What is the one thing you miss the most going gluten free? Take away bread, pizza, cinnamon rolls. THIS is what I miss the most…apple fritters. I love the crunchy outer texture of a good fried fritter with a soft, doughy inside, encapsulated in an icing that breaks to little pieces when you bite into it. It is my most favorite donut and since I missed them so much it was time to make gluten free apple fritters!
When I was a kid, my dad would take us to Castle Rock (which at the time was WAY out of town) to a donut shop that sold apple fritters larger than your head. He would buy one for me and my siblings and I could never finish it because they were so huge! I don’t know if my love affair started then, but I really do love me an apple fritter.
The first batch I made gluten free my husband and daughter came tried it first saying, “wow, these taste legitimate!” That’s when you know something good happened. And it did again and again. I really do love when you have a recipe to rely on.
Since this was my first time making apple fritters, I thought it best to follow someone’s example. I fell in love with the apple fritter picture from Chowhound! When I went looking for an apple fritter recipe I flipped over to ‘images’ in Google and picked my recipe from there. I knew what I wanted it to look like…the more difficult part was making it gluten free.
Tips and Tricks:
- Instead of using gluten free flour blend to dust your work surface, use a starch such as cornstarch or tapioca. Using gluten free flour blend could add a lot of extra unwanted weight to your dough. Stick with a starch for something lighter; however, be cautious not to use too much as it can dry out your finished product.
- Divide the risen dough in half and work with two batches. This will come in handy when you add the apples and have to fold the dough over. Gluten free dough tears easily so I find it best to work in smaller batches.
- While a knife will do, a bench scraper came in very handy making these donuts. The bench scraper helps fold the dough, cut it, and scrap it off your work surface. I purchased an inexpensive one like this on Amazon: Bench Scraper
- I used the following gluten free flour blend recipe in these fritters: JAG Gluten Free Flour Blend
- If you prefer not to make your own blend I get it! Something like this would be very comparable: King Arthur GF Flour Blend, or Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1. I prefer not to use them because of a xanthan gum intolerance. NOTE**if you use a brand other than what is listed in the recipe please check the brands recommendation on grams to cup to use. It varies significantly between brands!
- This is an enriched dough and will sit well overnight in the refrigerator after it has risen but before you have shaped and fried. If you’re short on time in the morning, make the dough and let it rise the night before. After it has doubled in size, refrigerate. When ready to fry, follow the remaining steps, but give the dough a little more time to rise the second time to take the chill off. You can even cook the apples and store in an airtight container. Warm them for 1-2 minutes in the microwave before adding the to the dough.
Once your dough has risen and you’ve rolled it out, place your apple over half the dough and fold in half:
Now take your knife or bench scraper and make slices across your dough:
Take your knife or bench scraper again and make cross cuts like this:
Now take your knife or bench scraper and cut into 6 equal pieces. Gently take each piece and shape into a flattened ball like this:
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Enjoy!
Gluten Free Apple Fritters
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups 413 grams gluten free flour blend
- 2 teaspoon guar or xanthan gum omit if in blend
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup warm milk ~110 degrees F
- 2 teaspoon yeast
- ½ cup butter melted and cooled slightly
- 2 eggs
- Apple filling:
- 3 Tbs unsalted butter
- 3 sweet-tart baking apples such as Honeycrisp or Pink Lady, peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch chunks
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
Extras and special equipment
- cornstarch for dusting approx. ½ cup
- Peanut oil for frying, approx. ½ gallon
- oil fryer or cast iron pan for frying
- slotted spoon or spider basket
- bench scraper
- rolling pin
Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5-6 Tbs warm water
Instructions
- Dough:
- In a medium bowl, combine gluten free flour blend, guar gum, salt, and sugar and stir to combine. Set aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat the milk for approximately 1 minute or until the temperature is around 110 degrees F. Add the yeast and gently stir until combined. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl (I like to use my stand mixer for this) add the butter and eggs and beat until combined. Add the milk with yeast and stir to combine (your milk should have a foamy mixture on top where the yeast is growing. If this didn't happen your milk could've been too hot or your yeast is no longer good. You will have to start over or your dough won't rise!). Add your flour mixture to the milk and butter mixture and stir for 2-3 minutes.
