Thursday 15 January 2009

Apple Fritters


Vegan Apple Fritters

Yum, these were so good.....An apple fritter has always been one of my favorite doughnuts, right up there with a maple glazed. Ever since making the glazed doughnuts I wanted to try these but could not find any recipes for them. This style seems unique to North America as others were frying battered apple rings and calling them "fritters".

So I thought I would just use my doughnut recipe and add some chopped apple and some cinnamon, still not quite sure how I was going to get the irregular shape that fritters have.... After I got started I did find some recipes and it appears that apple fritters are not a yeast risen doughnut at all but a looser, baking powder risen dough that you then drop into the hot oil with a spoon to get the wonky shape...it soon became evident why that is as I tried to knead a dough with large chunks of apple in it... like a fool....(!)

I was so sure this wasn't going to work out that I was going to dump the dough and try again without yeast but decided to give it a go. SO glad I did, it worked out fantastically, sure it was hard to knead and it didn't rise as much as the regular doughnuts but they are very tasty, moist and soft, crispy on the outside, just like they should be. The glaze turned out perfect as well, I tossed the whole warm fritters into the glaze then set aside to set.

Like the doughnuts they are best eaten right there and then, just wait to the glaze sets to crispy but they are still warm - perfect! They will get drier as the days go by, like the doughnuts did, so try to make enough too eat in 1 day or 2. The recipe below is my doughnut recipe halved, I got 10 fritters out of this as they are smaller than the doughnuts.

Apple Fritters:

1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
20g vegetable fat (shortening)
60g sugar
40ml dairy free 'milk' (I used rice dream)
20g egg replacer
250g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
90 - 100g peeled chopped apples (about 2 small/medium apples)
vegetable oil to fry

Add 1/4 cup of the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the fat and sugar and stir until melted. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool to lukewarm - mix in the milk. Dissolve the yeast in the other 1/4 cup of warm water and allow it to stand for 5 minutes. Give it a good mix with a fork then add it to the fat mixture - whisk well.


Mix in the salt, cinnamon and egg replacer into half of the flour. Add this to the liquid and stir with a wooden spoon. Slowly add the rest of the flour a little at a time until a soft dough forms. Add the apples bit by bit while kneading gently adding more flour if the dough is sticky. I didn't need quite all the flour but did use it all whilst kneading. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until soft and elastic - shape into a large ball. Grease a large warm bowl and place the dough in, turning once. Cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in volume.

Tear off the dough into rough shapes, you want them wonky and rustic, and place on a baking sheet, cover loosely with greased cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for another hour. 

When time to cook make sure you make your glazes first and set aside then heat up the oil. Drop doughnuts into the hot oil (not too hot, if you have a thermometer it's supposed to be 370F. I didn't have one and had to guess, they should sizzle when they go in but not rolling about. Cook for about 2 minutes a side, you want them nice and golden. 

Glaze:

1 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
enough boiling hot water to make a thin glaze.

After frying the fritters, place them on paper towels to drain slightly, then while still warm toss them about in the glaze then place back onto paper lined baking sheets to let the glaze set.




**I have to say it's really nice to not be able to just pick up some doughnuts in a shop and to be 'forced' to make my own. It's enjoyable, fairly easy, you get fresher doughnuts and it means you don't have them that often, which is a good thing for a fat, sugary treat! Above all that though, look at my ingredients for apple fritters, now look at Dunkin Donuts ingredients:

Ingredients: Donut Dough {Dough Mix [Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Barley Malt, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Dextrose, Soybean Oil, Contains 2% or less of: Salt, Soy Flour, Maltodextrin, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda), Wheat Starch, Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate (Dough Conditioner), Cellulose Gum, Guar Gum, Gum Arabic, Carrageenan, Xanthan Gum, Soy Lecithin (Emulsifier), Enzymes, Artificial Flavor, Modified Food Starch, Vegetable Color (Annatto, Turmeric), Milk (Trace), Egg (Trace)], Water, Yeast}, Apple Filling [Water, Sugar Syrup, Corn Syrup, Evaporated Apples, Modified Food Starch, Contains 2% or less of each of the following: Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate (Preservatives), Salt, Cinnamon, Malic Acid, Nutmeg], Glaze [Sugar, Water, Maltodextrin, Contains 2% or less of: Propylene Glycol, Mono and Diglycerides (Emulsifier), Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Agar, Citric Acid, Carboxymethyl Cellulose, Artificial Flavor], Shortening (Palm Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil and Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil with TBHQ and Citric Acid added to help protect flavor), Cinnamon.

