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Culinary Explorer
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Appelbeignets (Dutch Apple Fritters)
Created by
A winter apple ring in light batter, fried for oudejaarsavond, New Year's Eve, when the oliebol makes the noise and the quieter beignet keeps the cinnamon-sugared secret.
Pastries & Cookies
Dutch
New Years
Holiday
Celebration
25 min
Active Time
20 min cook•45 min total
Yield12 appelbeignets
On oudejaarsavond, New Year's Eve, the Dutch house announces itself before you ring the bell. You smell hot oil in the hallway, sugar in the air, and somebody opening the back door because December guests are patient but curtains are not. In my grandmother's second notebook, the oliebollen got the larger page. The appelbeignets were written in the margin. For obvious reasons, I took this as a challenge.
The name already tells you two things: appel, the apple, and beignet, the French word Dutch borrowed for fruit or batter fried in fat. That little French coat on a Dutch apple is no accident. Dutch festive cookery has always been good at taking a useful word, a useful spice, or a useful method and placing it on the table as if it had always lived in the cupboard. Exuberant cookery in a frugal country, there it is again.
But let me tell you a secret: the appelbeignet is not a small oliebol with fruit hiding in it. It is a whole ring of winter apple, tart enough to argue back, wrapped in batter only long enough to protect it from the oil. The cinnamon in the sugar is not decoration either; it is spice cargo made domestic, the same cupboard memory that perfumes speculaas and winter stews.
That is why the batter is made at the last moment. Let it sit and it grows heavy; slice apples too early and they weep. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple: dry apple, fresh batter, oil hot enough to seal, and cinnamon sugar while the edge is still crisp. Eat them standing near the stove if you like. The calendar will forgive you. It is the old year leaving.
Fritters cooked in oil belong to the Dutch New Year table at least from the seventeenth century; De verstandige kock of 1667 includes oliekoecken, the ancestor of the oliebol, in the same winter frying tradition that later made room for apple fritters. The French word beignet entered Dutch cookery for batter-fried morsels, and by the nineteenth and twentieth centuries appelbeignets had become a common oudejaarsavond, New Year's Eve, companion to oliebollen. Their use of storage apples and cinnamon suits the season exactly: the apple came from the winter pantry, the spice from the Dutch trade cupboard.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
tart apples, preferably Goudreinet or Belle de Boskoop
Quantity
4 large
peeled, cored, and sliced into 1cm rings
lemon juice
Quantity
2 tablespoons
plain flour
Quantity
200g
baking powder
Quantity
2 teaspoons
fine sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
fine salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
egg
Quantity
1 large
cold pilsner or sparkling water
Quantity
225-250ml
neutral oil
Quantity
1.5 liters
for frying
poedersuiker (powdered sugar)
Quantity
60g
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
for dusting
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| tart apples, preferably Goudreinet or Belle de Boskooppeeled, cored, and sliced into 1cm rings | 4 large |
| lemon juice | 2 tablespoons |
| plain flour | 200g |
| baking powder | 2 teaspoons |
| fine sugar | 1 tablespoon |
| fine salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| ground cinnamon | 1 teaspoon |
| egg | 1 large |
| cold pilsner or sparkling water | 225-250ml |
| neutral oilfor frying | 1.5 liters |
| poedersuiker (powdered sugar) | 60g |
| ground cinnamonfor dusting | 1 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Apple corer
- •Heavy 4-liter pot or Dutch oven
- •Deep-fry thermometer
- •Wire rack set over a tray
- •Spider skimmer or slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the apples
Peel the apples, core them cleanly, and slice them into rings about 1cm thick. Toss the rings with lemon juice so they stay pale, then pat them dry very well. Batter clings to a dry apple; a wet apple slips out of its coat like a child escaping church clothes.
Goudreinet, also called Belle de Boskoop, is the old Dutch choice: tart, sturdy, and willing to soften without collapsing. Sweet eating apples go mushy before the batter has done its work. - 2
Heat the oil
Pour the oil into a heavy pot, no more than halfway full, and heat it to 180C. Set a wire rack over a tray for draining. If you have no thermometer, drop in a little batter; it should sink, rise at once, and bubble steadily without darkening in seconds.
- 3
Mix the batter
Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Beat in the egg and 225ml cold pilsner or sparkling water, adding the last splash only if the batter is too thick. You want something like thick cream: loose enough to coat the apple, thick enough to leave a soft ridge. Do not beat it smooth for sport. A few small lumps are better than a tired batter.
- 4
Dip and fry
Dip one apple ring into the batter, let the excess drip back into the bowl, then lower it carefully into the oil. Fry two or three rings at a time, about 2 minutes per side, until deep golden and crisp at the edges. Keep the oil near 175-180C; too cool and the beignets drink oil, too hot and the apple stays stubborn inside.
- 5
Sugar and serve
Lift the beignets onto the rack and let them drain for a minute. Stir the poedersuiker, powdered sugar, with the cinnamon and dust it over while the edges are still crisp. Serve at once. Appelbeignets are not patient pastries, and neither should you be.
Chef Tips
- •Fry the moment the batter is mixed. Baking powder and bubbles are generous only once; wait too long and the coating turns heavy before it ever reaches the oil.
- •Use a firm tart apple. Goudreinet or Belle de Boskoop is ideal, Elstar will behave if you slice it thickly, and soft dessert apples will collapse into sweet apology.
- •Keep the oil steady. A thermometer is not vanity here, it is the difference between a clean crisp edge and a greasy overcoat.
- •Serve them the same hour. Leftovers can be warmed in a 180C oven for 5 minutes, but an appelbeignet is at its best while the apple is tender and the sugared edge still has bite.
Advance Preparation
- •Mix the dry batter ingredients up to one week ahead and keep them sealed at room temperature.
- •Stir the poedersuiker and cinnamon together a day ahead.
- •The apples may be peeled, cored, and sliced up to one hour ahead if held in cold water with lemon juice, but dry them thoroughly before dipping.
- •Do not make the batter ahead. It belongs to the last minutes before frying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 100g)
Calories
240 calories
Total Fat
13 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
190 mg
Total Carbohydrates
29 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
12 g
Protein
3 g
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