blueberry-cream cheese fritters

My last batch of fritters I received a few emails from people telling me they love and want to make their own donuts at home, but are a little afraid of deep frying. To quote one of the people "the whole frying thing scares me a bit, so I'll pass..." Yikes I thought. I can understand that it scares you a bit, with the heat of the oil, the fear of burning, soggy/greasy donuts, or worse yet a fire. But if you keep a few things in mind, and play them into practice, you will have a better sense of confidence. First, have a good, sturdy, well made pot for deep frying. I've seen some people use cast iron for frying, and while that might be fine for frying chicken, I'm just not comfortable with it for donuts. Donuts, fritters tend to bubble up a bit and should have high walls of a deep stockpot. You need a high sided pot, or thick/high stockpot is what I use. Or if you have a le creuset pot all the better, those are great or conducting the heat uniformly. Second, invest in a thermometer. You'd be amazed at how many times you'll use if for other baking/cooking adventures, like candy, caramels, french fries, chicken, etc... Third, never use high heat for frying; always use medium heat. I've seen so many people start off thinking they need high heat to "get it nice and hot" No no! That's the worst thing you could do. Go medium and slow, and you'll get there. And lastly, no need to fill the pot up with oil. I'd say 3-5 inches of oil is fine for frying donuts/fritters; a bit less for chicken, wings, egg rolls, potatoes, etc... I've seen way too many people put in about 7 inches or more of oil just for frying donuts! You need to do that if you're frying commercially or for a commercial deep fryer.

blueberry-cream cheese fritters
print recipe

2 cups AP (all purpose) flour
½ cup white sugar
2 ¼ ts baking powder
1 ¼ ts salt
1 ts cinnamon
2 large eggs
¾ cup whole milk
1 ts pure vanilla extract
3 TB melted butter, cooled a bit
½ - ¾ cup fresh blueberries

glaze
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 ts salt
1/4 cup half & half (more/less depending on how thick/thin you like glaze; I like mine thick)
4 ounces of cream cheese, room temp

Cook Notes: You are working with hot oil. Never ever walk away from the stove when deep frying. To keep the fritters crunchy, you may want to drizzle the glaze over the fritters instead of dunking. If the fritters get too much glaze they will get soggy. Some blueberries will pop out when frying. To make sure your oil is the perfect temp for frying, use a thermometer. A temp of 360-375 is ideal for donuts/fritters. Always test a small fritter to see if oil is ready. Do not overcrowd pan with fritters, they brings the heat way down and will result in oily fritters.

In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix the eggs with milk and vanilla extract, then add in cooled melted butter; mix until just combined—do not overmix!
Fold in the dry with the wet ingredients; only mix till just combined. Lumps are good. If you overmix you will have tough chewy fritters—that’s a no no. Next fold in the blueberries.

Heat about 3-4 inches of canola oil over medium to medium-low heat (it takes time to heat up).
When it gets hot, drop a little drop of batter into the oil to see if oil is ready; if it sizzles immediately and rises to the top, the oil is ready; if it burns quickly, turn down the heat.
Drop oversized tablespoons of batter (using a small to medium size ice cream scoop, or use two spoons to roll out the scoops of batter) into the hot oil. Only do about 3 -4 fritters at a time. If you want flatter fritters, use two chopsticks to spread out the batter immediately after you put into oil. They cook fast about 1 ½ - 2 minutes per side or if you want extra crispy about 2 ½ - 3 minutes per side—if that? Make sure to flip them.
Remove and drain on a paper towels or brown paper bags. Let these cool a bit before the glaze bath.

For the glaze:
In a small saucepan, heat the half and half with the cream cheese over low heat. Stir until all melted. Then transfer to a bowl and whisk in the powdered sugar and slat. Mix well using a whisk. I had lumps in my glaze and just used a whisk (for a while and got rid of them). Then quickly dunk each fritter and let them rest on wire rack with cookie sheet on bottom to catch drippings. Or you can easily just drizzle the glaze over the fritters if you want a lighter glaze and want the fritters to stay crispy. Don’t let the fritters sit too long in the glaze as they will get soggy.
Makes about 12-15 fitters depending on size you make them.