Apple Fritters

Apple fritters are quite possibly my favorite fall treat; these scrumptious, moist and sugar-spiced dollops of dough are amazing freshly fried or baked the next day if you have any leftover batter - just toss them in a muffin tin and let the oven do the work. A great addition to your Oktoberfest menu or just an easy way to make fresh doughnuts!

Ingredients
Apple Filling
2 tbs butter
1 lb Pink Lady & Green apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/3 cubes
2 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup hard apple cider
1 tbs apple cider vinegar

Batter
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
2 1/2 tbs butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt

Peanut or corn oil (for deep-frying)

Coating
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Courtesy of the Lovely Bon Appetit

Procedure
Apple Filling
Melt butter and saute apples with spices until they begin to soften, add cider and vinegar and cook until all the liquid evaporates. Let cool completely before adding to batter.

Batter
Whisk all dry ingredients together, except the salt. Mix together the buttermilk and egg yolks then add to the dry ingredients. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form (resulting foam will be sturdy enough to stand upright on the edge of the whisk), then gently add it to the previous mixture along with the cooled apple filling.

Frying
I recommend (if this is for a party) that you make the batter ahead of time and fry them to order - so much more delicious! You'll want about 2 inches of oil in your heaviest pan to hover around 320 F. The key to frying things is small batches and steady heat - if you add too much batter the temp will drop and your fritters will fall apart, if you have the heat too high after it has reached 320 F the fritters will burn on the outside before they finish cooking; in other words: maintain that temperature!

Having a basket spoon is helpful but not necessary. I usually use two spoons to manipulate a heaping tablespoon or so of batter in, about 4 at a time in my 2 L pot.

If you don't feel like frying these scrumptious treats, just toss them in an oiled muffin tin and you've got mini muffin-fritters! Hell this recipe even works great as a pancake batter.

My Favorite Muffin Tin