Skip to main content
Dessert

Beignets De Pommes

Apple beignets are fried apple pieces coated in a light batter and dusted with powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Beignets De Pommes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Core the apples.

  2. Cut the apples into quarters.

  3. Peel the apples.

  4. Marinate the apples with brandy, cinnamon, and lemon extract.

  5. Drain the marinated apples.

Make the batter and fry

  1. In a bowl, mix flour, water, and sugar to create a light batter.

  2. Heat oil in a deep pan.

  3. Dip the apples in the batter.

  4. Fry the apples until golden brown.

  5. Remove the apples and place them on a dish.

Finish and serve

  1. Dust the apples with powdered sugar.

  2. Glaze the apples in the oven or with a salamander.

  3. Serve the apples very hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the main body and natural sweetness that soften under the crisp batter.
All-purpose flour
Forms the batter that coats the apples and turns crisp and golden when fried.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the batter and helps it brown during frying.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour to the apples during marinating.
Ground cinnamon
Adds warm aroma that carries through the marinade into the fried coating.
Oil
Transfers heat quickly to the batter, cooking it and making it crisp and golden.

The step that matters

Drain the marinated apples before dipping. Excess marinade left on the apples thins the batter so it slides off, and the water can spatter in hot oil. Well-drained apples keep an even, thick coating that fries crisp.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, brandy, cinnamon, flour, sugar):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, brandy, cinnamon, flour, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Apple PuddingApple Pudding256 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipes