The Fourth of July holiday officially kicks off the summer season each year, and after prepping all of the food, my mind always goes to what we will be eating for dessert or while watching the fireworks. I realized that I had not shared my recipe for funnel cakes, so I wanted to show you just how easy they are to make. This is my mother’s recipe for tiganites (tee-ga-nee-tes) that I have tweaked slightly to create a pourable funnel cake batter.
There are a few tricks to making funnel cake correctly. The first is to have a pourable batter — anything that is too thick and cumbersome will create a delay in getting the batter into the hot oil and running the risk of leaving the funnel cake partially raw in some places. You also need a good container with an opening roughly ranging from ½” to 1” wide to help pour this out easily and evenly. I found this little storage container to work out well with an opening of about 1” in diameter. The other little trick I use is a round stainless steel rim that I place into the frying pan with the oil. This helps to make them perfectly round and makes them look just like the funnel cakes you get at the fair. The ooohs and ahhhs I get from the resulting funnel cakes make this step well worth it. If you are not concerned with the shape, then don’t worry about this part, But if you have a springform pan laying around, the rim from this 2 piece baking pan would work well too.
You also need to have about 1.5” of oil in your pan so that the batter does not touch the bottom of your frying pan. You want the batter to float and fry up fairly quickly.
Make these today or any day, the ingredients are those easy ones we all have on hand. So when the family is screaming for a homemade treat, here is something you can make quickly. Fry them in moderately warm oil until golden brown and topped with powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar or even honey. A delicious treat to enjoy today or any day!
Funnel Cake Batter (makes 5- 8” funnel cakes)
3 eggs
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups whole milk
3 cups flour, sifted
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
**powdered sugar for topping
**granulated sugar with cinnamon for topping
**honey for topping
** fruit sauce for topping (strawberry, blueberry, pineapple, cherry, etc)
Add the egg, sugar, vanilla and milk together in a small bowl, whisk well and set aside. Sift together the remaining dry ingredients in a separate medium sized bowl and pour in the wet mixture. Whisk the batter until completely smooth and then pour this into your container.
Heat your oil moderately and drop in a little bit of batter. Wait until it begins to sizzle then fish it out. Place the rim (if you are using one) into the hot oil. Pour in the batter quickly going around the edge of the rim and then filling the rest with squiggly lines. Make sure to connect the frying batter strands so that it stays together when you flip and remove it from the oil. Be careful not to get any of the batter onto the edge of the rim because the funnel cake will then become attached to the rim. If you are using a rim, keep in mind that the rim should be at least a few inches smaller than your frying pan. This will help when it’s time to flip by offering some extra space between the funnel cake and the edge of the frying pan.
Once the funnel cake begins to take on some color underneath, remove the rim and place it onto a large plate – you will need it for the remaining funnel cakes. You will also see the top part of the funnel cake begin to set and form little air bubbles. This tells you that the batter has set and you can flip the funnel cake without having any of the batter stick to your tongs.
Carefully flip the funnel cake onto the other side. It will cook fairly quickly and become a lovely golden brown color. Remove this onto a paper lined plate just to catch any of the grease then transfer it to a large place and dust generously with powdered sugar or your favorite topping. NOW EAT!
Leave a Reply