apple fritters - ad hoc at home

The kitchen leading up to Thanksgiving meal is usually in a state of chaos. Things in the oven, things going out of the oven, all burners on fire, mixers here, blenders there...you get the idea. However, I did a lot of the prep work leading up to Thursday so I had some free time on my hands while my dad went to pick up our fried turkey. What better way to blow some time than to make a recipe out of the ad hoc book?

We made french fries and Korean fried chicken as snacks before the big meal so I decided to take advantage of the deep fryer and make apple fritters. It's a pretty simple recipe - just slice peeled apples into batons, cover with batter and fry. No sous vide? No...diffuser plate or overnight prep? Yes, it really was that easy.

I really enjoyed ad hoc's version of apple fritter. It's not too sweet, not too doughy, great apple flavor. The trick here (I think) is to use really tasty apples. Not a lot of sugar goes into the batter so you really depend on the flavor of the apples to carry the dish. Also, instead of scooping a chunk of mixture and dumping it into oil, Chef Keller uses 2 forks to pick up the apples and allows the excess batter to drip off. This creates a light, airy and surprisingly greaseless (yes, I just made that word up) fritter. I didn't have any icing sugar on hand to dust the fritters with but the Fujis I had were enough to make this a tasty treat. Some of these apple fritters with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream sounds like a perfect ending dessert to me!

Apple Fritters

From ad hoc at home, Serves 6 (let's be honest, probably 4...maybe 1?)

Ingredients:

- 1 cup AP flour

- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder

- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

- 1 large egg

- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon whole milk

- 3 large Fuji, Gala or Golden Delicious apples

- Canola oil for deep-frying

- Powdered sugar for dusting (*optional)

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Lightly beat the eggs and milk in another bowl and whisk the wet into the dry ingredients until combined. This batter can then be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 hours.

3. Peel the apples and slice the fruit from the core. Cut the apples into 2" long x 0.25" thick matchsticks. Fold the apples into the batter.

4. Heat 1.5" of oil to 325 degrees F in a wide deep pot. Using 2 forks, lift up about 5 - 6 of the apple matchsticks from the batter, allowing the excess batter to drip back into the bowl. (It's okay to have irregular shaped fritters!) Add to the oil and fry for 5 minutes turning the fritters from time to time until crisp and golden brown.

5. Add more fritters one at a time being careful not to overcrowd the pot.

6. Remove the fritters from oil using a slotted spoon and transfer them to a cooling rack covered with paper towels over a baking sheet.

7. Serve the fritters immediately, dusting them with powdered sugar if desired. Vanilla ice cream or honey would also work well as accompaniments!

Oh...and here's item #1 that's going into the Earth Fare bag for my giveaway:

Cinnamon. It's fragrant, warm and comforting - perfect for the chilly weathers to come. It's a versatile spice that's not limited to desserts and quick breads. Try adding cinnamon into curries and chili to give it another dimension of flavor and add warmth to the dish.

Haven't entered yet? Click here and tell me about what your guilty pleasure food(s) are. Winner will be chosen randomly on 12/14/09, my blog's first birthday. Best (worst?) guilty pleasure so far has been frozen Stouffer's Macaroni & Beef by Cienna - that just seems so wrong. Closely followed by BK chicken fries by C and soggy french fries by Maria. Keep commenting guys!