Jewish Wannabes in the Hudson Valley

So, none of us are actually Jewish. BUT: since it's still fall, and we DO always have large amounts of apples (see earlier posts as to why), we are finding ourselves in desperate search of creative things to do with them. Now, apple pie is all very well and good, but sometimes the soul craves something else. Once again scouring Google for interesting ideas that require very few ingredients, we stumbled upon a recipe for apple latkes. Genius? We think so.

THE RECIPE:

2 eggs, well beaten

1 ½ cups orange juice, yogurt or milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Dash of salt

¼ - ½ cup sugar depending on taste

3 medium apples, peeled and coarsely grated

Vegetable oil for frying

Confectioner's sugar

Makes approximately 36 latkes.

Mix eggs with orange juice, yogurt, or milk in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture along with the grated apples. Heat a thin layer of oil in a skillet. Allowing 1 large tablespoon of batter per latke or pancake, drop into the hot oil. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, or until slightly golden.

Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, and serve.

NOTES:

-Didn't bring a fancy apple peeler/grater with you to college? Neither did we. We peeled our apples and chopped them as finely as possible using the most imposing cutlery we could find. Pocketknives continually prove to be invaluable tools--they are handy, stay sharp, and have a bunch of other nifty appliances!

-We ended up not sprinkling the latkes with confectioners' sugar (an ingredient not commonly found in the average college kitchen). Instead, we used a combination of raspberry jam (local farms!), nutella, and cinnamon. Delicious? You can probably figure that out for yourself.

-It seems that it isn't enough to just pour the batter in, especially if the chunks of apple are larger than normal - we had to spread them out with a spoon to make them thin enough to bake through.

-Eat warm, eat messy, eat with friends. This was a great culture clash!