Homemade Apple Fritters with Apple Cider Glaze

5 from 13 votes

Homemade Apple Fritters with Apple Cider Glaze

These Homemade Apple Fritters are surprisingly simple to make and they are OUT OF THIS WORLD delicious! Light and fluffy on the inside, crisp on the outside, drenched in buttery maple glaze - they practically melt in your mouth.

Prep Time45

Cook Time20

Dough Resting1

Total Time2 5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Dessert

Keyword: Apple Fritters, Apple Dessert, Donuts

Servings: fritters

Author: Stephanie Simmons

Ingredients

For the Fritter Dough

1/2 cup milk 116 mL
1 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp granulated sugar 26 grams
2 tbsp salted butter, melted 28 grams
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
1 and 3/4 cups + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour 234 grams
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
plenty of vegetable oil, for frying

For the Caramelized Apples

2 large apples, peeled, cored, & diced Use something that's firm and good for baking like a mix of Honeycrisp & Granny Smith. 300 grams chopped, or 2 and 3/4 cups, or 10.4 ounces
1 tbsp salted butter
3 tbsp light brown sugar, packed 36 grams
1/2 tsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp water

For the Apple Cider Glaze

4 tbsp salted butter, melted 57 grams
1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar 173 grams
3 tbsp apple cider concentrate also called boiled apple cider - see note below!
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk as needed, to thin the glaze out
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prep: Get out a large heavy-bottomed pot (like a dutch oven) for frying. Add vegetable oil until the pot is halfway full (you want at least 4-5 inches of oil, in my experience). Don't start heating it yet. This recipe is not as hard as you may think - but do read through the directions once before beginning so you are prepared.
Line a baking sheet with paper towels, place a cooling rack on top, and set this next to the stove where you'll be frying your fritters later.
plenty of vegetable oil, for frying
Make the Fritter Dough: Measure out the milk and microwave it in 15 second intervals until it's about 110℉. You can test it with the same thermometer you'll be using to fry the dough. If it's within 5ish degrees either way, that's fine.
Add all dough ingredients, except the flour & spices, to a large bowl and whisk together. Stir in the flour and spices last. You will have a wet, shaggy looking dough (see photos in the post above). Flour the counter and your hands well - dump the dough out and knead it gently for 1-2 minutes, to smooth it out. Form it into a ball. Spray the same mixing bowl (no need to clean it) with cooking spray, place the dough ball in it, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Note: Rise time may be a tad longer on cold days, and a tad shorter on warm days - but go by the appearance over the time.
1/2 cup milk, 1 tsp instant yeast, 2 tbsp granulated sugar, 2 tbsp salted butter, melted, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 large egg, at room temperature , 1/4 tsp salt, 1 and 3/4 cups + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg
Make the Caramelized Apples: While the dough rises, make the apples. Add the butter to a medium nonstick pot on the stove, and melt. Once melted, add the rest of the apple filling ingredients except the corn starch & water. Cook over medium high heat, stirring, for about 8-10 minutes - or until the apples are tender and the mixture has caramelized. If there's a lot of liquid, stir together cornstarch and water in a small bowl until dissolved, and stir into the apples over medium high heat. Cook for 1 minute or so until the juices thicken up. Remove from heat and set aside.
2 large apples, peeled, cored, & diced, 1 tbsp salted butter, 3 tbsp light brown sugar, packed, 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1/8 tsp ground cloves, pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp corn starch, 1/2 tsp water
Assemble the Fritters:
Photos for these steps are all included in the blog post above. BEGIN HEATING YOUR FRYING OIL OVER MEDIUM-HIGH HEAT AT THIS POINT. You want it to reach 365℉, and this will take a little bit.
Once the dough has risen, flour your counter and gently pat the dough out into a rectangle that's a little less than 1/2 inch thick. Spread 2/3 of the apple mixture onto the dough, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, and then fold the top third of the dough down onto the bottom third, like you're folding a letter. Gently pat the dough back out until it's about 3/4 inch thick. Add the remaining 1/3 of the apple mixture, and fold into thirds from side to side this time, instead of from top to bottom. Gently press the dough out one last time to about 3/4 inch thick. (See step-by-step photos above in the blog post.)
Spray a large kitchen knife well with cooking spray. Slice the dough into 24 squares - wiping the knife and re-spraying between as necessary so the dough doesn't stick. Using well-floured hands, gather the pieces into 8 mounds, and gently work them into rough balls, tucking the apples in as best you can. These should NOT be perfect balls - they should be lumpy and bumpy and odd - that's part of the charm of apple fritters! We're mainly just trying to get the dough to hold together into 1 mound, with the apples tucked in so they don't all fall out when we fry them.
Let these balls rest for 15 minutes.
Fry the Fritters: Check that your oil is heating - you can turn up the heat if it's going too slowly. Be careful - the oil will be VERY hot. Once the oil is at 365℉, keep your burner at medium heat, and fry the first fritter as a test, for 90 seconds on each side, using a metal slotted spoon or spatula to transfer it in and out of the hot oil. It should turn a nice deep shade of golden brown. Place on your rack and use the instant read thermometer to check the temp in the center of the thickest part of the fritter - it should be around 212 to 220 degrees inside. If it's raw dough in the middle, you'll see some raw dough on the point of the thermometer. Check that your oil is between 345℉ and 365℉ and add the fritter back in for 10-30 more seconds, until it reaches temp.
Remember to adjust the heat as needed. Adding the friters will lower the temp of the oil a bit, so continue to check it throughout.
Continue with the remaining fritters, 2-3 in the pot at a time, frying for 90 seconds on each side, until deep golden brown, making sure to keep an eye on the oil temp, and adjusting the burner heat as necessary to keep it constant. That's the main thing to keep in mind with frying donuts or fritters - if the heat is too low, they won't fry properly, and if it's too high, they'll burn quickly on the outside while remaining raw on the inside.
Make the Glaze: Melt butter in a medium bowl, then whisk in the remaining glaze ingredients. Taste and adjust as desired.
4 tbsp salted butter, melted, 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tbsp apple cider concentrate, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 1-2 tbsp milk, pinch of cinnamon, pinch of salt
Glaze the Fritters: As soon as the fritters have cooled just enough to handle, dunk them in the glaze, and place on a cooling rack over a parchment-lined baking sheet. You can scrape the excess glaze that falls off back into the bowl and re-use it.
Serve + Store: Enjoy immediately! Apple Fritters are best when fresh and warm! They won't be as good the next day, but you can store any leftovers (if you have any, hehe) in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days. Reheat gently in the microwave until warm and melty again.
Make-Ahead Tips:
Glaze: The glaze can be made 1-2 days ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container. Gently microwave to bring it back to dunking consistency.
Apples: The apples can be prepared 1-2 days ahead and refrigerated until ready to use. Gently reheat so they're lukewarm before adding to the dough.
Fritters: The fritters can be assembled completely, but if you want to make them ahead, don't fry them yet. Place the assembled fritters in a parchment lined airtight container and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before frying. Let them come to room temperature on your counter for 1 hour before frying.

Notes

Boiled Apple Cider: You can purchase boiled cider online. Just be sure the only ingredient is apple cider. Do not use apple cider vinegar - this is, as the name implies, vinegar and not the same as the apple cider you'd drink.

Nutrition