Amish Funnel Cakes

Total Time: 26 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 6 mins

Ingredients

• 2 cups oil (vegetable or peanut for frying)
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons potato flakes, dry (optional)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mace (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed in cup
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Recipe

• 1 in a heavy cast iron pan or in a deep fryer, heat the oil to 375â°f.
• 2 in a bowl, combine eggs, milk, potato flakes (if using) and vanilla, whisking until foamy.
• 3 in another bowl, sift flour, baking powder, mace and salt. sifting helps improve the texture and lightness of funnel cakes and is a step that shouldn't be skipped!
• 4 stir brown sugar into the sifted flour mixture until no streaks remain.
• 5 stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, then beat on medium speed until the batter is smooth and no lumps remain. (lumps may clog up the funnel).
• 6 adjust the consistency of the batter - if it pours too easily and is too thin, add a tablespoon more of flour (at a time) until the batter thickens; if the batter is too thick and doesn't pour easily, thin it with a tablespoon or so of milk until it pours easily. batter should have the consistency of heavy pancake batter.
• 7 you'll need a large funnel with an opening about the size of your index finger. silicone funnels are convenient to use because you can pinch them shut, or use a funnel cake funnel made specifically for the purpose, or any funnel will do, if you are able to hold your finger over the bottom to keep the batter from flowing.
• 8 when the oil is at the right temperature, fill the funnel with batter (use a small amount at first until you get the hang of it), then remove your finger and drop batter into the hot oil, forming swirls and squiggles in a criss-cross fashion, moving constantly (from the outside in works well).
• 9 fry funnel cakes for about 3 minutes, then turn over with a slotted spoon and fry until the both sides are golden.
• 10 remove using a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.
• 11 combine confectioners' sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over the still warm funnel cakes using a shaker or put the cinnamon sugar into a clean brown paper bag and toss the funnel cakes in the bag to coat.
• 12 serve warm. makes eight 8-in. cakes.