Apple Fritters

I've discussed before how Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home is pretty much the coolest cookbook ever. It has all kinds of great tips and the recipes are amazing every time. We've made chicken and dumplings soup, chicken stock, chocolate chip cookies, chicken breasts with tarragon, and a few other things. I've definitely spent quite a bit of time reading his tips at the beginning of the book, and browsing his sources in the back. Anyways, I love it. I love his approach to cooking. He treats it like a craft, and the way he advises to constantly strain and skim things creates foods that are luxurious in texture with less impurities, and the blanching of vegetables for sure creates crisper textures and brighter flavors than any other method.

Anyways, so our friends came over for a "Parenthood" premiere party, and I decided to make a dessert. We wanted to make something we didn't have to go get ingredients for. We had recently been to Indian Ladder Farms so we had quite a bit of apples. This recipe was super fun to make. Also the way my friend's husband said "This is so freaking good!!" I knew he wasn't just trying to be polite. There is "Thanks for cooking, these are nice" and then there is "Oh my god!!", and I have to say that the latter is quite satisfying.

So first you peel a few apples and cut them up like matchsticks.

Then mix together 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (seemed like a pancake batter to me). Beat 1 egg and 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk. Whisk the egg and milk into the dry ingredients.

Fold the apples into the batter.

Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil 325 degrees in a large wide pot.

Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet and line with paper towels. Using a couple of forks lift a glob of batter and apple pieces and add to the hot oil.

Don't crowd them. Turn them over after 5 minutes.

Then with a slotted spoon scoop them onto the cooling rack.

I sprinkled them with a mixture of sugar, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. My friend's husband thought they tasted like apple cider doughnuts. Then I put them on this awesome cake stand I got at my bridal shower in Michigan.

Not just good - "so freaking good!!"