Every year, the gnarled old apple tree in my parents’ lawn bursts into life. First, with an abundance of sweet blossom within the spring, and then with a harvest of extra apples that any family may want to probably desire to consume in 12 months, not to mention within the few weeks of the summer season that they want to be picked.
So, I’m constantly creating new recipes to use up the glut. This year, we’ll munch those spiced apple fritters while sitting inside the lawn with a tumbler of chilled apple juice.
Spiced apple fritters
Pectin is a sugar that acts because of the magical gelling agent in jams. Adding greater pectin to this apple sauce permits you to reduce the amount of sugar, and it will go away with a fruitier taste, too.
Prep 15 min
Cook 25 min
Makes 25-30
For the cakes200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp ground allspice
½ tsp salt
180g complete milk
60g dark brown sugar
Two medium eggs, crushed
40g unsalted butter, melted
Two huge apples (I like Granny Smith)
250ml vegetable oil, for frying
For the apple sauce
250g cloudy apple juice
40g apple pectin (I use Certo)
100g granulated or caster sugar
Juice of one small lemon
Greek yogurt to serve
To make the apple sauce, boil the apple juice in a saucepan. Continue to simmer until halved in extent, then add the pectin, sugar, and lemon juice. Boil for every other 5 minutes until the mix has started to thicken, then set aside to cool.
Sieve the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt into a bowl. Warm the milk and sugar in the microwave—just 30 seconds or so, to help dissolve the sugar—then pour the mixture over the dry elements, accompanied by the eggs and melted butter. Stir until you have a thick batter, adding an extra touch of milk if it’s too dense.
Peel, center, and grate the apples, then stir them into the batter. To cook dinner cakes, pour the oil into a massive frying pan and get it to a hot temperature but not smoking. Spoon heaped teaspoonfuls of the aggregate into the pan and fry for approximately 40 seconds on every side until they are a deep, toasted brown. To keep the cooked fritters heat even as you fry the relaxation, transfer them to a plate and put them in an oven heated to 120C (100C fan)/250F/fuel ½.
When equipped to serve, experience a spoonful of yogurt and apple sauce.