Maple Chai Apple Fritters
/Warm and cozy chai spiced apple fritters are tossed with a sweet and simple maple glaze.
Let’s talk apples. I’ve always loved apple season—the way it paves the way for crisp fall air, usually while we’re still finishing off the last of the summer tomatoes. Apple season encourages us to start pulling out our sweaters and signals to us that it’s time to trade our iced coffees for hot beverages and it pushes us into the kitchen to start making pie doughs.
And now, living in Minnesota, I’ve never loved apple season more. There are at least 15 apple orchards within a 30 minute drive of the Twin Cities. Last weekend, the temperature dipped into the 60s and we spent an afternoon on a farm, sipping apple cider, wandering through corn mazes, and strolling through rows and rows of apple trees, filling little white bags as we walked. It was peak fall and it was magical. Now I have more apples than I know what to do with. So we make fritters.
what are homemade apple fritters
If you ‘re casually browsing the internet for an apple fritter recipe, you’ll quickly discover that there are two types. One is a yeasted apple fritter—a sweet, brioche-like dough gets filled with cooked apples, layered on top of each other in a haphazard manner before frying. The result are those dense, donut-like fritters you find at most donut shops and bakeries. The other type of apple fritter is a bit simpler. Similar to Southern-style corn or zucchini fritters, it features a simple, non-yeasted batter, filled with fresh produce and fried.
For this recipe, I decided to go simple. I wanted a recipe that would encourage you to start baking with your apple haul as soon as you walk in the door, and a recipe that have you snacking on warm apple fritters in under an hour.
how to make apple fritters
This recipe really couldn’t be simpler. Whisk together flour, baking powder, spices, a little sugar, and salt. Then whisk together eggs and milk. Add a little bit of browned butter and you’ve got yourself a batter. Then add a ton of diced apples—you want just enough batter to barely hold the apple pieces together.
To fry the fritters, you can use any neutral oil you’d like. A candy thermometer helps maintain the appropriate temperature so that you aren’t left with overcooked exteriors and raw centers.
For the glaze, we are simply whisking together powdered sugar, the seeds from a vanilla bean, maple syrup, and heavy cream and then pouring it over the hot fritters.
homemade chai spice blend
My favorite part of this recipe (and possibly the fall baking season in general) is homemade chai spice blend. I make a batch of this at the beginning of the fall baking season and keep it in my pantry all season long. There’s ground black tea, lots of cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger, plus black pepper and cloves. And if you’re looking for more chai forward recipes to use this blend in, check out my Chai Snickerdoodles and my Dirty Chai Banana Bread recipes.
Maple Chai Apple Fritters
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup (156 g) all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (27 g) rye flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp chai spice blend
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, browned
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk*
- 10-12 oz diced apples (from about 3 apples)
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- 2/3 cup (150 g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- Pinch of salt
- 5 tbsp heavy cream or coconut milk
Instructions
- Fill a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot with about 3” of vegetable. Begin heating to 375° F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with paper towels and place a cooling rack over top.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, rye flour, baking powder, sugar, chai spice, and salt. Set aside.
- Place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 6-7 minutes, swirling occasionally until butter is foamy and fragrant and little brown flecks appear at the bottom of the pan. Immediately remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together eggs and coconut milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Whisk in the browned butter until smooth.
- Add the diced apples and gently fold to disperse.
- When the oil has reached 375° F, drop scoops of fritter batter (about 1/4 cup in size) into the hot oil, taking care not to crowd the pan. (I was able to fit about 4 at a time.) Fry to 3-4 minutes, flipping halfway through, until fritters are deeply golden brown.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the fritters from the oil and transfer the paper towel lined cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining fritters.
- While the fritters are cooling slightly, whisk together glaze ingredients in a large bowl until smooth. Either toss the warm fritters in the glaze or pour the glaze over top of the warm fritters. Serve warm.
Notes
- As always, you can substitute the rye flour for 100% all purpose flour. I do really love the nuttiness that the rye brings to these fritters, so spelt or buckwheat flour would also be substitutes.
- When I created this recipe, I was completely out of milk so I used coconut milk--which made them dairy free. If you'd like to keep the fritters dairy free, use coconut milk in the glaze, as well. If you don't mind dairy or don't have coconut milk on hand, you can substitute with whole milk or another non-dairy milk like almond or oat.
