quinn's place

ooh look, it’s the apple fritters i made way back in november.

actually, i made these on election day to pass the time - that crazy week where we waited FIVE days to find out the final results. so when inauguration day rolled around last week, my brain went wandering on back to Applefritterville.

even though fall is now behind us, apples are easy to shop for all year round where i live.

and this was my first time fritter-ing!

these were very tasty and turned out great, but i learned some things for next time…

i should have used less apple than the recipe i followed, and should have dried them off before mixing them into the batter. minimizing moisture content inside the fritter would make them better - less opportunity for sog-city.

i also should have double-fried the fritters for an extra crispy exterior.

i love a variety pack - so i made 3 versions.

regular sea salted glaze, cinnamon sugar, and chocolate.

deep frying is a bit of a commitment, so be ready for a little project. and maybe have more than just 3 people around to enjoy the fruits of the labor. 🙃 and maybe have a secondary frying project up your sleeve. i always feel bad throwing so much oil out.

apple fritters were on my list of things to make last fall that i’d never made before, also including homemade pasta noodles. i made both, and guess what - both were very easy.

another thing on that list is homemade croissants. i don’t mind a time consuming baking project, so i am excited to conquer cwoissants one of these days. seems like an important life skill, yeah?

so here’s to winter fritters and not being afraid of a new-to-you cooking project. 🙌

new year, new homemade foods, dudes.

Dipped Apple Fritters, Three Ways

Makes about 15 Fritters

Total Time: 1 hour

Adapted from How Sweet Eats

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 TB brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
2/3 cup milk
2 cups firm Honeycrisp, Fuji or Gala apples - peeled, chopped and dried
2 eggs, room temperature
1 TB unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
vegetable oil, for frying

For the Glaze & Toppings:

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
flaky sea salt
6 oz. dark or milk chocolate, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, mixed

Instructions -

Peel and chop the apples and place 2 cups worth between two clean kitchen towels to dry off excess moisture.

Heat a few inches of oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Use a candy thermometer to keep the oil temperature at 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and kosher salt. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Dry off the chopped apples as well as possible and fold them into the batter.

Drop 1/4 cups of batter into the 350 degree oil, about 2 or 3 fritters at a time. Keep an eye on the temperature and adjust the heat so the oil maintains 350 degrees F.

Fry until golden for about 5 minutes, flipping halfway through. Let the fritters drain on a paper towel lined tray until all the fritters have been fried.

For crispier fritters, return to the hot oil and fry once more for about 3 minutes.

Whisk the powdered sugar, milk and 1 tsp. vanilla extract for the glaze. Set a wire rack over a foil-lined sheet tray. Once the fritters are slightly cooled, dip them into the glaze to coat and set on the rack to let the excess glaze drip off.

For salted fritters, top with flaky sea salt before the glaze hardens.

For cinnamon sugar fritters, roll glazed fritters into a bowl of cinnamon sugar to firmly coat.

For chocolate fritters, use a spoon to drizzle melted chocolate over the glazed fritters and a pinch of flaky sea salt. Let sit to firm up.

Serve immediately. If storing, wrap lightly in parchment paper, not glass or plastic to prevent moisture formation.

time to eat our feelings & our nerves, folks. with the 2020 election happening this week, as in TOMORROW, i’ve got nervous energy firing on all cylinders. my back hurts! 😬

thank heavens for food & wine, ya know what i’m saying?

and cookies, of course.

and another thing - just because it is fall does not mean every baked good must be pumpkin spice apple maple butternut sweet potato cinnamon x y z, dammit.

don’t forget about chocolate chip cookies. they are always here for us, year round. let’s hear it for that little nugget of comfort.

these ones are * chocolatey * chip cookies because i simply felt like adding a bit of cocoa powder to the dough. they could certainly be much more * chocolatey, * but consider this recipe one step up on the chocolate scale from a regular chocolate chip cookie. you can add as much or as little cocoa powder as your heart desires.

and they look like cute little scoops of ice cream, so that’s nice.

you musn’t forget to press a chunk of chocolate into the top of the dough ball before baking. this is where the pools of chocolate come in.

a major key to an excellent chocolate chip cookie is room temperature ingredients. making sure all the ingredients (like the eggs) are not drastically differing temperatures when they are combined just ensures they’ll come together more gently - they aren’t all shocked & confused when they come into contact. you want everyone to jive.

