Baked apple fritters give you that same soft, spiced, bakery-style treat without ever turning on the fryer. These are made with tart apples, warm cinnamon and nutmeg, and a sweet glaze brushed on twice, once right out of the oven and once after a quick broil, for a finish that looks and tastes like it came from a real bakery counter. They bake up golden in under 30 minutes, no standing over a pot of hot oil required. This baked apple fritters recipe comes together in one bowl, no mixer required.

A plate of glazed cookies with chunks of apple visible inside, stacked on a light blue plate. One cookie is bitten, showing its soft interior. The plate rests on a white and blue striped cloth.
These baked apple fritters come out soft and warmly spiced, with a golden glaze that gives them that bakery-style finish straight from your own oven.

A Quick Look At This Recipe

  • Recipe Name: Baked Applesauce Fritters
  • Serves: 12 fritters
  • Main Ingredients: 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt
  • Why You'll Love It: Baked apple fritters made in the oven instead of the fryer, soft in the center with warm spices and a bakery-style glaze brushed on twice. This baked apple fritters recipe is perfect for a cozy weekend brunch, no hot oil required.

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These came about because of a little bakery we always stop at on the way to the beach. They make a fried applesauce fritter there that I have never been able to walk past, and every trip I tell myself I’ll skip it, and every trip I don’t. I finally decided I wanted a version I could make myself without frying anything, so I tried a handful of recipes until one actually got close. Honestly, the real breakthrough wasn’t the batter. It was figuring out how to glaze them so they came out looking and tasting like the bakery’s instead of just a dusting of sugar on top.

Fantastic recipes with easy to follow directions.

—Pam

Main Ingredients Needed For Baked Apple Fritters

Here’s a quick overview of the key ingredients for this recipe. For the full list of ingredients and exact measurements, jump to the recipe card.

Flat lay of labeled baking ingredients in bowls and cups, including powdered sugar, brown sugar, flour, egg, butter, milk, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, salt, vanilla, nutmeg, three apples, and applesauce.
  • All-purpose flour: This is your base; unbleached gives a slightly more natural flavor if you want to go that route.
  • Brown sugar: Adds a gentle caramel sweetness to the batter itself, separate from the glaze on top.
  • Baking powder: Make sure yours is fresh; it’s what gives these fritters their lift.
  • Warm spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice together are what give these that classic apple fritter flavor. Don’t skip any one of them if you can help it.
  • Cold butter: Cut it into small pieces before working it into the dry ingredients; cold butter is what gives the fritters their tender texture.
  • Milk: Used in both the batter and the glaze.
  • Unsweetened applesauce: This is what keeps the fritters moist without making the batter heavy. I use store-bought for convenience, but a batch of homemade applesauce works great here too if you’ve got some on hand.
  • Tart apples: Granny Smith or Macintosh are the two I reach for. Peel, core, and dice them into cubes about the size of a die. If you cut them much bigger, they won’t soften all the way through in the bake.
  • Confectioners’ sugar: This is the base of the glaze, whisked with milk and vanilla until smooth.

How To Make Baked Apple Fritters

Here’s how these come together, start to finish, in under 30 minutes.

A food processor bowl filled with flour, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and other dry ingredients, viewed from above on a white background.
Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a food processor or large bowl.
A food processor bowl containing a mixture of flour and spices with several chunks of butter placed on top, viewed from above.
Add the cold butter pieces and pulse or cut in with a pastry cutter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
Top view of a food processor filled with finely ground flour or powder, with the blade attachment visible in the center, set against a white background.
Mix until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
A white mixing bowl with a raw egg, applesauce, and milk inside. A metal whisk with a light blue handle rests in the bowl on a white background.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, applesauce, and vanilla until well combined.
A white mixing bowl containing a whisk and a light, frothy yellow mixture, likely eggs being beaten, is placed on a white surface.
Whisk until the applesauce, eggs, and milk are creamy.
A white mixing bowl contains tan-colored batter being stirred with a white spatula on a white background.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. The batter will be thick; don’t overmix it.
A white vegetable chopper with diced pieces of potato inside and three peeled potato chunks on a white cutting board next to it.
Dice your apples into even-sized pieces.
A white mixing bowl containing a light brown batter with chopped green apple pieces and a white spatula resting inside.
Gently fold in the diced apples.
Twelve unbaked cookie dough mounds are evenly spaced on a parchment-lined baking sheet, ready to be baked. The dough appears chunky, possibly containing pieces of fruit or nuts.
Drop 1/3 cup portions of batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing slightly apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Move the fritters to a wire cooling rack over the baking sheet, then turn your oven to broil.
A metal whisk rests in a white mixing bowl containing a mound of white powder, likely flour or powdered sugar, on a light surface.
Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth.
Nine iced cookies cool on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Beside them is a bowl of glaze with a red pastry brush resting inside. The background is bright and white.
Brush a thin layer over the warm fritters.
A red and white pastry brush is spreading white glaze onto round cookies cooling on a black wire rack. Other glazed cookies are visible in the background.
Broil for 2 to 3 minutes, watching closely, until the tops turn golden and the glaze bubbles.
Iced apple cookies with a light glaze cooling on a black wire rack over a white surface.
Let the fritters cool for a few minutes, then brush the remaining glaze over the top.

