The Best Yeast Raised Apple Fritters Recipes

APPLE FRITTERS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the warm milk, sugar, and eggs.
• Add the dough hook attachment, and stir in the flour and salt. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. Cut the butter into small pieces and incorporate into the dough. Scrape the bowl a few times. Beat the dough until it becomes smooth, about 5-7 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for 5-6 minutes, making a smooth dough. This dough is going to be sticky when you turn it out.
• After kneading, shape into a round ball and place back into the greased mixing bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and drape with a clean kitchen towel. Place in a warm area and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough for a few minutes. Turn back into the greased bowl (spray with cooking spray again if needed) and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
• While the dough is rising, make your apple filling. Place the butter and lemon juice in a 10-12-inch cast iron pan over medium heat. Place the chopped apple pieces and the brown sugar into the pan.
• Cook the apples over medium-high heat for about 10-15 minutes, until slightly soft. Dissolve the cornstarch in cold water and pour over the apple mixture. Let bubble and thicken. Stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon so it does not burn.
• Remove from the heat once it's thickened and add the cinnamon and nutmeg. The apple mixture will thicken as it cools. Let cool completely.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out with a rolling pin. Making it into a rectangle shape, about 1/2-3/4-inch thick. Spread the apple filling evenly over the dough. Sprinkle generously with all-purpose flour. (about 1/2 cup or so). This will help absorb some of the moisture from the filling. Sprinkle generously with ground cinnamon.
• Roll up, starting at the long end, like you would cinnamon rolls. Cut the dough on a diagonal, then back the other way. You want to end up with pieces about the size of a quarter. Gently push the pieces back into small patties (about 3-4 inches in diameter). You'll want to sprinkle the pieces with flour as you go. This will be a sticky mess. But well worth the time, effort and mess involved.
• Place the apple fritter patties on lined half sheet pans. (you should get about 3 rows of 3 on each sheet pan) Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour, or overnight.
• While they are in the fridge, whisk together your icing. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside. You want it to be fairly thin.
• Heat canola oil in a large cast iron skillet to 375 degrees F. Use a digital thermometer to monitor the temperature of your oil.
• Fry for about 2-3 minutes per side. Flip carefully. Once fried, place them on a sheet pan lined with plenty of paper towels to absorb some of the excess oil.
• Let cool slightly before dipping only the tops in the icing. Let drip dry on a cooling rack, placed on a parchment lined half sheet pan. Once the icing is set, enjoy!

YEAST RAISED APPLE FRITTERS

Steps:

• Cook the apples in the sugar, butter, salt and spice until they turn a bit golden brown.
• In the meantime, reduce the cider and cider vinegar by half.
• When the apples are starting to get some color, add the reduced liquids and cook together until almost dry. If the apples are getting too much color before the liquid reduces sufficiently, simple drain them in a colander and call them done.
• Set aside.
• This dough uses the straight dough method, so just put all the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and turn it on medium-low speed.
• Once the dough has come together, turn the speed up just a bit and let the mixer knead the dough for about 5 minutes. The dough will be extremely soft--sort of on the edge of being a batter.
• Spray the top of the dough very well with pan spray and then cover and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours. It does not need to double, and it might not because of all the yolks and butter.
• Once the dough has risen, spray your hands well with pan spray (or rub them with coconut oil or something) and press the gases out of the dough.
• Press the dough up the sides of the pan a bit and then put about 1/3 of the apple mixture in the center.
• Fold all the sides in and press down again. Pan spray as necessary to keep things from sticking.
• Press the dough down again and up the sides of the bowl, and add another third of the apples.
• Fold in and then add the last third of the apple in the same way. Press down and fold over a couple of more times.
• There will be a lot of apples, so if some poke out, don't worry. Just keep going.
• Cover and let rest for about 20 minutes.
• Place the sugar, salt and baking spice in a gallon-sized zip top bag. Shake to distribute the spices and salt. Taste and add a bit more seasoning if necessary.
• Heat the oil to 350F.
• Have a cooling rack set over several layers of paper towels ready.
• When the oil has reached 350F, scoop the batter using a 1.5 ounce disher (about 3 tablespoons). Fry no more than four at a time. Total fry time will be about 5 minutes, until the fritters are a lovely deep golden brown.
• Place the first four on the draining rack.
• When the oil is back to temperature, fry four more.
• While those four are frying, place the first four in the gallon bag and shake so the fritters are completely covered with the spiced powdered sugar.
• Continue frying and "sugaring" until all the fritters are done.
• Dig right in.
• They are lovely with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, too.

