A surprising trick to get bakery-quality apple fritters at home

My husband and I spent months asking people for dining recommendations before our June 2022 trip to Memphis, Tennessee. We were flooded with BBQ reviews (and left the trip at Charlie Vargos’ Rendezvous ribs, for what it’s worth) and Southern food restaurant guides, and, from friends who actually lived in Memphis, several Insist that we visit a specialty donut shop.

Readers, I don’t need to tell you that this was the only recommendation that exceeded my dreams, did I?

We visited Gibson’s Donuts every morning of this trip, leaving with five donuts and an apple fritter each time. The donuts were of course delicious, but the apple fritters were outstanding. Platonic ideal. Mighty in their glory. Each one is about the size of a newborn’s head (or so I imagined), covered in the thinnest, prettiest glitter glaze, filled with evenly chewy, sharp apple chunks, and each A curry with a thick, cakey batter on the twist. At the start of summer, they ate like your best strawberry festival bake sale memory. We returned in August, and they were a great way to prepare for fall.

When we returned in late October, the Gibsons knew us. Related: Our first child was born on this trip. My husband came in at 5am the day after Gibson was born and announced “I’m having a daughter”, and from what I heard, the whole shop cheered. All the L&D nurses, nodding in approval to Gibson, got donuts, and I got extra apple fritters that morning.

The next 72 hours were a blur. But what I remember more vividly than eating an apple fritter at 33,000 feet on my way to New York was a 2.5-day-old baby strapped to my chest, his beautiful, sweet-smelling head in the apple fritters. was covered. Wondering if I’ve already failed as a mother. Laughing to her husband: “This thing is as big as his head.” It was a wild time. But I’ve spent years — actually more ground than this week — searching for other, better apple fritters. They don’t exist. This recipe, though—it comes close.

Making the ideal apple fritter takes a lot of testing.

I spent a few days in Birmingham this summer, eating apple fritters made by our test kitchen colleague Liz Mervish. We talked about what that platonic apple fritter ideal really means, and it all boils down to patty thickness to fluffy-to-interior ratio, apple slice size and texture, and sparkling sweetness.

The most important of these elements was the thickness of the fritters themselves. Through several rounds of tests, Liz discovered that the ideal fritters should be thick and sticky. Not only does this allow for an A+ wrap on the apple slices, but it also gives you time to flatten your fritters while they’re taking their time cooking in the oil. (Liz found that a large soup spoon worked best here, as it gave her more control while forming the dough) As for the actual thickness of the patty you’re aiming for? You don’t need to extend your jaw to cut the final product, and, if I haven’t mentioned, it should be big and round. It also allows for a fritter that is more on the outside than the inside. You want it! The opposite is achieved by chewing too much raw. That way you literally get golden brown, crispy-crunchy edges in every bite. Adjust accordingly.

Perfect apples for fritters

As far as fruit goes, Liz landed on Granny Smith as her favorite apple. “It’s firm and holds its texture,” writes Liz, “and its naturally tangy flavor contrasts perfectly with the sweetness of the glaze.” He tested batches with raw apple slices and batches with equally cooked apple slices. Ultimately, we crave more tartness (and less rawness) than plain old Granny Smith apple bits provide. When Liz added lemon juice to her version of baked apples, we knew we had it: “ripe apples with a lemony texture blend better than raw apple slices,” she notes. is

Making the Perfect Glaze for Apple Fritters

Finally, for the glaze, Liz added apple cider to the equation, which took the fritters from “something familiar you’ll be absolutely happy to eat every time you eat it” to “something completely and utterly satisfying that You simply cannot. Imagine Available on cold days.” Barely there with the coating gives the experience a pleasant, glossy stickiness that you realize is much more on your fingers afterwards than you see it in real time.

All of this is to say: if done right, apple fritters can bring just as much joy to kids. Happy frying.

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