These cookies have lost part of their charm for me, now that a similar confection is so widely available at street fairs. Sometimes called an elephant ear, sometimes just “fried dough,” it’s all basically the same – a very simple batter deep fried and then dusted heavily with powdered sugar.
The addition of the lemon extract does make these a bit special. As does, of course, the special iron we use to make them on, called – naturally – a Swedish rosette iron. LOL Many of the irons available now are just single-pronged, but your work goes twice as fast if you get the kind with two prongs.
Done properly, these cookies are light and crisp, and should stay that way even after being stored.
Makes 6 dozen
2 eggs
2 t sugar
1 c milk
1 c sifted flour + 1/2 t salt
1 T lemon extract
powdered sugar for dusting
Beat the eggs slightly, then add sugar and milk. Add salted flour, then lemon extract.
Fill an electric fry pan or saucepan with several inches of salad oil (canola or corn, not something fancy like olive or avocado that will impart a flavor to the cookies) and heat to 400°. Don’t try to get away with a small amount of oil – it just won’t work.
Stick the iron into the oil to heat it, then plunge it into the batter. The batter should stick to the iron. If it slips off, the iron isn’t hot enough.
Put the batter-coated iron back in the oil and fry for about 30 seconds. The cookies will expand with the oil and fall off the iron, and you have to fish them out with a fork.
According to the images on Google, a lot of people think these cookies are supposed to be served with the open edges up. Lunacy!
Don’t they realize that when they come off the iron they’re upside down, and you have to flip them over?!? These same people must be all the dimwits who voted for Trump!
Once your cookies come off the iron and you’ve fished them out of the hot oil, flip them over, and let them drain onto some paper towels. When cool, dust liberally with powdered sugar.