Apple Fritters (1832)
I have a confession: I meant to post this in the peak of fall. I missed that by quite a bit, but let’s be honest: there is never a bad time for apple fritters. This is something that deserves to be enjoyed year-round.
These apple fritters are not one of my great-grandma’s recipes, but are from The Cook’s Own Book, an 1832 recipe book credited simply to “A Boston Housekeeper.” At this point, I’m starting to amass quite the collection of vintage cookbooks. I ain’t mad about it.
Initial thoughts on the recipe
Stew some apples cut small, together with a little water, sugar, lemon-peel, and cinnamon; when soft, add a little white wine, the juice of half a lemon, and a bit of fresh butter; when cold, mix them with a batter, as for Tunbridge puffs, or enclose them in puff paste. Fry, and serve them with sifted loaf sugar over them.
The Cook’s Own Book, A Boston Housekeeper, 1832
Ok, so this recipe ended up being a bit of a matryoshka doll. There’s a need for another recipe within the recipe. Thankfully, there’s also a recipe for Tunbridge puffs in the book. In case you’re wondering it’s in alphabetical order, so these two recipes were not particularly close to each other, so much page flipping had to be done.
TUNBRIDGE PUFFS. Put into a nicely-tinned saucepan a pint of milk, and when it boils, stir in as much flour as will make it a thick batter; add three well-beaten eggs, and two or three drops of oil of cinnamon, or any other seasoning; dust a large flat plate with flour, with a spoon throw ion it the batter, in the form of balls or fritters, and drop them into boiling clarified drippings or lard. Serve them with pounded loaf sugar strewed over. The batter may be made into a pudding, adding with the eggs an ounce of salt butter. Boil and serve it with a sweet sauce.
The Cook’s Own Book, A Boston Housekeeper, 1832
Can we take a moment, as a quick aside, to point out how for some reason these recipes are written like one long run-on sentence? As I read them, it kind of makes me feel like I can’t pause to understand them, but must instead keep rushing forward.
Anyway.
As I have come to learn is fairly standard for these types of recipes, there are no measurements. Which means my favorite thing, completely winging it and hoping it turns out all right.
Trying it out
Thankfully, while these recipes left me hanging with measurements, the instructions were pretty clear and easy to follow.
I began by cutting up two apples and combining them with water, sugar, cinnamon, lemon peel, butter, and white wine over the stove on medium heat until they were softened. As the apples cooled, I made the batter. I didn’t have any “oil of cinnamon” on hand (can one even buy that for cooking anymore? Or is it just sold as an essential oil?), so I used regular ol’ ground cinnamon instead. As far as I can tell, this worked just fine.
One thing to note: initially, 2 cups of flour were plenty for the batter. However, after I added the apples I needed to ad another 3/4 cup to bring it back to it’s former consistency. I probably wouldn’t have needed to add so much had I drained the apples, but I liked the idea of some of that apple-stewing liquid getting into the batter. It could only help the flavor, as far as I’m concerned.
When it comes to deep frying things I’m somewhat of a rookie. The internet told me to try and keep the oil at around 350, so with a candy thermometer I did my best to monitor and stay within that range. I dropped spoonfuls of the batter inelegantly into the oil, and turned them to make sure they were golden on both sides. Is there a prettier way to do this? I don’t know; maybe. But no one expects apple fritters to be beautiful, right? After taking them out and letting them drain on a paper towel, I dusted them with powdered sugar. And voila! They were done.
The verdict:
You guys. These were so good. It’s so far my favorite historical recipe I’ve ever made. The one “flaw” might be that mine were a little underdone in the middle. I’m sure that could be fixed by dropping batter into the oil in smaller amounts. However, I honestly didn’t mind — yes, I have always been one of those “eat the batter” types. Anyway, that’s more user error with the cooking method rather than anything wrong with the recipe. The fritters themselves had a wonderfully balanced flavor. Just the right amount of sweetness, with a hint of tartness from the apples. This is one of those rare instances where I’m giving the recipe a glowing 5/5.
Apple Fritters (1832)
Ingredients
- 2 apples (choose crisp, flavorful apples like Granny Smith)
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ lemon juiced, reserve peel
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ cup white wine
- 2½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 cups milk
- 2-3 cups flour
- 3 eggs
Instructions
- Cut apples into small pieces. In a saucepan, combine with water, sugar, lemon peel, and 1.5 tsp of the cinnamon.
- Cook over medium heat until apples have begun to soften. Add white wine, the juice of half a lemon, and butter. Cook about 15 minutes more. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- In a saucepan, heat milk until it boils. Remove from heat and add enough flour to make a thick batter, about 2 cups.
- Add three well-beaten eggs to the batter and the remaining 1 tsp of cinnamon.
- Drain apple pieces and add to the batter. If necessary, add more flour for proper consistency.
- On the stove, heat canola oil in a saucepan until about 350°. Drop the batter in spoonfuls. Turn over once to ensure that all sides are evenly cooked, and remove when golden brown.
- As you remove the fritters, place on a plate covered with paper towel to drain.
- Top with powdered sugar, and enjoy warm!
