Glazed Apple Fritters
Loaded with fresh apples, these Glazed Apple Fritters
are the perfect treat for a cool Fall morning!
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What is your ultimate weakness when it comes to food? Is it something sweet? Or maybe salty? Mine is easy…it’s apple fritters. There. I said it. I have an apple fritter problem. I can’t walk past them in the store without grabbing one. In fact, I have to be a bit strategic in my weekly grocery store runs. There is a corner near the bakery stocked with doughnuts…including apple fritters. I channel my inner Usain Bolt to get through this section unscathed. Little old ladies and kids: watch out! I’d hate to run you over with my shopping cart as I race past the apple fritters.
When my little sis got married last summer, she handed out small boxes of mini-apple fritters as folks left the reception. I somehow managed to save those bad boys until the next morning, and I gobbled them down sitting in the Nashville airport. Best breakfast ever. When we went back to visit her earlier this year, I made her take a special trip over to that doughnut store. Yup, that happened. Hey, I was on vacation, and nothing says vacation like an apple fritter!
Back when I lived in Atlanta, I commuted several days a week over to Athens, GA for grad school. If I timed the traffic just right, then I could make it door to parking spot in 1.5 hours. There was an awesome convenience store about half-way between my house and campus, and I’d always stop and grab a diet soda on the way to class. Every once in a while, I’d grab an apple fritter, too. (Yes, I am fully aware of the irony of getting a diet soda along with an apple fritter.) Hey, that apple fritter helped me battle the traffic. It was a necessity.
Until recently, I’d never actually made apple fritters at home. But since we are smack in the middle of apple season here in upstate New York, I decided it was time to give apple fritters a shot. After doing a bit of fritter research, I decided to go with the yeasted version. I recognize this adds a bit of time to the process, but apparently the non-yeasted version just doesn’t quite make it to apple fritter stardom. (I’m sure I’ll try the non-yeasted version at some point, and I’ll report back. But for now, we’re going with the yeast!)
We try to avoid frying food too often around here. I’ll still fry occasionally, but it’s all about moderation! Considering how glazed apple fritters are my one true weakness, I think frying is completely justified on this occasion. This was my first attempt at making apple fritters, but I gotta say…they turned out great! They were incredibly tasty, although I may or may not have burned my tongue as I couldn’t wait long enough for them to cool. Oops.
Glazed Apple Fritters
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups canola or vegetable oil for frying
For the Dough
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ⅓ cup milk
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Apples
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large apple peeled, cored and diced
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- ½ cup apple cider
For the Glaze
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the yeast, flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Mix well.
- Add the milk, egg yolks, melted butter and vanilla extract. Stir until just combined. Transfer dough to an oiled bowl. Cover and place in a warm (85°F) location for 2 hours.
- To make the Apples, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the diced apples, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Stir until well coated. Add the apple cider and let cook for 9-10 minutes, or until cider is mostly reduced. Set aside to cool.
- Once dough has rested, transfer it to a well-floured countertop. Press dough out into a square approximately 10"x10". (The dough should be soft and roll-able at this point.) Spread the cooked apples evenly around the top of the dough, and then fold the dough into thirds (like a letter). Place dough on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Cover and place back in a warm location for another 30 minutes.
- Using a deep fryer or a large Dutch oven, heat the canola or vegetable oil to 375°F. (An easy way to check the temperature is to drop a pinch of flour in the oil. If it bubbles up and turns brown quickly, then the oil is ready to go.)
- On a well-floured surface, carefully press/roll the dough out into a rectangle about ½” thick.
- Cut the dough into 4-oz pieces (~1/3 cup of dough) and set pieces on a well-floured surface to rest for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the Glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in a small stainless steel bowl. Place bowl over a medium saucepan of gently boiling water (make sure water doesn’t touch bottom of bowl). Heat until Glaze is warm, stirring occasionally.
- Gently press/roll each piece of dough into a 4” oval. Carefully place the dough in the hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 60-90 seconds per side. (Tip: Don’t forget to flip the fritters to ensure even cooking.)
- Remove fritters from the oil and let dry on paper towels.
- While still warm, brush the fritters with the warm Glaze.
- Let fritters cool before serving.
