Last Updated on 3 years by Tim
I haven’t been sharing any dessert recipes on my blog yet even though that’s what German cuisine is famous for. All the delicious sweets, cakes, and pastries.
They’re surprisingly light, not overly sweet, and super juicy.
I serve them together with homemade vanilla sauce. A dessert classic. However, they’re also delicious on their own sprinkled with some icing sugar and ground cinnamon.
Use tart apples for the best apple fritters
It’s best to make this dish during the fall when fresh apples are abundant. Choose a tart variety such as Granny Smith, Braeburn, or Pink Lady.
It’s up to you whether you want to peel your apples or not. I prefer to make my apple fritters from peeled apples so that they are super tender throughout without a fibrous shell around them.
The step you shouldn’t skip is deseeding your apples. It’s no joy to bite into apple seeds.
After you have cut up your apples store them submerged in water so that they don’t discolor or coat them directly with the lemon juice marinade.
What goes into my frying batter
For my frying batter, I use spelt flour. It’s a traditional flour that was widely used in the old times in South Germany and Austria. Spätzle were originally made using spelt flour as well.
Today, regular wheat flour is the most popular flour and you can substitute it in case you can’t source
I decided to go with baking powder instead of beer or carbonated water in my batter. The baking powder makes these apple fritters super light and airy. You could also substitute the milk for beer or carbonated water and leave out the baking powder in case you like your apple fritters to be a bit denser.
Don’t turn the heat too high when frying the apple fritters
You don’t need to add a ton of oil into your frying pan for frying the apple fritters. Add just enough clarified butter in a nonstick pan so that the bottom is evenly coated.
The heat shouldn’t be higher than medium
If you’ve set your heat too high and your batter is darkening too fast add some more cold clarified butter into your pan to lower the heat. And by all means, take them out earlier if you batter is starting to get very dark.
It’s better to bite into an apple fritter that still has a little crunch than it is to eat one with a burned crust.
Making homemade vanilla sauce is easy
Vanilla sauce is the classic dessert sauce. It’s delicious poured over ice cream, steamed yeast buns, and, of course, apple fritters.
And even though it uses egg yolks as the thickening agent it is still super easy to make. The only thing you need to be aware of is temperature control.
Before you add your egg yolks into the hot milk you always need to temper them. You do that by pouring some of your hot milk over your whisked egg yolks. Give it a brief mix and then add this tempered mixture back into your pot.
Leave the sauce on low heat for a few minutes to let it thicken. The vanilla sauce should be at 175 °F (80 °C) for the best results. Don’t let it come to a boil as you don’t want your eggs to scramble.
It’s best to take the sauce off the heat once it has thickened and
For serving, sprinkle the apple fritters with icing sugar and ground cinnamon and pour over the hot vanilla sauce.
Apple fritters with vanilla sauce (‘Apfelküchle mit Vanillesoße’)
Ingredients
For the frying batter:
- 1 cup (4.5 ounces | 125 g) spelt flour (type 630)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg (size L)
- 1/2 cup (4.6 ounces | 130 g) whole milk
For the apples:
- 4 medium-sized tart apples, peeled, deseeded, and sliced 1/2-inch thick
- juice of half a lemon
- clarified butter, for frying
For the vanilla sauce:
- 1 vanilla pod
- 1.5 cups (350 mL) whole milk
- 3 egg yolks (size L)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- salt, to taste
For serving:
- icing sugar, for dusting
- ground cinnamon, for dusting
Instructions
Prepare the batter:
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well then start incorporating your egg and the milk. Whisk everything together until you have a smooth and lump-free batter. Let the batter sit for at least 15 minutes before frying the apple fritters.
Fry the fritters:
- Squeeze the lemon juice into a medium-sized bowl. Add your apple slices and mix everything well.
- Heat about 2-3 tablespoons of clarified butter in a large nonstick pan over medium-low heat. Working in batches, take as many of your apple slices as will fit into your pan in one layer and coat them with your frying batter. Fry them inside the clarified butter for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown on both sides. Keep the heat down to prevent burning them. When taking the fritters out of the pan, transfer them on a paper towel to absorb any excess fat. Once your first batch is done, add about 1-2 tablespoons more clarified butter into your pan so that the entire frying surface is evenly coated and proceed as before until you’ve used up all your apple slices. Keep them warm in the oven while you prepare the vanilla sauce.
Prepare the vanilla sauce:
- Cut your vanilla pod in half and scrape out the vanilla seeds using a sharp paring knife. Together with the milk, add the vanilla seeds and pod into a saucepan and heat the milk until it is lightly simmering. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until well combined. Pour half of the hot milk over the egg yolk and sugar mixture and whisk until well combined. Add this mixture back into the saucepan and let the sauce heat back up just below simmering to about 175 °F (80 °C). Once the sauce has thickened, season it to taste with a small pinch of salt. Take it off the heat and don’t bring it up to a boil again as your egg yolks will curdle otherwise.
To serve:
- Dust the apple fritters with icing sugar and ground cinnamon and pour the vanilla sauce on top.
Those look AWESOME!!!!!!!
Ein Träumchen , wird bald mal gemacht.
They look delicious.
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