Easy Apple Fritters
I love apple season. Besides eating them fresh, I enjoy cooking with apples. One of my favorite apple dishes is apple fritters.
Fritters are similar to doughnuts. Rather than being made from a dough that is rolled and cut, like doughnuts, fritters are made from a batter. The fritter batter is spooned into oil for frying. They are actually very easy to make.
Good fritters are light and airy inside, with a crisp outside. These are very good fritters. These fritters have diced apples and cinnamon in the batter and cook up tender and light. Fritters are good plain, but can be rolled in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar or drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze. Unlike a lot of the giant-sized fritters I see at local orchards and farm markets this time of year, these fritters are smaller. Only a few bites each. I actually prefer that.
For my gluten-free friends, I have made these fritters with gluten free flour. They tasted great. The gluten free version seemed to brown faster, so I turned down the temperature of the oil to 350 degrees.
So enjoy one of my favorite recipes of the season, and make yourself some fritters.
Apple Fritters
2 c. flour
2 T. sugar
2 T. baking powder
1 T. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1 c. milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 T. melted butter
1 c. diced apples
oil for frying
Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Mix together milk with the eggs and butter. Stir in dry ingredients until just moistened and add the apples. Heat oil to 375. If using gluten-free flour heat oil to 350. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Don’t do more than 4-5 at a time. It will take about 4 minutes in total but you need to turn them to brown evenly so 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. While warm roll in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, or drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze. Makes about 32.
Cinnamon Apple Cupcakes
These tasty little cakes are actually a revision of a favorite apple cake recipe. I needed cupcakes, and made a few changes, so it would work in cupcake form. I was pretty happy with how they came out.
I sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top of the cupcakes right before baking. It worked fine. I thought I might try baking them plain on top next time- then dipping the tops in melted butter and cinnamon sugar after baking. I make French Breakfast Puff muffins that way, and it works well.
I also chose not to frost them. I could see using a cream cheese frosting, or perhaps a drizzle of caramel, if you like a sweeter dessert. These would also be great served with ice cream.
Cinnamon Apple Cupcakes
1 c. oil
4 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/3 c. lemon juice
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
3 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
4 medium apples
Topping:
½ c. sugar
2 t. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 325. Combine oil, eggs, vanilla and lemon juice. Beat until smooth and set aside. In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the middle and add the egg mixture. Beat by hand until smooth. Batter will be very thick. Peel, core and dice the apples. Add apples to the batter and stir until well blended. Line 24 muffin tins with paper liners- or grease. Spoon the batter into the muffin pans, filling almost to the top. Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the tops of the cupcakes. Bake for 22-24 minutes, or until golden and toothpick, inserted in cupcakes comes out clean. Makes 24.
