air fryer apple fritters

This recipe makes roughly 8 fritters, although I suppose you can make more or less of them depending on how large you want your fritters to be. The original called for 1/8th cup-sized portions, which I feel are just too small, but then again you’d have 16 apple fritters. Then again, I grew up on Winchell’s, and their fritters were huge, as I recall. Or maybe I just imagined they were huge, but the reality was that I was just a wee kid. Hahaha!

I’ve been hesitating to share air fryer recipes on this blog. Mainly because I feel most of the time the things I make utilizing our relatively new air fryer don’t turn out as good as their traditionally deep fried counterparts. So if you see an air fryer recipe here, it means the recipe has produced an acceptable enough product that I feel compares well with the original non-air fryer recipe.

air fryer apple fritters (based on Chef John’s recipe on allrecipes and foodwishes)

ingredients

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

2 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into small cubes or dice

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 and 1/2 baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 large egg

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon melted unsalted butter

1/2 cup sparkling apple cider (I substituted 5 Tablespoons of light beer + 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar)

Spray vegetable oil for air frying

Glaze: 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, 1-2 Tablespoons of sparkling apple cider (I substituted an equal ratio of apple cider vinegar and light beer since I didn’t have sparkling apple cider.)

method

Melted the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, allowing it to get a little browned, 2-3 minutes. Add the apples to the saucepan and stir occasionally for 4-5 minutes more, getting the butter to coat the apples, and until the apples are a little softened. Add the sugar and let cook for a few minutes more. Remove from heat and let cool.

Whisk egg, the 1/4 cup of sugar, and melted butter together in a separate mixing bowl. Add cored apple pieces and sparkling apple cider; add the flour mixture and stir until flour is incorporated. No need to overstir.

Spray the wire tray of an air fryer lightly with oil. Add 1/4 sized portions of the apple fritter dough, leaving ample space between each fritter. 

Spray the tops of each fritter mound with oil and air fry at 350 degrees F. and set for 3 minutes. After three minutes, flip all of them and spray their tops again with oil and air fry another 3 minutes. Repeat this step for a total of 3 flips and a total frying time of 12 minutes.

Make glaze by whisking all the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Drizzle over each fritter and let cool somewhat before serving.