Adventures of An American Chef on the Run: Fair Style Funnel Cakes

The Mega Fair for Acapulco starts today, and in the spirit of the fair I made some fair food.  Starting Monday, I'll be blowing glass all day every day there until the end of the fair, which is in a few weeks from now.  Considering I'll be on the torch, I won't have much time for fair food.  Even if I did, I probably would have a hard time paying the prices, which are evidently super high.  I guess it doesn't matter where you live, fairs are expensive!  This seems to be a huge event though, with all sorts of features including a concert every day.

Growing up, I've always had a love for fair food.  Anything from cotton candy to corn dogs are on this list for me, but funnel cakes were always at the top.  This was the one fair treat I could ALWAYS hustle my dad into getting, which was useful when he was trying to be especially stingy with his money. John clued me in on how easy they are to make yesterday.  I never really thought about it, but this is so easy the fact that they cost so much at the fair actually kind of hurts a little.  No more fair bought funnel cakes for me!

For 2 good sized funnel cakes, you'll need:

1.5 cups flour

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1.5 tablespoon sugar, I used brown

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water, plus more if needed for texture

Start by measuring the dry ingredients into the bowl.

Combine them until they're thoroughly mixed.

Add the wet ingredients, one by one.

Mix that up too until it's a smooth batter.  If it seems thick, add a little more water.  You want it to be like a slightly thin pancake batter.

I don't have a funnel for kitchen use, so I'm using a baggie with a corner cut.  It's advised that you don't cut the corner before you fill it, to save on the mess.

I filled it up with about half the batter.  At the same time, I turned the stove on to medium high, heating the lard to frying temperature.

Cut a bit of the corner off and essentially squirt it around the pan going in random directions while trying to get an even cover. Make sure the oil is really hot before you do this, or it'll make for a nasty oily funnel cake that takes forever to cook. 

They should look like this.  Allow it to cook until the first side is golden.

Once it's golden, flip it over and cook until its golden on the second side.

Remove it from the lard and let it drip in the air for a second.  Set it on a plate with a few paper towels on it.

Dust with powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, chocolate syrup...jam.  There's all sorts of options.  I only had the powdered sugar and I dusted it heavily.  These were delicious, even with the slightly different flavor you get from frying in lard.  Lard is a lot healthier for you than canola oil or something like that, so we've been attempting to make the transition to lard for awhile. It's reusable, stable and only has a slight taste difference. There's actually more of a smell to lard than a taste, a smell that slightly puts me off. Regardless, I notice I don't feel as bad after eating food fried in lard, which is encouraging me to continue my lard adventures.

Thanks for reading, until next time, happy cooking :)

All content is mine and original, photos included.