Did you ever eat a bakery-fresh Apple Fritter? Imagine having that taste from the comfort of your own home! These special treats are totally worth the time!!! Better than the bakery!
12 is too many for you? Just freeze them! They are just as delicious later! #SoNomNom4u #applefritters #vegetarian
NOM NOM Apple Fritters
Dough:
2 (.25 oz) packages of active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (about 90°F)
2 cups Bread Flour
1/3 cup + 3 tsp white or turbinado sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP butter
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
Filling:
4 Granny Smith Apples (peeled, corred and chopped into 1/4" cubes)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
2 TBSP cinnamon
1 TBSP flour
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 TBSP heavy cream (or any liquid)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
To make dough:
Put Dough hook on stand alone mixer.
In the mixer bowl, add yeast, water and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes or until yeast is foamy. Why yeast is sitting and proofing, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl, set aside.
Check the yeast. Is it foamy? Great! Now add the sugar, butter and vanilla to the yeast mixture and turn it on low (on 2) for 1 minute. After a minute, slowly add the flour, one small scoop at a time. When all flour is added, continue mixing with dough hook until sides of bowl are clean and a ball of dough is formed. Remove dough from the bowl and rub inside of that bowl with oil and place dough back into bowl and rub oil on outside of dough. cover with a clean towl or plastic wrap and let set for about an hour. Dough should be about twice its original size after an hour.
To Make Apple Mixture:
Peel all the apples and decore them and cut apples into 1/4" cubes. Toss into a small saucepan with brown sugar and lemon juice. Cook on medium heat, stirring often, until you have cooked the liquid out and your apples are sticky and soft. set aside to cool in fridge.
Back to the Dough:
Its probably an hour. Go check your dough now. Has it doubled? Awesome! Now, gently sprinkle a large surface with flour and plop that dough right down on it. now, rool the dough with a rolling pin into a big square. (About 10" x 10")
Now, pour (completely cooled) apple mixture over 1/2 of the top of this big dough square. evenly sprinkle the cinnamon over the apples. Only half of the square should be covered.
Now, take the empty half and fold it over the apple covered half. Well done. Yours sure looks beautiful!
Now, the fun part. Stay with me here. It may sound complicated byt you'll do great. You should have a apple filled folded square. Go get a large, sharp knife and cup that square into vertical strips. Now, take that same knife and cut it horizontally until your square is a bunch of dough cubes. now, grab the dough chunks and make sort of a messy, loose pile and take that knife and chop away, making the chunks a bit smaller. Does everything look blended and mixed? Great!
Now, form all the dough chunks into a big long log about 12 inches long and 3" diameter. If it is sticking to your hands, flour them! Cut the log into (12) 1" slices and smash each disk in your hand to about 3" diameter circle. Place flattened dough pieces on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Repeat until all disks are flat and on the sheet. Make sure to leave them about 2 inches apart. Cover cookie sheet and let rise 40 minutes until doubled in size.
Glaze:
While you are waiting on the second rise of the dough, how about you make the glaze! Grab a medium bowl and pour the 1 cup of powder sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla in the bowl. Add 1 TBSP of Heavy cream ( or your chosen liquid). Is it still too thick to call a glaze? Add another TBSP of liquid. Keep doing this until the glaze is thin enough to drizzle but not too thin!
Go turn on your deep fryer to about 375° F or prepare a large pot with 1/4 fill of fresh oil.
Also, prep a cookie sheet with a drying/cooling rack on top and paper towels between cookie sheet and cooling rack.
Back to the Fritters!
Has it already been 40 minutes? Man, time flies! Did your fritters raise? I sure hope so! Now the fun part! Place 2 fritters at a time (if you have enough room, otherwise do 1 at a time) into the 375°F oil, fry until golden, flip and fry other side until golden. Remove from oil and place on the cooling rack. Repeat with other fritters until they are all made. Dip each fritter into your glaze when they are still warm/hot and place back onto the cooling rack to completely cool!
Serve and enjoy. These are so delicious!