OMG! My husband will not stop talking about apple fritters! He has been begging me to make them since he got home about a week ago! I have {gasp} never had one! He wants me to figure out how to make them in the oven. I am welcome to suggestions from the apple fritter King himself!
So I just pointed out your picture and he just looked at me accusingly with a stare that said, “See! Other people make them. Why are you so cruel?” Into the doghouse I go. Thanks, David. 😉
Oh no…I totally just got you in trouble, Lindsey. And all for an apple fritter. Sorry! Looks like apple fritters are going to be in your future soon! Wait, you’ve never had an apple fritter?? This is clearly a problem. Maybe you should play a trick on your husband and turn them into Maple Apple Fritters…that sounds delicious actually. 🙂
Oh now we’re talkin’! Maple Apple Fritters! Then he’ll never forgive me…but I’ll send you some because I know you’ll appreciate them lol!
Heck yeah! I’ll take any of those leftovers that you don’t want. Although fritters are really best fresh…so you might need to express mail them up. 🙂
My sweet tooth just kicked into high gear and did a back flip! These apple fritters must happen in my life…SOON!
Yes, yes and more yes, Becca! Fall just isn’t Fall without some apple fritters, right?? 🙂
Indeed! I’m trying to hold out for another week or two before I go apple picking so there’s more variety, but with all of these amazing apple recipes being tossed my way, I may break down and head over there this week!
Just do it! You can always go back next week for more apples…that’s my plan! 🙂
David – your apple fritters are making me sad I only have a sad banana to nibble on right now! OOh look at how that glaze has settled into those apple-dough nooks and crannies!!
Love that your sis handed out mini apple fritters to her wedding guests – now that’s a GREAT idea!
When y’all were in Atlanta – did you ever visit B J Reece in North GA? My daughter and I went apple picking there last year and had to go by the bakery to pay for our apple haul, while I did not see any apple fritters (think they were sold out), I did see these little hand held fried apple pie-ish thingies..of course we had to try one and they were out of this world!
Yes! I am totally aware of the fried apple hand-pies from the orchards. I don’t remember ever going to BJ Reece, but we did make our way up to Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge almost every year. I totally should try making some of those fried pies sometime…I had totally forgotten about them! Oh, and there’s nothing sad about a banana. Our weekday meals are definitely trimmed down…so that way, we can eat things like apple fritters on the weekends! Haha!
There is a non-yeasted version and you go with the yeasted version? Why doesn’t this surprise me? LOL! All jokes aside, these look great! I love a good apple fritter!
Hahaha! When I was typing that up, I totally thought about you, Tamara. 🙂 The yeasted version was awesome, but I do need to try the non-yeasted version next. You know, for research purposes. Haha!
Totally for research purposes! 🙂
Did ever have the fried peach pies from Mercier? They are to die for!! And so is the apple bread. And it is just about APPLE season here again.
Hmmm…I don’t think I ever tried the fried peach pies at Mercier, Steve. And now we live a looong way from there. But I do remember their apple bread being delicious. Yay for apple season, right? Thanks for commenting!
Wow. These pictures look so life-like I can *almost* taste it. I don’t think I’ve ever had an apple fritter. I’ve had apple pie and apple turnovers. And apple cider donuts. Yum.
Hmm, and the glaze sounds good too!
Haha…thanks, SueAnn! If only we had scratch-and-sniff monitors, right? I can’t believe you’ve never had an apple fritter…you need to fix that problem ASAP! Oh, apple cider doughnuts. I think I need to go get some of those this weekend. Yum!!
These look like the perfect indulgence. I am loving all the apple recipes there are around at the moment.
Thank you, Dannii! These fritters definitely fall in the “indulgence” category…and talk about something that is a weakness for me! Yes, apples are everywhere right now, and I love it. Soon enough, it’ll be pumpkin, but I’ll trying to hold on to the apples for a while longer. Haha!
Apple Fritters? Really? I’m surprised. I thought you were the “bring on the salty treats” kind o’ man. Like, where’s the beer and peanuts, you know… 😉
Anyways, those apple fritters look awesome my friend, and that glaze…killa!
Hey man…it’s all about the appropriate setting! Watching a football game? Bring on the salty snacks and beers. Sitting down for a cup of joe to watch the morning news? Throw an apple fritter my way!
