Apple and buttermilk fritters - a delicious excuse to fry

It’s no secret how much I love Gourmet Traveller – I have made tons of recipes from the magazine and they turned out delicious. I always have several recipes from the magazine on my radar (me and my never ending list) and now, because of the fall, I’ve been targeting the ones with apples and pears, and I intend to make the doughnuts filled with quince jelly as soon as I get my hands on some quince; while that doesn’t happen, I enjoy these apple fritters, which are delicious and very easy to put together – I don’t usually fry food at home, but these are the perfect excuse for it. :)

Apple and buttermilk fritters
from the always gorgeous Australian Gourmet Traveller

Fritters:
1 ¾ cups + ½ tablespoon (250g) all purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk*
2 eggs, separated
2 Granny Smith apples, coarsely grated
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
pinch of salt

Cinnamon sugar:
1 cup (200g) granulated or caster (superfine) sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir in the sugar and lemon zest and make a well in the centre. Add buttermilk, yolks and vanilla, stir until smooth, stir in apple. Set aside to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, for cinnamon sugar, combine ingredients in a bowl, then spread on a tray and set aside.
Preheat oil in a deep-fryer or deep-sided small saucepan to 180°C/350°F.
Whisk egg whites and salt in a bowl until firm peaks form. Fold one-third of egg white into apple mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining egg white. Spoon rough quenelles of mixture into hot oil, in batches, and cook, turning occasionally, until golden and cooked through (2-3 minutes; be careful as hot oil may spit). Drain in paper towels, toss in cinnamon sugar and serve hot.

* homemade buttermilk: to make 1 cup buttermilk place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk (room temperature). Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken slightly, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Makes about 40