A ubiquitous carnival and fair food, funnel cakes are also popular on boardwalks and at outdoor music festivals. This fun, easy-to-share treat is like a huge tangle of crispy fried dough straws with a soft and fluffy interior, often covered in powdered sugar or other toppings, and making it at home can be challenging, but rewarding.

Funnel cakes were popularized in America by Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants from Germany, and it's a descendant of "drechter kuche," a treat made by drizzling dough into hot frying oil using a funnel. Today's funnel cakes are made very similarly, but it's less about using a funnel and more about getting the batter exactly right.

If your funnel cake batter is too thin, the dough won't form solid shapes in the frying oil, but if it's too thick, it will cook unevenly, with some parts raw while others are burnt. Many quick recipes call for store-bought pancake mix, but it's easy to make your own batter using flour, unsalted butter, water, salt, granulated sugar, and eggs.

Pouring the batter into a pastry bag with a ¼ inch round tip, or even using a squeeze bottle, gives you more control when piping it into the hot frying oil. Squeeze out the batter while moving your bag or bottle in a zigzag or spiral shape and fry it for 3 to 5 minutes, flipping it every 30 seconds, then remove it, let it cool a bit, and enjoy.