I’m proud of you. The first step to overcoming addiction is to admit you have a problem. But listen, making the food you have an addiction to? Probably not the best way to beat it. Hahahaha… dudeeeee, these look awesome! I’m all about a good apple fritter. Why don’t you be a great wolfpack member and ship me a few of these? #wolfpackeats
Haha. Yes, I failed on my quest to overcome my apple fritter addiction. Hold up. Wait a second. Who says I was trying to overcome this addiction?? Apple fritters are the bomb! Are you just trying to get me to part with my fritters? Valiant effort, my friend. But, no. They’re mine…all mine! Haha! 🙂
This may possibly be your most dool-worthy post ever David. I want to climb through the computer and have one of these. Or two!
Thank you so much, Katie! I may have nibbled a bit on one of the extra ones while I was taking pictures. Fortunately, I was able to offload the rest onto my wife’s co-workers…I can’t exactly trust myself with a whole batch of apple fritters sitting in my kitchen! 🙂
These look delish! My mom used to make them for us when we were little. I guess I can surprise her and make them for her now. Since we come from a big family I will probably have to double or triple the recipe. Any tips other than just doubling the ingredients? Haven’t worked with yeast before.
Hey Jenny! I’ve never made a double batch of these fritters (I couldn’t trust myself with all those fritters around…haha), but I don’t think you’d have a problem doubling or tripling it. (Just for quick reference, a standard .25 ounce packet of yeast contains 2 1/4 tsp of yeast.) However, now that I think about it, I’d recommend dividing the dough into 2 different bowls if you make a larger batch…otherwise you’d have a huge bowl of dough that might be a little difficult to work with. It’ll also take a bit of time to fry all of the fritters depending on the size of your pan or fryer…but that’s not too hard. Just keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn! I hope these fritters remind you of the ones that your mom used to make…I bet she’ll be surprised! Thank you so much for stopping by. 🙂
I tried these tonight. They totally did not work. The dough didn’t rise too much and they fell apart when frying. Are you missing water in the dough?
Hey J, I’m so sorry you had trouble. I’ve actually made this recipe two more times since I posted this (we’re in the middle of apple season here in New York), and I haven’t had any issues. The main problem I can think of is measuring the flour. I typically bake by weight since it’s much more accurate, but for the blog I always use volume measurements (since most people are more familiar with volume measurements). Did you pack the flour when you measured it? (I hold the cup over the bag and then use a scoop to shake the flour into the cup. Then I scrape the top of the cup to level it before adding it to the recipe.) The dough should be soft and roll-able after it rises for 2 hours in a warm place, and you do need to be careful when placing it in the oil…but it shouldn’t fall apart. If you give it another shot, all I can suggest is adding 1-2 Tbsp of extra milk if the dough looks too dry. It’s also worth double-checking your yeast to make sure it’s fresh. The dough doesn’t rise a ton, but it should still rise some. It’s pretty difficult to trouble-shoot a recipe without being there, but I can say that I’ve made this one a couple of times with no trouble. Good luck!
oh my gawd. Apple fritters are my ultimate weakness when it comes to doughnuts! 😛 I seriously love them. . love them so much that I attended a donut class in seattle so I could learn how to make them! you did these justice!! They look SO good!!!
What?? I donut class?? Why am I just now hearing about this? That sounds like my heaven, Alice! Like you, I can’t look an apple fritter in the eye and say no. Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Hi David! I am an apple fritter junkie! I’ve tried the non-yeast recipes and they were good, but these look fantastic! For a while after we moved to TN I was able to get Arkansas Black apples from an older gentleman off the back of his pickup truck, but I haven’t seen him the past few years. They were the best baking apples! I located an orchard over by Nashville that has them and will plan a trip to see my son (who relocated from MI not too long after we did) when they are available (we live North of Knoxville), but a 3-1/2 hour trip to see him (and get apples) is well worth it!
I agree with you, Dorothy! Non-yeasted fritters are ok, but the yeasted version really take the cake (no food pun intended there…haha). I’ve never heard of Arkansas Black. Now I’m intrigued…although I’m guessing I won’t be able to find ’em here in upstate New York. My favorite is the Honeycrisp. Not sure if they have those down in TN, but if you ever find them…buy them! Lots of them! A trip to Nashville wouldn’t be too bad since you can see your son and grab some apples at the same time. 🙂