additionally, chilling the dough for at least 2 hours and up to one full day before baking the cookies allows everything to co-mingle and more flavor develops. but…if you’re impatient or don’t have that kind of time to wait or you just need the cookie now, absolutely forget that chilling step.

another super important baking tip that i’ve really just starting paying attention to in the last year is either weighing the flour by grams, or scooping the flour with a spoon into the measuring cup. i feel like we were all taught to reach into the flour container with the measuring cup, jam as much flour in there as possible, and scrape the rest off the top, further shoving more flour into the cup. i’ve only recently realized that i have been way over-flouring all my baked goods, resulting in an overly dense or hard finished product. and that’s not what we’re going for at all!

so fluff that flour, scoop it from the spoon to the cup, don’t pack it down, and gently level off the top. or weigh it if you are into that, which i am now into. flour weighing, my new 2020 hobby.

also new-to-me: vanilla bean paste (in lieu of vanilla extract). oooh what a fun ingredient. ya can’t see the flecks in these particular cookies, but i know they’re in there 😉

i made this apple cider donut loaf cake and used the vanilla bean paste in there… so lovely. i can’t wait to use a ton of it in cinnamon rolls.

being able to see the little vanilla bean flecks is very pleasing to me.

not over-baking cookies is also truly one of the MAIN ingredients to a great cookie. this should probably just be the first line of the recipe - it is not an afterthought!

(remember afterthoughts, that store in the mall before claire’s? loved that shit)

you want the outside to be slightly firm, with a substantial layer of chew on the inside.

walnut haters don’t fret - just leave them out.

alright. that will be all.

chocolate chip cookies. they are good. always have been, and always will be. count all those constant comforts in your lives, my people. we need every last one of them! 💝

Browned Butter Chocolatey Chip Cookies

Makes 20-24 Cookies

Impatient Total Time: 40 minutes // Bake Time: 10 minutes

Ideal Total Time: 24 hours, 40 minutes (24-hour dough chilling period)

Ingredients:

14 TB Unsalted butter (1 stick + 1/3 cup), Browned 3-5 minutes & cooled
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 TB vanilla bean paste, or 2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (scooped & leveled, not packed), or 210 grams weighed
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 TB. unsweetened cocoa powder (optional, or 2-3 TB if prefer more chocolatey cookie)
1 tsp. fine sea salt
6 ounces dark chocolate wafers or bar, roughly chopped (about 1/2 cup - reserve several large chunks to place on tops of dough balls)
2/3 cup walnuts, well chopped (optional)
flaky sea salt, for topping

Instructions-

Brown the butter on the stove over medium-high heat in a small pot for 3-5 minutes, stirring/whisking constantly. The butter will turn bright, then bubble, then foam. As soon as you see brown flecks beginning to appear in the bottom of the pot, remove from heat and continue to stir for one more minute as the browning finishes. Transfer to a small bowl and chill in the fridge at least 10 minutes.

While the browned butter cools, chop the chocolate and walnuts, if using, and gather all ingredients.

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a large bowl, whisk the cooled browned butter with the brown sugar & white sugar until combined. Add the room temperature eggs, one at a time, mixing until glossy and whipped. Stir in vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.

With a spoon, fluff the flour in its bag/container so it is not compacted. Scoop from spoon into measuring cup without packing flour down, then level off the top with a knife or your finger. Alternately, you can weigh the flour on a baking scale (210 grams).

In a small bowl, stir the measured or weighed flour, baking soda and salt until evenly incorporated. Slowly add flour mixture into the wet ingredients, mixing between additions until just combined. Do not over mix.

Use a spatula to gently fold in the chopped chocolate wafers or chunks and walnuts (if using) until just incorporated. Cover the bowl and chill the cookie dough for at least 2 hours, ideally 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Use 1 oz. cookie scoop to scoop dough balls, placing them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Press remaining larger chunks of chocolate or wafers into the tops of the dough balls.

Bake each tray individually on the center rack for 9-11 minutes. Check at 9 minutes for doneness - if the cookie seems firm around the edge, but soft in the center, remove from oven - they will continue to cook a bit on the hot baking sheet. Do not over bake!

Transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Enjoy warm! Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days at room temperature for best results.