Chai Spiced Apple Cider Fritters With Maple Cider Glaze

These little guys disappeared quite quickly and I wasn’t surprised as I have two doughnut loving people in the house who just couldn’t resist these delicious fritters. Neither could I, and I usually steer clear of all fried things. They are so fragrant from the spices and the glaze is heavenly. The batter is light with very tiny pieces of apple that add a lovely sweetness and nice texture to each bite.

Are you convinced and want to make them yet? The selling feature to any recipe for me is quick and easy. You could tell me all sorts of things about how good a recipe is but if it’s not a simple straight forward one I’m definitely saving it, but won’t be making it any time soon. Those are the recipes I make on a long weekend or a holiday when I have all day to spend in the kitchen. No need to save this recipe for a day with more time cause these take minutes to whip up. The batter needs zero time to proof, is made of very simple pantry ingredients, and so is the glaze.

I was super excited to make something with the apple cider that I got from the apple farm I visited and of course I still had plenty of apples from Apple picking as well. These seemed to be the perfect thing to make with those two items. I was not disappointed and neither was the family as I mentioned above. The only thing you will worry about after making these is having to make a few more batches after the first one is gone and your family keeps begging for more. So definitely save your frying oil. Good thing they are simple to whip up. Hope you guys love them and ‘doughnut’ miss out on making them this Apple season!

Recipe

Makes 12-15 fritters

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour 
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• ¼ tsp ground cardamom
• ¼ tsp ground clove
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• a pinch salt
• ⅓ cup apple cider
• 1 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 apple, peeled and finely diced
• 4 cups vegetable oil for frying

maple cider glaze

• 1¼ cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsp apple cider
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, all the spices and salt.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the apple cider, butter, vanilla and egg.

3. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the cider mixture, stirring until just combined.

4. Gently fold in the diced apple.

5. Heat the oil in a deep heavy-bottomed pot to 360°F. If not too sure pinch off a small amount of batter and place in the oil to test.

6. Working in batches of five or six, depending on the size of your pot, scoop the batter out by heaping tablespoons and gently lower into the oil. (I usually spray my tbsp with oil which helps the batter from sticking to it when trying to transfer it to the hot oil)

7. Fry the batter for 2 minutes, then flip and fry until golden brown, 1 or 2 minutes more.

8. Lower the heat if they start to brown too quickly otherwise they will be crisp on the outside and undercooked on the inside.

9. Place the fritters on paper towels over cooling rack to drain the excess oil.

10. To make the glaze, whisk together the icing sugar, cider, maple syrup and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth.

11. Dip the fritters one at a time into the glaze to cover completely, allowing the excess to drip off.

12. Place the fritters on a wire cooling rack until the glaze has set; serve.

Adapted from Style at Home