Description
These South African Pumpkin Fritters are light, fluffy and guaranteed to convert even the most skeptical non-pumpkin eaters into fans! An easy recipe with the most simple and affordable ingredients leaving you wondering why on earth you didn't make these sooner! Take these fritters from a snack to dessert with a warm caramel sauce!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Pumpkin Fritter Batter
- 1 cup pumpkin, cooked and mashed or canned pumpkin puree
- 1 cup flour
- 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, you can use any sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup milk
- Oil for frying, canola, vegetable or sunflower
Spices
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 Tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp all spice (for a more complex flavor, but optional)
Cinnamon Sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (richer flavor than granulated sugar)
- 2 Tbsps ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Dry ingredients In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Give the ingredients a light mix to combine.
- In a seperate small bowl, beat the egg and add the milk and vanilla. Pour these wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and give it another light mix.
- Add the sugar, stir it in and add the pumpkin puree. Combine until the ingredients are incorporated (try not to overmix). It will seem dry but keep going, it turns into a thick batter, that's what you want.
- Wet ingredients Heat the oil in a Dutch oven, deep skillet or non-stick pan on medium-high heat until it reaches 170-180 degrees C /338-356 degrees F.
- Carefully drop teaspoon fulls of the batter into the oil and fry until they are golden brown. Depending on the size of your Dutch oven/pot add 4 to 7 at a time.
- batter Remove the fritters with a large slotted spoon or a spider tool and place them on kitchen paper to drain. The paper should either be on a plate or tray to avoid a mess of oil dripping. Keep going until all the fritters are cooked.
- Place on a plate or rack and serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar, honey, syrup, icing sugar (powdered sugar) caramel sauce, or however you prefer. You can also serve this as they are. Best served fresh and warm.
Cinnamon Sugar
- Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Sprinkle over the pumpkin fritters or add to a caramel sauce and roll the fritters in the sauce/cinnamon sugar for extra texture!
The cinnamon sugar can be stored in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid in the pantry/kitchen cupboard for a couple months.
Notes
Tips and Suggestions
- To get the best fluffy fritters that are cooked through, make them small. If you make them too big, they will not cook properly.
- You don't have to make these round, you can make them like flap jacks or pancakes in a frying pan with oil and butter. Again, smaller and thinner as opposed to larger and thicker.
- Canned pumpkin puree or cooked pumpkin both work. Cook the pumpkin in a pot on the stove with a fraction of water (it should steam not boil). Or cook ready-to-buy-cleaned-pumpkin cubes and follow the directions on the packet. I think it's 8 minutes in the microwave. You can also airfry the pumpkin. Either way, you will have smashed pumpkin, then follow the recipe for the fritters.
For a quick homeamde caramel sauce add sugar, heavy cream, butter, vanilla (optional) and a pinch of salt to pot and medium heat. Keep stirring/whisking until it melts into a caramel. Dont cook for too long, it will thicken as it stands.
If you don't over cook caramel sauce, its easier to reheat with a little milk, cream or cold water to get it runny again.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: South African
Nutrition
- Calories: 110
- Sugar: 10
- Sodium: 165
- Fat: 6
- Saturated Fat: 4
- Carbohydrates: 11
- Fiber: 1
- Protein: 1
- Cholesterol: 28