Tip: That second glaze after the broil is the actual secret to getting these to taste like the bakery. The broil sets the first layer and gives you that golden, slightly crackled top, and the second brush of glaze on top of that is what gives you the thick, glossy bakery finish instead of a thin drizzle that soaks in and disappears. It’s what turned this into the best baked apple fritter recipe I’ve made at home.

Fun Ways To Change Up These Oven Baked Apple Fritters

Once you’ve got the base recipe down, there’s room to make these your own. If you want a little crunch, fold in some chopped pecans along with the apples. Raisins are also a nice addition with the apples for a little more sweetness to your fritter. I usually go with the pecans myself. I like the bit of crunch against the soft inside. If you want something even more indulgent, chopped candied pecans give a completely different kind of sweetness and crunch.

Kitchen Essentials I Use In This Recipe

Baking Essentials

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A blue plate piled with glazed apple cookies, resting on a white and blue striped cloth. The cookies are chunky and coated with a shiny sugar glaze.
A blue plate stacked with glazed cookies, each filled with chunks of what appears to be apple, resting on a striped cloth with a glass of milk in the background.
5 from 3 reviews
Gina Dickson

Baked Applesauce Fritters

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 12 fritters
Baked apple fritters made in the oven instead of the fryer, soft in the center with warm spices and a bakery-style glaze brushed on twice. This baked apple fritters recipe is perfect for a cozy weekend brunch, no hot oil required.
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Ingredients
 

For the Fritters

  • 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon allspice
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons butter , very cold, cut into 6 pieces
  • 1/4 cup milk, regular
  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup apples, (tart variety such as Granny Smith or Macintosh, peeled, cored, and diced small)

Glaze Ingredients

  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 tablespoons milk, higher fat works best
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

Preheat & Prep

  • Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Make the Dough

  • In a food processor bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.
    1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, ½ cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon allspice, ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Add the cold butter pieces to the dry ingredients. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. A pastry cutter and bowl works too.
    6 tablespoons butter

Mix Wet Ingredients

  • In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, applesauce, and vanilla.
    1/4 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir just until combined.

Prepare Apples

  • Peel, core, and dice the apples into small, even-sized pieces.
    1 cup apples
  • Gently fold the apples into the dough.
    A white mixing bowl containing a light brown batter with chopped green apple pieces and a white spatula resting inside.

Shape & Bake

  • Drop 1/3 cup portions of batter onto the baking sheet, leaving a little space between each one.
    Twelve unbaked cookie dough mounds are evenly spaced on a parchment-lined baking sheet, ready to be baked. The dough appears chunky, possibly containing pieces of fruit or nuts.
  • Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the bottoms are golden and the centers are set.
  • Move the fritters to a wire cooling rack set over the baking sheet.

Glaze & Broil (Do not skip this step)

  • Turn the oven to broil.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth.
    1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Using a silicone pastry brush, brush a thin layer of glaze over the warm fritters.
    A red and white pastry brush is spreading white glaze onto round cookies cooling on a black wire rack. Other glazed cookies are visible in the background.
  • Broil for 2 to 3 minutes, watching closely, until the tops turn golden and the glaze bubbles.

Final Glaze & Serve

  • Remove from the oven and let the fritters cool for a few minutes.
  • Brush the remaining glaze over the fritters.

Gina’s Notes and Tips

  • Storage: Store in a sealed container on the counter for up to 3 days.
  • Reheating: Reheat in the oven at 300°F just long enough to warm through.
  • Freezing: These don’t freeze well and are really at their best the day you make them.
  • Common Mistakes: Overmixing the batter will make the texture heavy. Stir just until combined. Skipping the glaze broil step skips the golden, bakery-style finish; don’t leave it out.
Serving: 1fritter, Calories: 169kcal, Carbohydrates: 37g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 0.5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Trans Fat: 0.002g, Cholesterol: 15mg, Sodium: 139mg, Potassium: 86mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 23g, Vitamin A: 57IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 73mg, Iron: 1mg
Cuisine: American
Course: Breakfast, Dessert
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Hospitality with Baked Apple Fritters

Something I really love doing is setting up a Coffee and Pastry Morning with friends, especially when I have a batch of these baked apple fritters warm from the oven. Put on a good pot of coffee, or set up a proper coffee bar for your kitchen counter so everyone can fix their cup just how they like it. Set the fritters out on a platter with that glaze still glossy, and let people wander in and grab one while it’s warm. If you want to make the coffee part of the fun, whip up a batch of dalgona coffee for something a little different. It doesn’t take fancy plates or a full table setting, just coffee, something worth showing up for, and a little bit of time together. Acts 2:46 talks about believers breaking bread together in their homes with glad and sincere hearts, and that is really all this is: ordinary food shared without any fuss. It’s a small, easy way to make people feel welcome before the day has even really started.