THE WATERLOO APPLE FRITTERS
It’s been said that every person meets their Waterloo. The ultimate, seemingly unbeatable obstacle that you are willing to risk it all for. On this Saturday, Kawhi met his and earned his title as Chief Tasting Officer for Plant-Based & Slayed.
Let me start by saying - Kawhi is not a person. He is my almost 2-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback Boxer mix. While he does enjoy his veggies, my pup doesn’t like most fruits. This dislike extends to apples and, especially, apple fritters.
This Saturday was different. My mom was in town to help develop recipes. We decided to make the apple fritters. As the first batch was cooling on the rack, Kawhi took his normal place in the kitchen. He always lays at the entry to the kitchen as if he is keeping guard. As soon as we turned our backs, he snatched an apple fritter!
After multiple attempts to steal more apple fritters and subsequent timeouts, my mom and I knew we had something special. This was later confirmed when Matt, my mom’s friend, confessed that apple fritters were his Waterloo as well.
They Are Just Apple Fritters.
What makes these so special? The Waterloo Apple Fritters are light, flavorful, and dairy-free! These fritters are loaded with warming spices and tart apple flavor.
The key to making these delicious fritters are granny smith apples and sparkling apple cider. The tart Granny Smith apples balance out the cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and clove spice blend. The sparkling apple cider adds the carbonation needed to make the fritters light and fluffy. We used R.W. Knudsen apple cider for this recipe. But, feel free to use your favorite kind.
OK, I’m Ready to Risk it All!
Nice! This recipe is super easy and makes enough to share with your friends and four-legged family members if you want to.
Let’s cook some apples! Prepare your apples by skinning and chopping them into bite-sized pieces. Add the chopped apples to a pot with half of the spices and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat while stirring. You do not need to add water or oil to the pot. The apples will release water during the cooking process that helps to keep them from burning. Cook the apples until they have softened but not mushy. Remove them from the heat and set aside to cool.
Next, add the flour, salt, baking powder, and remainder of the spices to a mixing bowl. Whisk together. Following the dry ingredients, add the butter and sugar into a separate bowl. Cream them together. Then, add creamed butter into your dry ingredients. We used Country Crock. Yes, it is plant-based. It is our favorite butter substitute for baking.
Check the apples to make sure they are room temperature. If not, add them to the fridge to chill faster. In a frying pot or pan, add the oil and heat it over medium-high heat while you prep the rest of your ingredients.
In an empty bowl, add in the aquafaba*. Use a mixer or whisk to make frothy. You don’t have to whip to a peak, but you want to get air into the liquid. This will work with the carbonation of the apple cider to make your fritters light.
Now it’s time to add all the ingredients together. Add the apples to the dry ingredient mixture. Give it a quick mix to coat apples in flour. Following the apples, fold in the whipped aquafaba*. Then, add in the apple cider. Fold lightly to make sure everything is incorporated. You don’t want to lose too much air.
It’s time to fry! Make sure the oil is hot by sticking a wooden spoon into the oil. If the oil is ready, you will see bubbles forming around the wooden spoon. Add a 1/4 cup of mixture into the frying pan. Fry until brown on both sides. Then, take the fitters out of the oil. Let rest on a cooling rack.
Once all of the fritters are out of the oil, it is time to mix the glaze. In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and apple cider. Then, pour over the fritters and enjoy! I hope you love this recipe as much as Kawhi does
*Aquafaba is the liquid from canned chickpeas. It is used in plant-based recipes as an egg white replacement. So the next time you are working with canned chickpeas, don’t pour the liquid down the drain. Pour the aquafaba into an airtight container and save it in your fridge or freezer to use later.
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The Waterloo Apple Fritters
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 C. sugar
- 1 1/2 Tsp baking powder
- 1/2 Tsp salt
- 1/2 Tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 Tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 Tsp cardamon
- 1/2 Tsp clove
- 3 Tbsp aquafaba
- 1/2 C. of sparkling apple cider
- 1 Tbsp non- dairy butter
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 2 small granny smith apples - cored, peeled, and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 Tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 Tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 Tsp cardamon
- 1/2 Tsp clove
- 1 Tbsp of dark brown sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 C. and 1 Tbsp of powder sugar
- 3 Tbsp sparkling apple cider
Instructions:
- In a medium saucepan, add the apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, clove, sugar, and salt. Cook over medium heat until apples have softened. Take off heat and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and clove together. Set aside.
- In another medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar using a hand or stand mixer.
- Add the butter mixture and cooled apples into the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.
- Fill a frying pan halfway with vegetable oil. Heat oil to 375 degrees.
- While this oil is heating, whip the aquafaba in a small bowl until you see the liquid foaming.
- Fold the whipped aquafaba into the butter, apples, and dry ingredients mixture.
- Add the sparkling apple cider into the mixture. Fold until fully mixed but not deflated.
- Drop 1/4 C. of batter into the frying pan. Fry until golden brown. Flip and fry the other side until golden brown.
- Take the apple fritters out of the oil and let rest on a wire rack.
- While the apple fritters are resting, mix the powdered sugar and apple cider in a small bowl to create the glaze.
- Drizzle glaze over cooled apple fritter. Let dry and enjoy!
