Well, the other day I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, reading about my friends who actually have active lives, and came across a recipe for apple pie egg rolls. Come on, stick with me here. I've seen this recipe man times and pinned it on Pintrest as few times as well. They look good and promised to taste like the deep fried pies McDonald's formally served before switching to those oven baked pies. Which made me ask myself "WHY?!?". The pies they serve now are gross. Plus, ever since I read an article about a man who bit into a McDondald's pie only to find it filled with a rat, I can't seem to order one without gagging. Even though I worked there in my teens and know it is physically impossible for a rodent to crawl into one of their pie, I still don't trust it to order one. My irrationality shouldn't surprise you since I am the girl who killed a mouse in her garage by running over it with my car. I only did that because I didn't own a gun.
So these pies intrigued me. After going to three stores to find egg roll wraps I was ready to make myself some deep fried pies!
So we begin.....
Deep Fried Pies
Ingredients:
~Canned pie filling. Any kind your heart desires will do but I do have a few thoughts I'll put further down.
~Egg Roll Wraps
~Oil
~Powdered Sugar (not pictured because I suck at this blogging thing)
Here's the deal. Cooking with oil terrifies me. If I had go-go-gadget arms to use I wouldn't be as scared. But I don't, so I am. That popping makes me want to run for the oil free hills. Then there is the fear of a grease fire. Irrational? Well duh! Didn't you read about my fear of eating a rat pie? My brain doesn't usually work in "rational mode".
My uneducated cooking advice is to roll all of the pies you are going to make before hearing your oil. I don't know why you should but that is what I did. If you have a fancy deep fryer then you should start it before rolling your pies so that the oil can properly heat through. But if you are just pan drying them, as I was, then fill your rolls first.
I laid my rolls in the shape of a diamond to start and then added a few spoon fulls of pie filling. As you can see I used apple, as the recipe called for, and cherry pie filling. I love cherry pie filling. Probably more than I love my furry and nonfurry children. Yes, the offspring is well aware I'd sell her for a can of cherry pie filling.
Long and skinny!👍
I decided after rolling a few that skinny and long was better than fat and short. Yes, I am still talking about these deep fried pies.
Short and fat.👎
The fat ones ended up too heavy and ripped the wrap. Or I did something else wrong and that is why it ripped. Who knows. I've never made egg rolls before. Oh yeah! Oops I should have added a disclaimer. Let's recap. I am terrified of frying in oil and have never made egg rolls before. Well that should give you all the confidence in the world to make these!
Okay, so add your filling and roll those bad boys up. Roll it like an egg roll. Make sure the ends are tucked in and it is sealed so that no filling will spill out while it is frying. Watery filling plus hot oil is bad. It pops and splatters and scares the dog....and the cook.
Your egg roll should look like this...only better.
If you are going to pan fry you want to add enough oil, in a deep pan, to completely submerge the egg roll. I did not do this and had to flip mine over to fry both sides. That sucked. My cooking guru told me to heat it to 250*F degrees.
Then drop those pie filled suckers in the oil and watch them dance.
I should also add that my pan was too small and I do not own tongs that would have helped me adequately flip these jerks over. It was a pain. I had to use a metal spoon and a knife. So for the love of God PLEASE have the proper kitchen tools when cooking. You'll save an eye.
I cooked one side until a golden-ish brown then flipped it and did the other side. Because of my lack of deep frying experience and fear of hot oil I did not cook a few of them long enough and they ended up a little doughy on the inside. I told myself this was a nice feature, crispy on the outside and doughy in the middle. But that was just me lying to myself to make myself feel better, as I often do. It wasn't appealing.
When done frying I laid these little deep fried yummy angels on paper towel to drain.
I suggest waiting a few minutes before eating them. Otherwise the pie filling will be so hot it will cause the roof of your mouth to catch fire, burn, and peel. Or so I've read because of course I didn't do this.
Fruity deliciousness in fried dough!
Next time I make these I am not going to use cherry filling. While saying those words is treason in my home the reality is it is too wet of a pie filling. The apple had bigger chunks of apple and not as much...sauce?? What is that jelly like stuff in pie filling called?? Filling?? Anyway, I think a peach filling would work as well.
The recipe I found stated to make your own filling. Really?!? Who the hell has time for that? That is why God invented canned pie filling. But if feel the need to outshine us all then by all means make your own filling.
Lastly, sprinkle your fruit filled clouds of delight with powdered sugar and enjoy.
And that is for dessert!!
.....or breakfast if you live in my home!
