Apple fritters don't need to acquired at the donut shop, they are super easy to make at home. This recipe is as easy as making pancakes!
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Apples, Donuts, Feeds a Crowd, Quick & Easy
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Servings 10
Ingredients
Fritters
3apples peeled, cored, and diced into bite-sized pieces
1tbspbutter
1tbspbrown sugar
1/2lemonjuiced
1ozapple brandy
1 ¼cupsall-purpose flour
1 ½tspbaking powder
½tspkosher salt
1tspapple pie spice
2largeeggsseparated
¼cupsugar
1tbspmelted butter
½cupapple juice
Glaze
1 ¼cupsconfectioners sugar
¼tspvanilla
½tspChai spice
2-4tbspapple juice
Instructions
In a medium skillet, heat 1 tbsp of butter. Cook the butter over medium heat until it turns slightly brown and starts to smell nutty. Add the apples to the pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Then add the brown sugar, apple brandy, and lemon juice. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the liquid in the pan reduces and becomes syrupy. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool while you make the batter.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, kosher salt, and apple pie spice.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, melted butter, and apple juice.
In a large bowl, using a mixer or by hand, whip the egg whites to medium peaks.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir the batter together until just combined and there are only a few streaks of dry flour left.Fold in the cooled apples.Stir about 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into the batter to lighten it up. Then gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the batter until just combined.
Add about 2 inches of vegetable oil in a high sided skillet, cast iron skillet, or Dutch oven. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until the oil registers 365F degrees on a candy thermometer. Scoop about 1/4 cup of batter into the hot oil. Flatten slightly and fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side until the fritters are a deep golden brown. Fry about 3 fritters at a time so as not to crowd the pan. Drain on a rack over a sheet pan so that the oil drains away from the fried fritters. Let fritters cool for about 5 minutes while you make the glaze.
Whisk together the confectioners sugar, Chai spice, vanilla extract, and apple juice until smooth and a consistency that you can drizzle over the fritters. Then glaze the fritters. You can drizzle, dip, or brush the glaze onto the fritters. A silicone brush makes this an efficient and clean process.
Notes
Use a sweet tart apple variety like a Macintosh or Honey Crisp.
If you don't have apple pie spice, use 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of ginger, and 1/8 tsp of nutmeg.
To make whisking the egg whites quicker, use room temperature eggs.
You can replace the apple juice in this recipe with apple cider.