allow the glaze to set up. Eat right away, or at least on the same day you make them.
They are lovely with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, too.

Video

Notes

Make-Ahead:

You can make the apple cider reduction for the glaze up to four days in advance. Just keep it in a container in the fridge until you need it.

Before OR after you add the apples to the dough, you can cover it well and refrigerate it overnight. Then allow the dough to temper on the counter for about 30 minutes before proceeding with the recipe.

Alternative to Apple Cider Glaze

If you don't want to glaze your fritters, place 2-3 cups of powdered sugar in a large zip-top bag along with a pinch of salt and a little cinnamon and nutmeg.

Shake warm fritters to completely coat in powdered sugar, then set aside on a rack to cool completely.

Storing

Fritters, with the crazy amount of apples in them, are best eaten the day you make them. Invite your friends or make a half-recipe, but not to have leftovers. If you do need to save some over, wrap them tightly and keep them at room temperature for a night. Reheat in the oven or toaster oven. Do not reheat in the microwave or they will just get soggy.

Nutrition Information

Nutrionals are calculated for 8 large fritters.

Nutrition