Fritters

By Diane Forrest,

There is a restaurant in a small town in McComb, Mississippi where everyone sits at huge round tables.  The center has a turntable that is covered with food.  You spin the table around, and serve your plate.  My husband took me there to eat, his uncle owned the restaurant and it held a special place in his life.  Their famous claim to fame is their fried eggplant, or eggplant fritters.  A fritter is any kind of food coated in batter and deep fried.  These were thick slices of eggplant, coated in a special recipe and deep fried.  They are very protective of their recipe.  On our last visit there my husband was able to sweet talk them into giving him a small to go box with a few slices to take home.

Today is National Fritters Day.  One of my husband's favorite items from the donut shop was the apple fritter or flitter as he would call them.  I am enclosing a recipe for homemade apple fritters from the pioneering woman website.  So today, stop by your donut shop and get some fritters, or make your own or you can have any kind of fritter, banana, corn or even eggplant.  This is making me hungry so I’m gonna go gets some fritters too!

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2-1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1-1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 2 whole Large Eggs
• 3/4 cups Whole Milk
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tablespoons Melted Butter
• 2 whole Granny Smith Apples, Peeled and Diced
• Powdered Sugar (optional, For Dusting)
• GLAZE (optional)
• 1-1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/4 cup Milk

Preparation Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork, and then add milk, melted butter, and vanilla.

Gently fold dry and wet ingredients together until just combined (do not over mix.) Fold in apples. Add enough apples to make a very chunky batter. You want the apples to shine though!

Heat a couple of inches of canola oil over medium to medium-low heat. When it gets hot, drop a little drop of batter into the oil. If it sizzles immediately and rises to the top, the oil is ready; if it burns quickly, turn down the heat.

Drop teaspoons of batter into the hot oil, six or eight at a time. Sometimes they'll flip over by themselves; sometimes you have to flip them. Just watch them and make sure they don't get too brown, but cook them long enough to make sure the batters cooked through, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes total.

Remove and drain on a paper towel. Dust very generously with powdered sugar, or dip fritters in a light doughnut glaze (mix all glaze ingredients together, then dunk warm fritters).

Serve warm!

**May be heated up the next day in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.