Even with the few extra ingredients the egg replacer and rice dream add, I know which ones I would prefer....


8 comments:

  1. I can tell you how to get that irregular shape :)... I worked at Winchells donuts and after cutting out the raised donuts for glazed donuts I would put together the scraps together and re-roll out and cut out as many round (perfect) donuts as I could get.. when the dough would get to where there were folds that would make ugly donut at dough would be put aside to use for fritters.. This dough was rolled out and chopped up into a bunch of pieces and the apple filling dumped on top and a good shake of cinnamon and then the mass was folded together. Then I would grab or kinda chop off a portion of the mass and shape into a glob. Bunch of globs on a screen and let raise a bit then slowly lower into hot grease/oil. Have to be careful turning because they fall apart easy. But that is how to get them where they flake apart like that... old tough over rolled dough cut into little pieces various sizes mixed with apple chunks. It takes a little practice to get good at it.. I did :)

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  2. Ah, brilliant! Thanks so much for your comment!! Great to finally know how it's done properly. I do love fritters but haven't made these since I posted, will definitely have another go with your method! :-)

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  3. was just making some today... it has been 10 years since i made them.. I recommend not cutting into pieces, but kind of like a bunch of cuts in the rolled dough and cut in the apple. If the dough is left in sort of a web condition before forming it into little patties, the pieces wont pop off from the fritter as it fries.I don't remember the name of the tool I used to chop around on the rolled dough but it was kinda like a flat blade thing; doubled as a chopper and a spatula to pick up the fritter to go into the oil. I must have ate 5 today..I'm stuffed. Start out with small patties. I cooked 1 at a time and my first 2 were under cooked so it takes a little practice to get the heat and time right so they are a bit dark but not burnt and not doughy.

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  4. Thanks so much for the advice, I'm so eager to try these again now! ♥ (I could easily eat 5 too! :-)

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  5. I buy doughnuts on the weekend from the local grocery store, which often does some interesting variations on their doughnuts. I had a maple-glazed creme-filled long john with nuts on top, and today I discovered a whole tray of apple fritters covered in maple glaze! It was sinfully divine, so if you ever decided you wanted to combine your favorite doughnuts into one...

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  6. O.M.G! Apple fritters covered in maple glaze would be unbelievable!! Can't believe I never thought to combine the two! Thanks for the tip....if I wasn't on a healthy baking kick at the moment I'd be rushing to the kitchen now!!

    :-)

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  7. To anonymous: You forgot a couple of steps. After chopping the mass of dough and apples(other fruit)and cinnamon, you form a small ball with the aid of flour in your hands and press flat. Then use fingers to form out the fritter making a hamburger size patty very pitted and rough looking. THEN you proof it or let it rise again before frying. That will give you the fritter. Fry it until pretty brown, turning at least twice so the inside will cook. Then glaze and let cool. You can use fresh dough and do not have to use scrap dough. Just roll out the dough 2 or 3 times to toughen it up some. Be generous with the cinnamon. The fritter before it proofs the last time, and before you form a ball in your hands will be very sticky and gooey. Have flour spread out and it doesn't hurt to have flour on your hands. Don't be concerned about using enough flour to make the patty non sticky. You really won't overdo it. But proofing is the key to a raised mix.
    Chef Blue

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  8. Cool. Thanks so much for the information, it's great to know how these should be done :-)

    Really must give them another go!

    Cheers!!

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