Apple nuggets

I just made a batch of these earlier today. I felt my life had somehow been missing elfin fried nuggets of cinnamon-flavored batter stuffed with delicious apple chunks and covered with a dusting of powdered sugar.

You can have them for breakfast with a nice cup of tea, with powdered sugar, dipped in light doughnut glaze, or serve them as a scrumptious dessert with your favorite ice cream. Whichever way you devour them, they're guaranteed to please your taste buds!

All you need for these miniature bites of happiness: 

2-3 apples

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2+1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1+1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract  

and  3 teaspoons ground cinnamon.

First, leave a couple inches of canola (or sunflower) oil in a pot or deep frying pan to heat up over low heat. And let's commence!

In a bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Then whisk them together to combine.

Peel two or three apples, depending on their size.

Slice and dice them! You'd want to keep the chunk size a bit smallish so they'd have a chance to cook.

In a separate, smaller bowl, crack two eggs and beat them with a fork. Then add the vanilla extract and mix them together.

Pour the egg mixture and the milk into the bowl with the dry ingredients...

And fold it together gently, without overly mixing it all.

Next, add the melted butter...

And the diced apples...

Fold it all together again, and it's ready to go! If the batter doesn't look chunky enough, by all means add more apples.

And I know it's insanely difficult, but try to resist eating the batter raw.

Now to test the oil, one way is to drop a tiny bit of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and rises to the top immediately, the oil is hot enough. But if it immediately browns and starts to burn, you'll need to decrease the heat a bit.

Here's our cute little test nugget!

Now using a regular teaspoon, take a small scoop of the batter...

And drop it into the oil. Instead of frantically waving the spoon up and down to drop the batter, which will probably end up on your kitchen walls (that's what my brother found intuitive when he tried), you might want to gently give the scoop a little push with your finger instead.

It immediately rises to the top, slowly and steadily starting to brown.

This one actually flipped over on its own. It happens sometimes.

And in a little less than two minutes, you take it out. Observe the awesomeness that is the apple nugget! 

I just couldn't help myself, I HAD to bite into it. Heavenly!

Now be careful not to make the scoops too big, or the batter at the center of your nugget will still be raw by the time you have to remove it from the oil.

Drop in as many as your frying pan can take, without crowding them too much. They like to maintain their personal space.
Some might flip over on their own, but more often than not, you'll have to lend them a helping hand.

Take them out when they're golden and crispy...

And let them drain on a paper towel.

The easiest and quickest way to devour them is to collect some of them into your snack bowl...

And give them a generous dusting of powdered sugar (and maybe an extra sprinkle of cinnamon).

Deeee-lish!

Make as many as the batter allows you to. Make more even! You could keep those in the fridge and heat them up in the oven later to eat as you watch a movie, or the next morning for breakfast. They'll be just as yummy. Maybe even more so! :)