Apple Fritters with Salted Caramel Sauce

  

Now it's on with the show...

We went to The Royal Melbourne Show on Friday. We got dizzy on the rides, we petted the animals, we watched Maria Vella make a Heavenly Snickers Swiss Roll, we won lame stuffed animals by throwing darts at balloons and we sampled deep-fried, sugar-coated morsels at every opportunity. Happy days.


Apple Fritters with Salted Caramel Sauce
Fritters adapted from Annabel Langbein's Simple Pleasures
Serves 6-8

For the Salted Caramel Sauce:
1/2 cup caster sugar
30ml water
60g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons mascarpone
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the Apple Fritters:
1 cup cake flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 granny smith apples, cut into matchsticks (I used a mandoline)
canola oil, for deep frying

Make the Salted Caramel Sauce:

Put the water and sugar in a medium saucepan and stir together before placing on a medium high heat. Let it boil. Do NOT stir or touch it. It will bubble and boil for a few minutes, then begin to turn golden. Don't stir! When the colour turns from light golden to amber, take it off the heat and whisk in the butter and salt. Then whisk in the mascarpone. Set aside.

Make the Apple Fritters:
Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk together to combine and aerate.

Whisk the egg, milk and vanilla in a small jug, then pour into the dry ingredients and stir. The batter should be dropping consistency. Add more milk to get the right consistency if necessary.

Stir the apples into the batter and put about 3cm of the oil into a small, deep sided saucepan. Heat to 180 degrees C. Using two forks, lift tablespoon-size portions of batter up and drop them carefully into the hot oil. Cook the fitters in batches, frying only 2 or 3 at a time. Fry for about 2 minutes, then turn and fry on the other side until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to lift the fritters out of the oil and place them on kitchen paper to drain.

Pile the fritters up and drizzle generously with salted caramel sauce.