Apple Fritters

Apple fritters are a taste of homemade goodness. Apples are in season in the grocery stores right now. When you make them yourself, they are a fraction of the cost of commercially made ones, plus no food additives or chemical preservatives. I made several batches to get the recipe just right. For several batches, I fried in canola oil, but I did find them too oily. I decided to try lard, and to my delight, it produced an apple fritter that was not oily. Some of the variations I made included a mixture of blueberry, pear, and apple, and they turned out amazing.

Lard was the fat of choice that our grandmother and great-grandmothers used. I remember my grandmother making donuts, and frying them in lard. My mother-in-law taught me how to take pork fat and render it down for lard. One of the things I noticed, is that homemade lard made amazing pie crusts, and gave donuts a superior taste. It seems to me a forgotten fat, yet it has made a resurgence among keto and Paleo diets valued for its health benefits. Lard is a good source of vitamin D, second only to cod liver oil. It is also a valuable source of choline, which is important to move out cholesterol and low-density lipo-protein from the liver. Surprisingly lard contains 48 percent monosaturated fat, which is the same type of fat that makes olive oil healthy. One of my favorite benefits of cooking with lard is that it has a high smoke point, meaning that you can safely cook and fry with it, without creating dangerous compounds that come from using oils with a low smoke point. Because lard is a natural fat, without processing, only rendering and straining, your body recognizes it as food, and knows how to deal with it, and all its benefits.

Apple Fritters

3 cups of unbleached flour

1/2 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

3/4 cup milk

4 eggs

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 – 2 1/2 cups chopped apple

1 1/2 pounds lard

In a bowl combine and blend the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Make a well in the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine and mix the milk, eggs, and apple sauce. Mix the apples into the egg mixture. Add the apple mixture into the flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix as the fritters will then be tough. In an electric fry pan, heat the lard to 370 degrees. When the lard has come up to that temperature, the light on the control goes off. Place a heaping tablespoon of batter into the frying pan, and then using the back of the spoon spread the batter out. Don’t worry if it seems thin, as it will puff up quite a lot. You can fit 4 into the pan at a time. Cover and fry on each side for about 2 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove and place on a plate with a paper towel to soak up any excess fat. Ice when warm with a buttercream icing. Makes approximately 20 apple fritters. Serve warm or cooled. Store refrigerated