Name: The Best Funnel Cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 tbsp granulated sugar; 1 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp kosher salt; 1 1/4 cups whole milk; 1 large egg; 1 tsp vanilla extract; about 1 quart neutral oil for frying; 1 cup powdered sugar

The Best Funnel Cake

Prep

10m

Cook

10m

Total

20m

Bigly says

Funnel cake. FUNNEL CAKE. The greatest carnival food ever invented by human hands, hands down, no contest. The carnival has produced some MAGNIFICENT food — corn dogs, elephant ears, those giant turkey legs that nobody can actually finish, all tremendous — but funnel cake is the KING. Funnel cake wears the crown. Every other carnival food bows to it. Nobody disputes this.

And here's the thing — most people think you can only get funnel cake at a state fair from a guy named Earl, a man who has been deep-frying things since 1974 and smells, faintly, of motor oil. Wonderful man, Earl. Tough guy. Knows his way around a fryer. But Earl is not always available. Earl has a life. Earl goes home in October and you don't see him until June. So what do you do for those eight months? Wait? NO. You take the funnel cake into your own hands. Into your own kitchen. You become the Earl of your house.

And the other so-called recipe sites — and this one is going to make me angry, fair warning — they tell you funnel cake is HARD. They put it behind a cookie banner with 47 toggles you have to manage like you're working a mixing board at a recording studio, then they make you scroll past 4,000 words about their grandmother's trip to Wisconsin in 1987 before they finally hand you the recipe. INSANE. Funnel cake is pancake batter you POUR through a funnel into hot oil. That's it. That's the trick. It's literally named after the funnel. The funnel does most of the work. You're not building a cathedral here. You're pouring batter. Let's go.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cupsall-purpose flour
2 tbspgranulated sugar
1 1/2 tspbaking powder
1/2 tspkosher salt
1 1/4 cupswhole milk
1large egg
1 tspvanilla extract
about 1 quartneutral oil for frying(vegetable, canola, or peanut)
1 cuppowdered sugar(and more, FOLKS, always more)

Steps

1
Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2
In a second bowl, whisk the milk, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
3
Pour the wet into the dry and whisk just until smooth. The batter should pour easily but not be watery — like thin pancake batter. Thin with a splash more milk if needed.
4
Pour 1 1/2 inches of oil into a wide, heavy skillet or Dutch oven. Heat to 375°F. Set a paper-towel-lined rack nearby.
5
Transfer about 1/2 cup of batter to a funnel (block the bottom with your finger) or a squeeze bottle.
6
Holding the funnel a few inches above the oil, release your finger and drizzle the batter into the hot oil in overlapping circles and squiggles to form a lacy 6-7 inch round.
7
Fry 1-2 minutes, until the underside is deep golden. Carefully flip with tongs or two spatulas and fry another 30-60 seconds.
8
Lift to the paper-towel-lined rack to drain briefly. Repeat with remaining batter, adjusting heat to keep oil at 375°F.
9
Transfer to a plate and dust generously with powdered sugar through a fine-mesh sieve. Serve immediately, hot.

One more thing

That's funnel cake. REAL funnel cake. Crispy, lacy, hot enough to burn your fingers, drowning in a snowstorm of powdered sugar — the kind of dessert that puts you on top of a Ferris wheel even though you're standing in your kitchen in your socks. Top it with strawberries. Top it with chocolate. Top it with ice cream. Top it with absolutely nothing. Doesn't matter. Funnel cake doesn't need a costume — funnel cake came dressed. Now go eat.