Best Apple Fritter Recipe

Have you ever been told to stop frittering your time away? Kind of a silly expression, if you think about it. After all, fritters are delicious, and any time spent "frittering" — whether it be making them or eating them — is time well spent. Luckily, these apple fritters from recipe developer Susan Olayinka really don't take much time to cook at all. They're fairly simple, consisting of a batter mixed with chopped apples, then fried to golden perfection. As a final touch, you can drizzle them with a sweet glaze, or, as an alternative, sprinkle them with powdered sugar instead. Olayinka also suggests a "caramel drizzle or cinnamon sugar" as a topping.

As Olayinka says of her apple fritters, these "taste like a cross between a doughnut and apple pie." She goes on to say that these pastries "taste best hot and [when] the apples have softened and warmed" and points out the contrasting textures of the finished product. When cooked correctly, she says the fritters are "crispy on the outside and soft on the inside," and when it comes to sweet treats, does it get much better than that? We think not, so let's jump right into this delicious dessert recipe.

To make these apple fritters, you will, of course, need some apples, so you may need to make a trip to the grocery store produce department. For the batter, you'll also need some basic pantry ingredients: all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon, as well as some milk and an egg. The glaze is a super-simple one, made of nothing more than powdered sugar mixed with a little water. As these fritters are deep-fried, you'll also need quite a lot of oil. Olayinka uses a full quart of vegetable oil, though canola will work just as well.

Olayinka used pink lady apples to make her fritters, but you could use honeycrisp, gala, or any similar type of apple instead. "Just not the sour greens ones," she notes, so avoid granny smiths.

You will, of course, need to core the apples before you use them, and Olayinka also peeled hers although this isn't strictly necessary since apple skin is perfectly edible, cooked or raw. Slice the cored apples into pieces about 1-inch thick.

The next step, after you've prepared the apples, is to mix up the fritter batter. Combine all of the dry ingredients: the flour, the baking powder, the cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon salt. In a separate bowl, mix the milk with the egg, then stir this liquid into the dry mix. Fold the chopped apples into the batter. While you're mixing things together, you can separately blend the powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of water to make the glaze to be used later. Set this glaze aside for the moment.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, deep skillet. Olayinka says the oil should be around 350 F when it's hot enough to fry the fritters. She explains that if a fritter sinks when you put it in the oil, then it's not hot enough. However, if it floats at the top of the oil, that means that it is frying to perfection.

Measure 2 tablespoons of fritter batter and pour it into the hot oil. Do this four more times until you have five fritters frying in the pan. Cook them for two minutes, flip, then fry for another two minutes until golden. Drain the fritters on paper towels while you make another batch — this one may just have four fritters, since Olayinka's batter made nine fritters in all. When all of the fritters are cooked and slightly cooled, drizzle them with the glaze or other desired topping before serving, and you're ready to enjoy this sweet treat.