I do not like bugs and that is a fact. We didn’t have a very harsh winter and now springtime has brought a boatload of bugs. We have those little gnats that fly in your eyes and ears and ticks, ticks, ticks. My brother had his dog out in the woods last week and they were both covered in ticks. He said he picked at least 30 off the dog and half that many off himself.
Momma Said, “Please protect your pets from disease by using flea and tick control on them.”
Also use protection from insects on yourself because with this many ticks on the rise, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is ever present. Also Lyme disease is carried by ticks and this is not something you want to mess with. I don’t like to say it, but we need a really harsh winter to eradicate some of these pests.
I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and spent some time with family. It is the first official holiday of the summer and the kickoff of vacation time for a lot of people. I haven’t gone on a vacation in so long that I probably wouldn’t know what to do. The kids are out of school and summer fun starts.
If you are traveling for vacation, be careful and have loads of fun.
Apple Fritters
Ingredients
For fritters:
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- 2-3 cups peeled, cored and chopped Granny Smith or Gravenstein apples (firm pie apples!)
- Vegetable oil for deep-frying (approx. 4-5 cups- enough to come halfway up sides of pan or skillet)
For glaze:
- 1¼ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp. vanilla
- 3-4 tsp. warm water (thin enough to make the glaze “paintable”)
Directions
- In a large bowl (or the bowl to a stand mixer), cream the sugar and eggs for 1-2 minutes with a mixer.
- To this, add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and milk. Mix these ingredients well.
- In a separate bowl, mix the chopped apples with the lemon juice. Using a spoon, add the apple mixture to the batter and stir well, to combine.
- Heat vegetable oil to 375 degrees (use a deep-fry thermometer or use an electric skillet with a temperature control). It is very important to make sure the temperature is hot enough to fry the fritters correctly.
- Once the oil is at 375 degrees, scoop out really large tablespoonfuls of the fritter batter (as big as you can get ‘em!) and carefully and gently slide the fritter into the hot oil.
- When they get to a true golden brown color, carefully turn the fritters over to the other side (I used two spoons to carefully flip them) and continue cooking. (This should take approx. 2-3 minutes on each side).
- When the fritters become brown on both sides (you might have to flip them over again to make sure both sides are brown), then you know they will be ready and cooked through.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the fritters, one at a time, to a paper-towel lined (several thicknesses) plate to drain and cool. - To make a glaze for the tops of the fritters, mix together the powdered sugar, vanilla and water in a small bowl until you have a nice “paintable” glaze.
- Using a pastry brush, brush this glaze over the entire top of the fritter. Let glaze harden slightly, turn it over and “paint” the glaze on the bottom. Place glazed fritters on wire rack; let glaze harden and serve.
Notes
If you do not like glaze on your fritters, sprinkle the hot “right out of the fryer” fritters with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
