Apple Beignets

I still had a couple of small Fuji apples in the fridge and I wanted a way to use them, without using the oven.  I didn't want to eat them plain either!

So off I went to find a recipe and I found these beignets.  Of course I didn't have pears so I doubled the apples instead.  I also added cinnamon and nutmeg (a "simple" form of apple pie spice).  Then I didn't have a vanilla bean so I used cinnamon sugar instead, although I didn't dip the beignets in the cinnamon sugar, I just placed it on the side as an optional "dip"

They were yummy, but I discovered that little balls of dough were better... they cooked faster too!

How I made them -

Melt 1/2 cup butter (I used salted butter) and 1 cup water; bring to a boil.  Remove from the fire then add 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 cup all purpose flour; stir at once to incorporate.  Place the pan back on the stove on low fire and continue stirring, less than a minute or so, until the dough thickens (dough should "come away from the sides of the pan").  Transfer the dough into a mixing bowl and let it cool several minutes.  Add 3 eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition until no trace of the egg can be seen (I used a hand mixer).  Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg.  Fold in apple cubes (small cubes from 2 small Fuji apples).

Using half a tablespoon or a tablespoon measure, drop into super hot oil and deep fry until the the balls puff up and "crack" a little.  Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels.  Serve with cinnamon sugar on the side.

To make cinnamon sugar, mix together 1/4 cup fine granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon powder.

Homemade Apple Pie Spice

When my mom made her apple pie many, many years ago, she used apple pie spice that she got abroad.  There simply wasn't one available in the local market.  Many things have changed throughout the years, but today, I still cannot find apple pie spice locally.  (In fact, there were spices available before that are no longer being sold these days, perhaps due to lack of popularity or marketability... but that's a different story).

The next best thing?  Make your own!

Here's mine -

And what's cute is the tool that I mixed it with.  A whisk is popular enough and there's lots in the market.  But this is what I found in one of the boxes of my mom's stuff - a "baby" whisk!  I say "baby" because it really is little, so much so that a spoon is bigger!  And I remember it well from my tween years (if I remember correctly my mom had several of them!) and I've never found a practical use for it (except to beat eggs but honestly, I just use a fork!)

These days, however, I realized how useful that little tool could be.  It was absolutely perfect for mixing together a batch of spices to make my proprietary blend of apple pie spice!

Anyway, here are some apple pie spice recipes that I followed - here's one, another one, and yet another one.  Sometimes I add more of one ingredient or less of another, depending on my particular mood.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, you can pretty much blend your own depending on your personal taste!