Homemade Funnel Cake Bites

In less than 20 minutes you can have these carnival-favorite funnel cake bites ready to serve! Deep fried to golden perfection and topped with a light dusting of icing sugar, these bite-sized funnel cakes are truly irresistible. 

If you are looking for an easy dessert idea to add to your repertoire then leave your calorie counter at the door, because these Funnel Cakes are so easy to make, but hard to resist. If you are anything like me, you might end up eating 5 of these palm-size funnel cake bites in 0.236 seconds flat, but don’t worry you will still have plenty for everyone else as the recipe makes 30-40. 

 

Okay, I might be exaggerating little a bit, but I’m not too far off. Fried food is my weakness, if it is yours too—you’ve been warned!

Up until a two years ago, I hated frying food. Waaaait  . .  . . I still do, but that has more to do with cleaning the pot and disposing of the oil afterwards. But some things are worth the trouble, things like this funnel cake recipe. It only takes 20 minutes of quick prep and 2-3 minutes of quick frying before you are pumping out ready to eat desserts. 

In terms of what to do with all that leftover oil, you can strain it and store it in a cool, dark place for re-use. Just remember that the used oil will keep the flavor of what it was fried in, so probably don’t use the oil that the shrimp was fried in for these funnel cakes. But do use the oil from these funnel cakes for your next batch of beignets (pssst . . . that’s a dead giveaway of what’s coming next).

Although if you are like me, you throw caution to the wind (and your karma) and just let your used oil solidify and then you trash it. In my defense, if oil could compost I would do that. I  just don’t have the patience to strain, store and label little jars of used oils.

And once you taste these funnel cake bites, you might just forgive me for my reckless oil-disposal habit.

For so many other dessert ideas make sure to check out my full Sweets Selections! 

If you are in the mood for more state fair favorite flavors then try my Churro Ice Cream!

Homemade Funnel Cake Bites

Yield: 30-40 (palm size) funnel cake bites

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Bring the carnival home with these funnel cake bites! They are fried to crispy golden perfection in a matter of minutes and are perfectly bite-sized.

Print

Ingredients

• 2 quarts/1.9L vegetable or canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Pour oil to a depth of at least 3-inches into a large heavy saucepan and heat over high heat to 350 degrees F on a deep-frying thermometer, adjusting the heat as you go to maintain the oil temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, 1 cup/236.5 ml  of water, and the vanilla.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk well to combine, making sure no flour lumps remain. Ladle the mixture into squeeze bottle.

Carefully squeeze about 1/4 cup/60 ml of the batter into the hot oil while moving the bottle in a circular motion to create spiral-like shapes. Fry the funnel cakes for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown and slightly puffed. A stainless-steel skimmer or tongs, remove the funnel cakes from the oil and transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate to drain for 1 minute.

Dust warm funnel cakes with confectioners' sugar. Repeat with the remaining batter, allowing the oil to come back to the right temperature between batches.