CLASSIC APPLE FRITTERS DOUGHNUTS

Steps:

• For the dough: In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the yeast to the warm water. Add the sugar, stir and let stand 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, mace and salt. Set aside.
• When yeast is ready, add the shortening, egg and vanilla and mix with the PADDLE attachment on low speed for 1 minute (to break up the shortening). Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add a second third of the flour mixture and again, mix until combined. Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining flour mixture. Knead with the hook until all that flour is incorporated. If dough is sticky, start adding flour in 1 Tbsp. increments, until the dough comes together, clears the bottom of the bowl and is becoming smooth. Knead on medium for about 2 minutes more. The dough should be smooth and but still a bit moist (but not sticky).
• Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set-aside to rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
• Meanwhile, make the apple filling. Place the diced apples, sugar and lemon juice into a skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until all the liquid has evaporated and the apples are softened, about 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl to cool completely before using.
• *See the video above this Recipe Card for a complete demonstration of the following shaping and cutting process.
• When bread has finished it's first rise, remove to a lightly floured surface and roll into a 10-inch x 10-inch square. Sprinkle the apples over one half of the dough. Sprinkle all the cinnamon evenly over the apples and then sprinkle with the 1 Tbsp. flour. Fold the empty side of the dough over the side with the apples. Using a sharp knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough into 1/2-inch wide strips from top to bottom. Repeat cutting 1/2-inch strips from side to side, so you end up with small chunks of dough. Gather up the dough bits and cut some more, from different directions, until it is in small chunks and evenly mixed with cinnamon/apples/dough etc.
• Using floured hands, roughly shape into a 12-inch long x 3-inch wide log. Cut the log into 1 inch slices. With each slice, roughly pat into a disc, about the size of your palm (use some additional flour, as needed, if your dough is sticky). Place the dough discs onto a parchment lined or floured baking sheet, leaving a couple of inches of room around each. Repeat with all 12 dough pieces. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and set-aside to rise until doubled again, about 30-45 minutes (approximately. Will vary depending on room temperature. The fritters should double in size and look puffy).
• When the fritters are almost risen, prepare the glaze. Add the icing sugar, corn syrup, salt and vanilla in a large bowl. Set aside.
• In a small saucepan, bring the water and white granulated sugar to a boil over high heat then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 minute. Add this mixture to the bowl with the icing sugar and whisk until all the sugar and has been incorporated and the mixture is smooth. (You don't want any lumps :) Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until needed.
• When dough is about ready to cook, heat oil in a deep fryer to 370° (alternately, use a heavy deep pot and a thermometer to monitor temperature). Fry each donut until deep golden on the underside (1 1/2 - 2 minutes), flip over and fry the other side. (*time and temperature may need to vary. Watch closely the first few to determine timing. If they seem to be browning too quickly, lower temperature slightly or likewise, if they seem to be taking too long to brown, raise the temperature slightly). Remove to a cooling rack placed over a baking sheet. If there are any loose apples in the frying oil, scoop out between batches so you don't have any apple pieces burning in the oil and causing bitter flavours.
• While the fritters are still quite warm (as soon as they are cool enough to handle), dip into prepared glaze and return to cooling rack to cool completely. *Stir the glaze mixture regularly during the process, to keep it nice and smooth.

APPLE FRITTERS

Steps:

• Heat a couple of inches of vegetable oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium to medium-low heat until a deep-fry thermometer inserted in the oil registers 340 degrees F.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork, then add the milk, melted butter and vanilla. Gently fold the dry and wet ingredients together until just combined (do not over-mix). Fold in the apples, adding enough to make a very chunky batter.
• Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the hot oil, 6 to 8 at a time. Fry until golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Dust generously with powdered sugar and serve warm with sausage and bacon!

MOM'S APPLE FRITTERS

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a deep-fryer or electric skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour in the milk, eggs and oil and stir until well blended. Mix in apples until they are evenly distributed.
• Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil and fry until golden on both sides, about 5 minutes depending on the size. Fry in smaller batches so they are not crowded. Remove from the hot oil using a slotted spoon and drain briefly on paper towels. Toss with cinnamon sugar while still warm.

CHEF JOHN'S APPLE FRITTERS

Steps:

• Melt butter over medium-high heat and cook until it turns golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add apples and cook over medium-high heat until apples just begin to soften around the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle in 1 tablespoon sugar and continue cooking another 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Drain in a strainer; let cool to room temperature.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg together in a mixing bowl until well combined.
• Whisk egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter together in a separate mixing bowl. Add cooled apple pieces and sparkling apple cider; add the flour mixture. Stir just until flour is incorporated.
• Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spoon about 2 tablespoons batter per fritter, into hot oil, slightly flattening them out. Cook in batches. Fry on one side until small bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip fritters over and fry the other side until richly browned, about 2 more minutes.
• Transfer with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain grease. Cool slightly before glazing.
• Whisk powdered sugar and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Add enough apple cider, 1 teaspoon at a time, to form a smooth glaze that is just runny enough to drizzle over fritters.