- Using a spatula, scrap the dough from the edges of the bowl to form a ball in the center. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm location for 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. I use the 'proof' setting on my oven, which is around 100 degrees F. (Note: after your dough rises, you can place in the refrigerator overnight to use the next morning)
- Apple filling:
- While the dough is resting, in a medium skillet, melt the butter and add the apples, sugar, cinnamon and salt over medium heat and cook for about 10 minutes. The apples should be softened. Remove the skillet from the heat and allow the apples to cool.
- Assembling the fritters:
- Prepare your work space by starting with a clean surface to roll your dough on. I like to use a Silpat mat, or parchment paper to roll my dough on. Sprinkle cornstarch over the surface so your dough (which WILL be sticky) will not stick and coat your rolling pin as well. I like to keep a pile of cornstarch in the corner of my work surface so I can lightly coat my hands or rolling pin quickly if needed. The trick with cornstarch is to use what you need so the dough doesn't stick, but not so much that you alter your dough.
- You can do this in one large batch, but I'm going to walk you through splitting the dough in half and doing this twice to make it easier to work with. Take half of your risen dough and lay it on your dusted work space. Using your rolling pin, gently roll the dough out, until your dough is about 12 in. wide by 8 in. tall. Spread half of the apple mixture across half of the dough, and then fold the dough in half (it will look similar to a calzone). This is where the bench scraper comes in handy, but if you don't have one a knife will do. Make several (maybe 10-12) 1 in. vertical slices through the dough. Now come back and make another series of slices at a 45 degree angle, making several diamond shapes through the dough. (See pictures above). Using your bench scraper or knife, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces. Take each piece and gently press it together to form a flattened ball, about 4 in. diameter. Set these aside for 20 minutes to allow for a small rise on the dough before frying. Now take the other half of your dough and repeat.
- Heat your fryer to 350 degrees F. Only fry 1-2 fritters at a time to avoid overcrowding the pan.
- Using a slotted spoon or spider basket, gently lower the fritter into the oil and fry for 1-2 minutes, gently flip the fritter and fry another 1-2 minutes. Using your spider or slotted spoon, remove the fritter and place on a wire cooling rack with paper towel underneath to catch any grease drippings. Repeat with remaining fritters.
- In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and water and stir until smooth and no lumps remain. The consistency will be very runny, which you want so a fine layer of icing will spread over and seep down into the fritter. Using your spoon or a pastry brush, gently brush the icing over each fritter.
- Best eaten the same day, but you can store any uneaten ones (good luck!) in an airtight container.
Recipe admired and adapted for gluten free: https://www.chowhound.com/recipes/apple-fritters-31252
Hey there! Just As Good Gluten Free LLC participates in the Amazon Associates Program, which mean many outgoing links on Just As Good Gluten Free are affiliate links. After clicking on a link, I may receive a small percentage of the sale for referring you, which comes at no extra cost to you. This allows me to continue creating gluten free recipes for you! Many thanks – Amy
Elena Zambito
This is the best GF recipe I have ever made! We used a wok to fry them and they came out perfect. We also did not have any bubbles in our yeast milk but the dough still rose! So don’t lose hope!
Amazing recipe!
Fran
These were excellent! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. My family loves apple fritters but most GF recipes fall short for us. This one nailed it though.
Amy Wilson
I’m glad you enjoyed it!!
Brian
Fantastic recipe – Hardly distinguishable from bakery fritters.
To make it vegan I modified a few ingredients:
1) substitute carbonated water for eggs (1/2 cup)
2) coconut milk and violife unsalted butter in place of dairy ingredients
3) added teaspoon of baking soda.
4) tablespoon of cane sugar in the coconut milk and instant yeast.
5) added a 1/2 teaspoon of coffee extract to the icing along with vanilla extract.
It proofed for an hour @100 degrees in my oven and perhaps 30m on the counter.
Fried in avocado oil @360-370 degrees for about 2 – 3 minutes per side. Cooled for 30 minutes. Left overs were fine after 24h.
The fritters were a bit wet after combining the softened apples (honey crisp) which gave off a lot of liquid (added a Little tapioca starch to thicken it) but the mixture held form long enough to be set in the oil.
This recipe was a dream come true – vegan / gf fritters has been an aspiration for years. This is the first one that actually can replace donut shop/bakery fritters!
Thank you for figuring this out!!!
