Apple Fritters and the Apple Variety You Have Got to Try!
What actually gets me even more excited than pumpkin season this time of year is apples! A few weeks ago I talked about making my favorite apple dessert, which is brown bag apple pie. I have now made it three times this year :\ and I just can’t seem to get enough.
One of my other absolute favorite desserts is getting an apple fritter from my favorite local donut shop. My husband and I have moved with our family about every one to two years for the last decade, so we have to get our priorities straight when moving to a new location. We have to find an amazing Mexican restaurant and a great donut shop with delicious apple fritters. Priorities, am I right?? :) It’s a 12 minute drive to our new apple fritter spot and they have a drive-through, which could be very dangerous!
Have you tried an apple fritter? It is basically a type of donut with a pretty crispy exterior and a light and fluffy cake-like interior. The batter is mixed with finely chopped apples and fall spices and deep-fried to golden crispy perfection. It is usually then dipped in a glaze of powdered sugar and milk. They are usually quite a large doughnut and have a diameter of about seven or 8 inches. It is basically a meal--when we get these I tend to have one for breakfast and one is too often filling for me.
Because of my daughter’s food allergies, our kids have never tried them and I want them to have all that same apple fritter love that we do, especially this time of year. So I ventured out and tried my first dessert recipe in my air fryer. I tried to find the most suitable recipe for apple fritters at home and went for it. Admittedly, I accidentally forgot the butter and we were substituting flax eggs instead of regular eggs, so they turned out more similar to a pancake that was a little bit crispy around the edges because of the air fryer, but they were still absolutely delicious and my kids adored them and we created wonderful memories making them together.
Let’s talk apple varieties for a moment--there is a kind that I have got to spread the good word about. I am a crisp apple lover so my three favorites are Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Granny Smith apples. I love how sweet Honeycrisp and Pink Ladies are, but I also love the tartness of Granny Smiths. When I am doing my baking, I tend to use a combination of these to get sweet and tart apples together.
Usually I stick with those basics, but when I see unique, new apple varieties at Trader Joe’s, I sometimes give in. And after trying the Opal apple, I feel this is something I should do way more often. Have you ever tried an Opal apple? (Pause for dramatic effect……) They are AMAZING!! They are a bright yellow apple (like a lemon) with a distinct russeting around the stem and some brown flecks throughout the skin. They are also quite a hefty apple and are great for sharing, if you are physically capable of being so selfless ;) They are very sweet like honey crisp, but have an even more fruity, floral type flavor that some say almost tastes like candy. They are a cross between a Golden Delicious and Topaz apple and are grown exclusively from Broetje Orchards in Prescott, WA.
To be honest it’s been a while since I’ve had the Opal apples at Trader Joe’s so I’m not sure if they still carry them. I have heard that they carry them at Whole Foods as well. But apparently stores can only carry them as much as the supplier can keep the apples coming and people are snatching them up left and right so I highly recommend you go out and try an Opal apple if you haven’t yet.
What is your favorite fall dessert to make with fresh, crisp apples? Have you tried any different varieties of apples that you would recommend? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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One of my other absolute favorite desserts is getting an apple fritter from my favorite local donut shop. My husband and I have moved with our family about every one to two years for the last decade, so we have to get our priorities straight when moving to a new location. We have to find an amazing Mexican restaurant and a great donut shop with delicious apple fritters. Priorities, am I right?? :) It’s a 12 minute drive to our new apple fritter spot and they have a drive-through, which could be very dangerous!
Have you tried an apple fritter? It is basically a type of donut with a pretty crispy exterior and a light and fluffy cake-like interior. The batter is mixed with finely chopped apples and fall spices and deep-fried to golden crispy perfection. It is usually then dipped in a glaze of powdered sugar and milk. They are usually quite a large doughnut and have a diameter of about seven or 8 inches. It is basically a meal--when we get these I tend to have one for breakfast and one is too often filling for me.
Because of my daughter’s food allergies, our kids have never tried them and I want them to have all that same apple fritter love that we do, especially this time of year. So I ventured out and tried my first dessert recipe in my air fryer. I tried to find the most suitable recipe for apple fritters at home and went for it. Admittedly, I accidentally forgot the butter and we were substituting flax eggs instead of regular eggs, so they turned out more similar to a pancake that was a little bit crispy around the edges because of the air fryer, but they were still absolutely delicious and my kids adored them and we created wonderful memories making them together.
Let’s talk apple varieties for a moment--there is a kind that I have got to spread the good word about. I am a crisp apple lover so my three favorites are Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Granny Smith apples. I love how sweet Honeycrisp and Pink Ladies are, but I also love the tartness of Granny Smiths. When I am doing my baking, I tend to use a combination of these to get sweet and tart apples together.
Usually I stick with those basics, but when I see unique, new apple varieties at Trader Joe’s, I sometimes give in. And after trying the Opal apple, I feel this is something I should do way more often. Have you ever tried an Opal apple? (Pause for dramatic effect……) They are AMAZING!! They are a bright yellow apple (like a lemon) with a distinct russeting around the stem and some brown flecks throughout the skin. They are also quite a hefty apple and are great for sharing, if you are physically capable of being so selfless ;) They are very sweet like honey crisp, but have an even more fruity, floral type flavor that some say almost tastes like candy. They are a cross between a Golden Delicious and Topaz apple and are grown exclusively from Broetje Orchards in Prescott, WA.
To be honest it’s been a while since I’ve had the Opal apples at Trader Joe’s so I’m not sure if they still carry them. I have heard that they carry them at Whole Foods as well. But apparently stores can only carry them as much as the supplier can keep the apples coming and people are snatching them up left and right so I highly recommend you go out and try an Opal apple if you haven’t yet.
What is your favorite fall dessert to make with fresh, crisp apples? Have you tried any different varieties of apples that you would recommend? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Sources:
- www.traderjoes365.blogspot.com
- www.flickr.com
- www.opalapples.com
- www.seriouseats.com
Mary Richardson
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
Email the author! mary@dvo.com
