Name: Fried Apple Rings with Soft Salted Caramel
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: ½ cup Granulated Sugar; ½ cup Light Brown Sugar; 1 tsp Lemon Juice; 1 tbsp water; 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter; ¼ cup Double Cream; ½ tsp Cornstarch; 1 Vanilla Pod; 2 tsp Flaky Sea Saly; 2 Large Cooking Apples; 1 Lemon; 1 cup AP Flour; ¼ tsp Fine Salt; 3 tbsp Honey; 1 Large Egg; ¼ cup Whole Milk; 2 cups Frying Oil; ½ cup Granulated Sugar; 2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

Discover > Texas Recipes > Fried Apple Rings with Soft Salted Caramel Recipe

If you’re a fan of fruit desserts, cinnamon, and caramel, boy do I have just the thing for you. Sour green apples (how long do apples last?) coated in a tender batter, sweet cinnamon sugar (how long does sugar last?) dusting, and a smooth salted caramel sauce that doesn’t harden in the fridge, making it perfect for practically any dessert without ever having to reheat and melt it. Battered apple rings with super silky, stay soft caramel sauce.

How to Make Stay-Soft Caramel Sauce

One of the biggest challenges when making a caramel sauce is keeping it from hardening. There are two ways to do it, and I found the best way is to combine both. The first is to not overheat the sugar (keeping it from crystallizing) and secondly, add either corn syrup (how long does corn syrup last?) or acids, like cream of tartar (how long does cream of tartar last?) or lemon juice (to do what?).

Butter and cream both give richness to the caramel by adding fat, while the lactose in the cream assists caramelization and develops more complex flavors. The cream will also keep the sugar from crystallizing and turning into hard sugar glass.

Salt and vanilla are purely for flavor: The salt adds great depth and contrast to the sweetness of the caramel and you can't go wrong with the warmth of fresh vanilla. It's perfectly subtle and gives extra notes of pure flavor that you can’t get from vanilla extract.

Making the Batter

Making the batter before you prep the apples has one big advantage: Resting. This lets the flour absorb more of the milk, dissolve any lumps, and release some of the starches and proteins that help give the batter some lift.

To make the batter, add all-purpose flour, salt, eggs, honey (how long does honey last?), and milk to a large mixing bowl, then whisk vigorously to combine them. Using honey adds much more richness to the batter and can also be sourced much more sustainably. That extra richness that pastured eggs bring to the table is also noticeable, and those super dark orange yolks add a noticeable golden hue - perfect for fall.

For the most extensive selection, I suggest buying all-purpose flour, salt, honey, mixing bowl, and whisk online!

How to Core & Prep Apples

The easiest way to core apples is of course to use an apple corer, but it’s actually very easy to do with a good old-fashioned knife. All you have to do is cut around the core on the top and bottom. As long as you cut the skin in a connecting circle around the stalk and the stamen, and a couple of millimeters of the flesh, you can easily push the whole core of the apple out without damaging anything else. After that, you simply have to cut the apples into slices and make sure they don't brown.

Apples go brown when Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes in the chloroplasts oxidize phenolic compounds present in the apple tissue. In plain English: they go brown when their cut flesh is exposed to oxygen. There’s an easy solution to this: lemon juice. Like most acids, lemon juice deactivates enzymes (like the ones that cause food to spoil when you’re pickling). Simply slice a lemon in half, then rub both sides of the apple ring with it to cover it in some lemon juice. Set aside as you heat the oil.

Frying the Apples

To fry the apple rings, you have to use a high smoke point, flavorless oil like sunflower, canola, peanut, or vegetable oil (how long does vegetable oil last?). Add a couple of cups of oil to a wide pot or frying pan and heat up to 350-400ºF.

Drop an apple in the batter, coat it generously, let the excess drip off, then - very carefully - lay it into the oil (away from you) and fry on each side until golden brown. Place the freshly fried apples on a paper towel to drain off any excess oil, and have a warm oven ready to keep them hot in while you finish the rest.

Save time and effort by ordering sunflower, canola, peanut, or vegetable oil, frying pan, and measuring cup online!

Yield: 4

Author: Mariano Clement Gupana