She Liked My Apple Fritters

I've enjoyed baking since I was young. I remember many nights making a batch of cookie dough and eating it raw in my room so I wouldn't have to share with anyone. As I grew older I began trying new recipes, branched out into cooking meals, and found that I was getting quite good at all types of home cooking.

Then I met the woman who would become my wife. She, like many others, had a severe gluten sensitivity. It wasn't Celiac but her sensitivity was severe enough that it would cause her a great deal of discomfort anytime she ate gluten. She still ate it out of habit, convenience, and taste. We married before gluten free foods became popular and tasty and being poor the price difference made it difficult for us to be strictly gluten free. Then everything came to a head one night after we bought a dozen Krispie Kreme donuts. As usual, her stomach became upset and she had to use the bathroom shortly after eating a few. After some time I heard her gasp and ran to check in. My wife's face and eyelids had swollen considerably and small hives had begun to form on her arms. We calmed the reaction with some Benadryl but vowed to go completely gluten free from that moment on.

Gluten free foods were in fashion around this time and it wasn't difficult to swap to gluten free bread, pizza, and snacks. I'd already been trying out baking with gluten free flour so had a rough idea of how it worked in recipes compared to regular flour. However, I was far from achieving my normal standard of baking when using it. I baked and cooked gluten free dishes and desserts for three years until I finally learned the nuances and tricks that worked for my recipes.

During this period, my wife would sometimes comment how she missed certain food items like bread and donuts. We found an acceptable gluten free bread and we had some mass produced gluten free donut brands available but they tended to be thick, chewy, and became gummy once in the mouth.

One day when visiting my in-laws, my father-in-law made some pumpkin donuts that were pleasant enough but still were thick like a cake donut. There was also a gluten free bakery near where they lived that we tried but experienced the same result. We began to really miss the airy texture of a plain glazed donut.

For four years we continued eating in this way. Then, one night I wanted to try my hand at Apple Fritters. They had been my favorite donut variety before going gluten free and no one I knew made a gluten free Apple Fritter. My wife abhorred cooked fruit in any form so if it came out bad I'd be the only one that knew, I reasoned. Thus, an hour and a few oil burns later, I had made my first batch of gluten free Apple Fritters.

The smell of cooking dough must have reached my wife since she slinked around the corner of the front room into our small galley kitchen, nose in the lead. "Watcha makin?" she asked. "Apple Fritters," I replied. The expression she made at my statement made it clear she was no longer interested in the cooling fritters. She scampered back to her office to continue playing video games with our friends.

Eventually, the smell brought her back. By this time the Apple Fritters were glazed though it hadn't fully hardened nor cooled. She picked up one of the smaller scrap pieces that broke free during frying and popped it in her mouth. Her eyes widened, her lips quivered, her shoulders raised. "mmmm that's good," she exclaimed. "Can...can I have another even though I said I don't want some?" she asked tentatively. "Of course, have as many as you like," I responded. Her smile grew again and she picked one of the best looking fritters, I'd had my eye on it myself, and skipped back down the hall, prize in hand. She ate three that night.

Not all the fritters came out perfect, some were undercooked and the sizes varied drastically. Despite all that, they were the airy donut that we had been missing. They were a greater success than I could have imagined. But how do I know this beyond a shadow of doubt? It's because my wife hates cooked fruit in her desserts but she liked my Apple Fritters.