Coffee and a Doughnut

Well, technically, it's a beignet... but why split hairs!



This is what Sunday mornings are made for - fresh, hot brandied apple beignets with a strong shot of espresso. This, of course, is followed by staying in our pajamas a little longer than we should, enjoying each others company.



Doughnuts are not something I make often (much to my husband's dismay). We are moving in just over a month and as such, I have started clean sweeping our apartment. I came upon my fairly new, fairly unused deep fryer. I bought it on a whim, envisioning many tasty (sinful) treats that would be had by all. But, after making a delicious batch of pumpkin spice doughnuts soon after the purchase, I remembered why I hadn't bought a deep fryer before. I don't particularly enjoy the house (and myself) smelling like a french fry.

Realizing that I wouldn't be taking the deep fryer with us to our next abode, I decided that we should have one last hurrah. It started on Thursday evening, with some sweet potato fries (accompanied with a delectable chipotle mayo) and continued today with the apple beignets. Who knows what will come in the next few weeks. I am going to make up for many, many months of neglect before I hand it off to its next owner. Hopefully they will give it a better home than we did.



Brandied Apple Beignets as adapted from a recipe by Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp lemon
1/4 cup water
2 apples, chopped
Splash brandy
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, separated
2/3 cup milk
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
Confectioners' sugar

Directions
(1) Preheat a deep fryer. In a saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the brown sugar and cook for 30 seconds to dissolve the sugar. Add the lemon juice, water, apples, brandy and cinnamon. Cook the apples for about 3 to 5 minutes or until the apples start to soften. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
(2) In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks, milk, melted butter and cooled apple mixture. Stir in the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture. Blend until the batter is incorporated. Cover the batter, place in the refrigerator and let rest for 2 to 4 hours.
(3) In a standing mixer or with a whisk, beat egg whites until stiff. Remove the batter from the refrigerator and blend until smooth. Fold in the beaten egg white. Using a large spoon, drop the batter into the hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the oil and drain on paper-lined plate.
(4) To serve, mound the warm fritters on a platter and garnish with powdered sugar.