Gluten Free Apple Fritters
The perfect gluten free apple fritters are fried efficiently and quickly until they’re crisp on the very outside and soft and tender inside—with apple pieces cooked to fork-tender perfection. No yeast needed!
Servings: 6 fritters
Ingredients
For the fritters
- ⅜ cup all purpose gluten free flour blend I used Better Batter (See Recipe Notes)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 7 tablespoons buttermilk
- Neutral oil for frying (I like a combination of equal parts grapeseed oil and Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening)
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1 large firm apple, peeled, cored and diced (see Recipe Notes)
For the glaze
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon lukewarm water plus more as necessary
Instructions
- In a large bowl, place the flour, cornstarch, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt, and whisk to combine well. Set the bowl aside.
- Peel, core, and dice the apple into pieces that are about the size of a thumbnail. If they’re too large, they won’t become tender during frying. If they’re too small, they’ll disappear into the batter. Add the diced apple to the large bowl of dry ingredients, and toss to coat. Set the bowl aside again.
- Place about 3-inches of frying oil in a medium-size, heavy-bottom pot or fryer. Clip a deep-fry/candy thermometer to the side of the pot or fryer, and bring the oil to a consistent temperature of 350°F over medium-high heat.
- While the oil is coming to temperature, finish making the fritter batter. Place the buttermilk and egg in a small bowl and whisk to combine well, then add the mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and diced apples. Mix until just combined.
- Once the oil has reached temperature, scoop the fritter batter in 1/4-cup portions into the hot oil, taking care not to crowd the oil. Working quickly and taking care not to press the batter into the bottom of the fryer pot or basket, flatten the dough a bit.
- Fry until very lightly golden brown on the underside, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip the fritters, and continue to fry for another 2 minutes or until golden brown on the second side. Flip once more as necessary to brown the fritters evenly. Remove the finished fritters from the frying oil, and place on a wire rack placed over paper towels to drain and cool completely. Repeat with the remaining batter.
- In a small bowl, place the confectioners’ sugar and ground cinnamon, and mix to combine. Add 1 tablespoon of water and mix well, until a very thick paste forms. Add more water by the drop, mixing to combine well, until the glaze drizzles off the spoon. Using a fork, drizzle the glaze over the cooled fritters. Allow the glaze to set at room temperature before serving.
Video
Notes
A note on gluten free flours: As always, the flour blend you use matters. If you’re not using one of my recommended blends, the recipe won’t work as expected. Please follow the link in the recipe ingredients list to the flour blends page on this blog with all the details.
If you’re using a higher starch blend like Cup4Cup or my mock Cup4Cup blend, in place of 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, please use 2 tablespoons more of the blend.
If you prefer to use my gum-free gluten free flour blend instead of the all-purpose gluten free flour blend and the cornstarch, you’ll need 46 grams superfine white rice flour + 15 grams potato starch + 9 grams tapioca starch/flour. If you use this blend, please use 1 tablespoon less buttermilk.
A note on your apple choice: If you choose to use a Granny Smith apple, be sure to dice it a bit smaller. Otherwise, nearly any apple other than golden delicious or red delicious is fine.