Nothing quite like some beautiful fried fritters for Christmas (I know its still October hehehehe), and for me the best ones are those with fruits and vegetables! In this case, I have some apple fritters for you. I used Fuji apples, which are crispy and super sweet, perfect for making fritters. These are the kind of fritters that I truly love, fruit fritters taste fresh and so much better to me than just dough with sugar or chocolate or any of those things!
An important sidenote: as you can see in the photos, the fritters came out a bit more flattened instead of round balls. I think the problem was that I didn’t fill the pan with enough oil, and I also think I should have dried the apples on paper towels after chopping them before adding them to the batter. I think that made the batter just slightly too liquid. But even so, even if these didn’t come out as perfect as I wanted (in looks, not in taste!), they were still absolutely delicious, and everyone ate them up in a jiffy! That’s the beauty of these fritters, they’re so good that imperfections don’t matter one bit.
So let’s get to the recipe!
Portuguese Christmas Apple Fritters • Sonhos de Maçã
Oh yeah hehehe, im not sure if anything can beat these beautiful fried fritters for Christmas, they might just steal the show!
Ingredients
- Apples – 4 (Small, or 2 Medium)
- Eggs – 3
- Sugar – 50g
- Flour – 250g
- Milk – 80ml
- Baking Powder – 2 Teaspoons
- Lemon – 1/2 (Juice)
- Sugar – For Sprinkling
- Cinnamon – For Sprinkling
- Sunflower Oil – A Pinch
Directions
- Start with the dough, place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk well until you have a smooth cream.
- Then add the sifted flour and baking powder, followed by the milk, until you have a smooth cream. Set aside.
- Peel and cut the apples into small cubes, place them in a bowl with lemon juice.
- Then dry the chopped apples with kitchen paper (or clean kitchen towel) to remove excess liquid, add to the dough and mix.
- Pour the oil into a deep pan, at least 4 fingers deep, heat the oil over medium-high heat (you can pour in a little of the batter, when it bubbles, then the oil is ready for frying), then spoon in the batter and fry until golden brown.
- When golden brown, remove from the oil and place on a colander or kitchen paper to drain the excess oil, then transfer to a deep dish with sugar and cinnamon and mix.
- Repeat until you have no more batter. Bon appétit!
Make sure you use plenty of oil in your pot—at least 2 inches (4 fingers) deep. This helps the fritters puff up into round shapes rather than flattening out.
After chopping the apples and tossing them in lemon juice, pat them VERY dry with paper towels. Excess moisture will thin out your batter and lead to flatter fritters.
Use crisp, sweet apples like Fuji, Honeycrisp, or Gala. Avoid mealy or overly soft apples.
As you can see in the photos, you can coat them with sugar and cinnamon, but you can also serve them with no coating at all. Inside they’re not overly sweet, but they still have some of the natural sweetness from the apples.
You can also try these with orange syrup drizzled over them, absolutely divine! Or swap brown sugar for white sugar in the coating for a deeper flavor.
These are best eaten warm and fresh, ideally within a few hours of frying. They tend to lose their crispy exterior as they sit.
If you have any left (unlikely!), you can reheat them in the oven at 180°C (355°F) for a few minutes to crisp and moist them back up.
This recipe for Portuguese Christmas Apple Fritters • Sonhos de Maçã was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Sonhos de Maçã Natalícios foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.
Nutrition
Per Serving: 134 calories; 2 g fat; 25 g carbohydrates; 4 g protein.Did you try this recipe?
Let me know how it turned out for you! What are your favourite Christmas fried sweets? Leave a comment below ;D
