Delicious homemade apple fritters, slightly healthified, and ready in thirty minutes!
Yesterday I shared an epic list of 50 apple recipes— recipes that will have you enjoying the crisp, sweet fruit for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Not to mention, snacks in between, and apple-y desserts to wrap up the day. If you haven’t checked out the list yet, pop over to it and save it to refer back to later. You don’t have to buy two bushels of apples to take advantage of the list of recipes. Just pick up a variety while you are at the farmers’ market, or while they are seasonal and on sale at your favorite grocery store.
I will be sharing a handful of new apple recipes here in the next few days to follow up yesterday’s list. You can expect a quick and easy spiced apple steel cut oats, frosted apple brownies made in a blender and cooked in the Instant Pot, a very kid-friendly side dish, and more.
But I’m starting with with homemade apple fritters. Because homemade donuts are always a good place to start.
The bar is HIGH for apple fritters at my house. They are my husband’s favorite dessert, and not just any ol’ fritter is good enough.
I’m happy to report that the recipe I’m sharing with you today has passed the test. Though, not before a few versions that were declared “not sweet enough”, “too bready”, or prepared with the wrong size apple chunks. Like I said, the standard for apple fritters is high here.
True to form, I wanted to come up with a recipe that took a delicious favorite and make it a little healthier and maybe a little easier too. (A little, because after all, it is still a donut and meant to taste like one). So I subbed the butter for applesauce, left out the refined sugar for a healthier maple syrup, and simplified a couple of other ingredients.
If you want a completely naturally sweetened fritter, you can leave off the glaze at the end. The fritters will still be delicious, but obviously a little less sweet. If you don’t mind treating yourself, the glaze is super simple to make and only uses three ingredients– one being water. (You don’t even need to have powdered sugar on hand since it can be easily made at home!)
These homemade apple fritters are fried in a shallow pan of oil. I like to keep a container of non-GMO canola oil on hand for the occasional pan-fried chicken or quick fried veggies.
I LOVE my cast iron pans for apple fritters. They keep the oil heated evenly and do not take very long to come to temp. Another thing you will want to be sure to do is check the oil temperature before cooking your fritters. The oil temp is super important and can really affect the final taste of the apple fritters. An inexpensive candy thermometer is all you need, and you can find them in the kitchen section of any store, or of course, on Amazon.
Kitchen equipment you’ll need:
- 12″ cast iron skillet (or enameled cast iron dutch oven)
- candy thermometer
- wire cooling rack
Prep Time:
Yield:
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Delicious homemade apple fritters, slightly healthified, and ready in thirty minutes!
Ingredients
Fritters
- 2 C flour
- 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/3 C maple syrup
- 1/2 C applesauce
- 2 eggs
- 1 C diced apples (about 1 Granny smith)
- 1 1/2 C non-GMO canola oil (or oil of choice)
Glaze
- 1/2 C powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp water
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a 12″ cast iron skillet over medium heat until it reaches a temperature of 300-315 degrees.
- Mix together the dry ingredients (flour through baking powder) in a small mixing bowl. Combine the maple syrup, applesauce, and eggs in a measuring cup and mix with a whisk. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Gently fold in the diced apples.
- When the oil is between 300 and 315 degrees, use a spatula to carefully drop 5 portions of the dough into the hot oil (about 1/4C size portions). Gently press down on the fritters to slightly flatten them. Set a timer for 6 minutes, and flip the fritters after 2 minutes.
- After 5-6 minutes in the oil, remove the fritters from the oil and place them on a wire cooling rack to drain.
- Repeat steps 3-4 to cook the remaining 5 fritters.
- (Optional) To make the glaze: Whisk together the powdered sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of water and whisk to make a thick glaze. Add an additional tablespoon of water as needed to achieve desired consistency.
- Best served warm!
So easy and so yummy. Love this recipe.
★★★★★
HeyLisa,
Thes homemade apple fritters look yummy and it seems to be a time saver for preparing a quick snack or dessert for children and family.Loved it <3. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
★★★★★