Apple Fritters

Um ya, I LOVE this recipe. Made these for my mom last night and figured I would blog so all could enjoy :)

2 cups All-purpose Flour
½ cups Sugar
3 Tablespoons Sugar
2-¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
1-¼ teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
2 whole Large Eggs
¾ cups Whole Milk
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Melted Butter
2 whole Granny Smith Apples, Peeled And Diced
Powdered Sugar (optional, For Dusting)

GLAZE (optional)
1-½ cup Powdered Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Vanilla
¼ cups Milk

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork, then add milk, melted butter, and vanilla.

Gently fold dry and wet ingredients together until just combined (do not overmix.) Fold in apples. Add enough apples to make a very chunky batter. You want the apples to shine though!

Heat a couple of inches of canola oil over medium to medium-low heat. When it gets hot, drop a little drop of batter into the oil. If it sizzles immediately and rises to the top, the oil is ready; if it burns quickly, turn down the heat.

Drop teaspoons of batter into the hot oil, six or eight at a time. Sometimes they’ll flip over by themselves; sometimes you have to flip them. Just watch them and make sure they don’t get too brown, but cook them long enough to make sure the batter’s cooked through, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes total.

Remove and drain on a paper towel. Dust very generously with powdered sugar, or dip fritters in a light doughnut glaze (mix all glaze ingredients together, then dunk warm fritters).

Serve warm!

**May be heated up the next day in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.

recipe and photos from: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/03/apple-fritters/

Caramel (Turtle) Brownies

1 (14 ounce) package individually wrapped caramels
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
6 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 pound whole pecans (can be omitted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan. Set aside.

Unwrap caramels and place in saucepan with 2 Tablespoons evaporated milk. Melt over medium to low heat, stirring constantly. In a large bowl, combine the remaining evaporated milk, dry cake mix, and melted butter. Stir until well blended. Spread half of this mixture in the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove brownies from oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips and drizzle
melted caramels over the top. Drop remaining cake mixture by teaspoonfuls over all. Return to oven for 20 minutes. Garnish with whole pecans if you'd like.