Amy Wilson
Thank you for sharing! I appreciate your tips and insight on making them vegan, and more than anything, I’m SO glad you enjoyed them!!
Sue
I’m finding it very difficult to get my dry active yeast to dissolve in “JUST” the milk. I warm it to 110 degrees just like the recipe says. So, I continue to stir until most of it is. But it never foams. I tested my yeast to make sure its good. It activates fast in water with “sugar”. Why is the milk giving me a problem? Thank you
Amy Wilson
I recently came across some advice that we no longer need to proof our yeast, so over the last several months I’ve been testing it out. You basically mix the yeast in with your dry ingredients instead of proofing it with milk, water or sugar. I’ve found it to work extremely well – to the point where I’ve started changing my new recipes and need to go back and update previously posted recipes to reflect this change! While this doesn’t answer your question (although it sounds like your yeast is working just fine), forget about proofing your yeast. Mix it in with the flours and follow the remainder of the recipe. I will work on updating these changes, because its one less step to do! I hope they turn out amazing Sue – thanks for the question and have a great day – Amy
Melissa
I have done this for years as well. And always keep my yeast in a jar in the frig. 😊
Rich
Is there a video of this somewhere?
Just As Good Gluten Free
I’m sorry, there is not.
Kathleen
Can these be made in an air fryer?
Just As Good Gluten Free
Oooh, good question! I have never once used an air fryer (although I should probably make room in my kitchen for one!), so I can honestly say I do not know how it will turn out. If you try it, would you please come back and let me know how it goes? You may tempt me into getting one 🙂
Stevie
Hello, I’m new to the gluten free world. Can you tell me what “yeast” you use?
Just As Good Gluten Free
Great question! I use active dry yeast. In fact, I use it in everything I make with yeast. Let me know if you have any other questions and happy baking!
Hannah
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve made these multiple times and each time they’ve turned out delicious! Most recently I air-fried them, and this was the modification I used:
– Preheat the air-fryer to 370
– Cut out pieces of parchment paper to set the fritters on so they don’t fall through (I’ve read to spray the parchment so they don’t stick, but I didn’t have to)
– Fry them for 5-6 minutes, flip them, then fry them again for another 5 minutes
Just As Good Gluten Free
You are so welcome! Thank you for sharing about the air fryer…I’ve never used one before but it sounds so delicious, and maybe more healthy??!! Hooray for gluten free donuts!!!
Sarah
Can these be frozen before the final rise?
Just As Good Gluten Free
Great question! I have never tried freezing the dough. I would love to know how it turns out if you do! My initial thought is that it would work just fine, but make sure when you remove from the freezer to allow the dough to come to room temperature and rise again before frying. Again, just a thought of how I would attempt it. Best of luck and I hope they turn out amazing!
lisa Robertson
Omg?! these are the bomb. My son’s gluten free and funny thing I had just had a reg apple fritters, then we made these. Oh God these way out do the reg white flour donut shops and far surpassed it in flavor.
I used granny Smiths and agree quarter more flour but other than that purrrrrfect! Ty!
Just As Good Gluten Free
I’m so glad you liked them!!! Thank for the feedback on the flour amount…I tend to go lighter with gluten free flours because I hate dense baked goods! I so much appreciate the insight!
Arketekchic
Excellent!! I had to use a little more flour and I didn’t have peanut oil so I used vegetable but otherwise everything came out great and everyone has had at least 2 or 3, and here I was worried about how to store them!
Just As Good Gluten Free
Problem solved! You just have to make something so yummy you don’t have to worry about storage. I’m so glad everyone like them!
Patty
Just finished making them and so far, they are definitely a hit! Thank you.
Just As Good Gluten Free
Thanks Patty!
Heather
Made these this morning for my family. I used Cup4Cup flour so I omitted the gum. Cup4Cup created a very moist dough so I had to add a bit more flour than this recipe calls for. Other than that change, I stuck true to this recipe. Fried these in peanut oil. Yum, yum, yum!!!! I’m the only gluten free person in my home so I often rely on the other members of my family to give me an honest opinion regarding whether or not things taste good, as I’ve become accustomed to the grit and cardboard that often may accompany gluten free items. They couldn’t tell the difference and had many compliments for these fritters. I will definitely use this recipe again.
Just As Good Gluten Free
I love it! Thanks for sharing