Sweet Potato Fritters with Honey Butter Glaze
Dessert sweet potato fritters made with roasted mashed sweet potato, cinnamon, and nutmeg, fried into golden rounds and finished with a salted honey butter glaze.
Servings 18 fritters
Ingredients
For the Fritters
- 1 ½ cups mashed roasted sweet potato about 2 medium sweet potatoes, cooled
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg freshly grated if possible
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- neutral oil for frying, about 2 inches in the pot
For the Honey Butter Glaze
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon Sugar Finish (Alternative)
- ½ cup granulated sugar for rolling
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon for rolling
Instructions
Roast and Mix
- Prick the sweet potatoes and roast them whole at 400 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes, until the skins wrinkle and a knife meets no resistance. Split them open, let the warmth escape, then scoop out the flesh and mash it smooth. You need 1 ½ cups, cooled to room temperature.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a bowl.
- In a second bowl, whisk the mashed sweet potato with the eggs, milk, and vanilla until uniform with no streaks remaining.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. The batter should hold a soft mound on a spoon. If it runs, add flour one tablespoon at a time.
Fry the Fritters
- Pour 2 inches of neutral oil into a heavy pot and bring it to 350 degrees F, using a thermometer.
- Drop rounded 2 tablespoon scoops of batter into the oil, four or five at a time. Fry 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning once, until deep golden brown all over.
- Lift the fritters onto a wire rack rather than paper towels, and let the oil come back to 350 degrees F before the next batch.
Glaze and Serve
- Bring the honey and water to a simmer in a small pan. Off the heat, whisk in the butter a piece at a time, then the salt, until smooth and glossy.
- Spoon the glaze over the fritters while they are still hot, or turn them in the pan to coat. Serve warm.
- For the cinnamon sugar version instead, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl and roll each fritter while hot. Skip the glaze.
Notes
- Timing: The 35 minute total covers mixing, frying, and glazing. Roasting the sweet potatoes takes an additional 50 to 60 minutes and can be done up to 3 days ahead.
- Roast, do not boil: Boiled sweet potato carries water into the batter and leaves the fritters raw in the middle.
- Hold the oil at 350 degrees F: Too cool and they absorb oil, too hot and the outside darkens before the center sets.
- Glaze them hot: A fritter that has cooled to warm sheds the glaze instead of soaking it in.
- Keep the scoops small: A rounded 2 tablespoons cooks through in the time the crust can take.
- Make ahead: Roast and mash the sweet potato up to 3 days ahead, but mix the batter only right before frying.