Monday, March 25, 2013

Let's put the FUN in Funnel Cake

I have mentioned previously how awesome my hubby is. Well, he took that up another notch Saturday night. 

It was the first "Full Day" of spring break vacation and he had made a yummy meal including some hand-cut french fries (that he soaked in hot water first to remove the starches and then dried in our salad spinner prior to frying- so worth those steps!!) After frying them quickly, they made a delicious complement to the rest of our healthy meal. 

After making the fries, we had the oil left over, which we normally would skim and save for next time. But MCP had another idea.

"Who wants to make funnel cake?"

My son ran for the cookbooks, we soon found a recipe and amended it to be dairy free, and off we went. 

We had never made funnel cake before, although my hubby did throw zeppoli's  (fried balls of dough tossed in powdered sugar) at an Italian Fair many, many years ago, so he had some experience frying dough. 

The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
2 cups plain almond milk (you can use regular milk if you like)
1/4 cup granulated sugar  (this is what is recommended- we are going to make them a little sweeter next time, they needed it...)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
vegetable oil for deep frying
confectioners sugar for dusting on top when they are nice & hot! 

Special equipment:
funnel with approx 1/2" opening  (we didn't have a funnel, so we improvised)
candy thermometer (or instant read)
8" heavy frypan with straight sides 
Tongs
Drain/strainer if you have it (drain on paper towels on a plate if you don't)
sifter

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add almond milk and granulated sugar and beat until combined.



Have the kids measure and sift the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet a little at a time and mix until batter is smooth. Add more flour or almond milk as needed to achieve the consistency of the batter being able to flow through the funnel.   

Poor oil in pan until it reaches a depth of 1" or so. Oil must be at 375 degrees. Be super careful of spatters! 

Put your finger over the hole of the funnel, add between 1/2 - 3/4 cup of batter in funnel. Hold funnel over hot oil and remove your finger, and carefully pour the batter in the center of the pan, spiraling it around. 


Cook the funnel cake until golden, about 2-3 minutes. Flip carefully and cool on other side for another minute or so. 

Remove and drain.


Sprinkle (or sift) confectioners sugar on top of hot funnel cake.




Share and enjoy with the ones you love!

VERY important : Only make as many as you are going to eat at that moment. You can't save funnel cake. It gets really greasy. Not good eats.

If you have batter left over, you can save it and use it for pancakes the next day. Waste not, want not! :)

Let me know how your funnel cakes turn out! 


1 comment:

  1. You didn't invite Aunt Amy over? Shame on you! Just kidding! ;)

    What a cool idea. I love the wildness of MAP's hair and how excited both O and MAP are. =)

    ReplyDelete