Dutch apple dougnuts or Dutch apple beignets are a must on New Year’s Eve! Next to Dutch oliebollen, they are one of my favorite New Year’s Eve treats. They are delicious with a little icing sugar or cinnamon sugar on top and very easy to make.
Making your own Dutch apple beignets is not difficult. Of course, I have some handy tips to help you make the tastiest apple fritters, but other than that, you just have to cut the apples up, put them in the batter and fry them.
You can use an ‘official’ frying pan but it will work just as well with a regular pan.
In the Netherlands we have a difference between an apple turnover and an apple beignets or an apple fritter. All those names can be quite confusing but the General Dutch Dictionary describes the difference as follows ‘The triangular apple pastry made from puff pastry and baked in the oven is called an appelflap (apple turnover), and the apple slice dipped in batter and deep-fried is an apple doughnut or apple beignet’. So there is that sorted out. Of course I also have a recipe for apple turnovers on the blog!
There is also another version of apple beignets using puff pastry but those are not the same so this is my version of classic Dutch apple beignets. (I do use the name apple fritter, apple dougnuts or apple beignets interchangeably)
I often make a lot of apple dougnuts so that I have enough for New Year’s Eve. Friends and family love them. It is a tradition in our house to have an apple beignet (and/or oliebol) for breakfast on Januari 1st. It’s easy to heat up an apple beignet in the oven, deep fryer or microwave. So good!
When I bake apple beignets, I often bake Dutch doughnuts (oliebollen) at the same time. Because if the fryer is out why not make the most of it right? Of course there are more things you can make for Newyears and I’ll be sharing more of those soon!
For this recipe, I prefer to use a firm variety of apple, such as Honeycrisp, granny smith or Gala apples. I cut an apple into about 5 slices, each 1-1.5 cm (around 0.5 inch) thick. You can use an apple corer to remove the core.
The batter for these irresistible apple beignets is very easy to make and quite thin. You could use beer instead of milk for an even crispier result. The cinnamon in the batter is optional, but I personally love adding a bit of cinnamon. Or try a little bit of pumpkin spice instead. It’s easiest to work if you add the simple batter to a large bowl so you can dip the apple rings in and transfer to the hot fat right away.
I bake the apple fritters in a large frying pan or deep pan filled with sunflower oil. You can also use peanut oil or another cooking oil suitable for deep frying. Sunflower oil is easy to heat and the pan should be large enough. I use about 2 liter of oil (the total amount of oil may vary depending on the size of your pan). Use a slotted spoon to lift the baked apple beignets from the hot oil. Let them drain on paper towels.
I like to eat my Dutch apple beignets with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar. Cinnamon sugar is also delicious. Just mix some sugar with cinnamon in a small bowl and use that to dust your fritters with.
You can store apple fritters in a tightly closed airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. If you freeze them, they will keep for about 3 months.
Reheat in the oven, air fryer or microwave. In the oven, depending on the quantity, they often heat up in a few minutes. The same applies to an air fryer. You can reheat them in the microwave, in which case they will probably be hot in 20-30 seconds (again, depending on the quantity), but they may be a little softer.
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