Funnel cakes

[celticdragonfly]

Before I get around to chronicling the fun that was ApolloCon, I realize I never got around to posting about last Wednesday, and our experiments in hot oil.

No, no, not like that. We were over for our usual Wednesday night movie night at fordprfct and kattelyn's house, and had decided to try to make funnel cake. I had funnel cake mix and powdered sugar, and they had a deep frying pan and a funnel-tipped plastic pitcher. And we all like funnel cake, so we decided to give it a try.

They also had a candy thermometer, so fordprfct decided to use that to judge the heat of the oil. It kept saying it wasn't hot enough, not enough, not enough - and we were letting it heat up as we watched more of the Dr. Who we're trying to catch up on. Eventually kattelyn and I started saying that it smelled too hot and was getting too smoky, and we got it turned down. fordprfct even moved it off the burner for a while - spilling a bit of oil onto the glass stovetop, where it caught on fire. That was briefly exciting.

We finally thought maybe it was cool enough, and tried making one. Um. No. We quickly got a black burned mass, very quickly indeed. I commented that it looked like some kinda dead squid/octopus alien embryo special effect we'd expect to see on Dr. Who rather than in the kitchen. And the thermometer was still insisting it wasn't warm enough. The thermometer lies.

We kept letting it cool and trying just a tiny bit at a time, and eventually got well, funnel cakes. kattelyn did one that was way better than mine, but I intend to keep getting better at it too. It was yummy, and the funnel pitcher they have was perfect. I intend to get more mix sometime, and I expect I'll definitely be making it over in their kitchen when they're willing to put up with it.

Comments

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

When I was in Girl Scouts, we made funnel cake using a plastic squeeze bottle for the batter. As I recall, it was a well-cleaned-out dish detergent bottle!

[tmc4242.livejournal.com]

So where do you get the mix ?

Mix, schmix!

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Here is Alton Brown's recipe [books are copyrighted, but individual recipes are not. Relax].

1 cup water
3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 cup eggs, about 4 large eggs and 2 whites
Vegetable oil, for frying
Powdered sugar, for topping

Boil water, butter, sugar, and salt together in a saucepan. Add flour and work it in until it is all incorporated and dough forms a ball. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a standing mixer and let cool for 3 to 4 minutes. With mixer lowest speed, add eggs, 1 at a time, making sure the first egg is completely incorporated before continuing. Once all eggs have been added and mixture is smooth, put dough in a piping bag fitted with a number 12 tip. Heat about 1 1/2 inches of oil in a heavy pan. Pipe dough into oil, making a free-form lattice pattern; cook until browned, flipping once. Remove cake from oil, drain on paper towels, and top with powdered sugar. Continue until all of the batter is used.