Oven-Fried Cheese Fritters @MaddieDayAuthor

MADDIE DAY here, bringing you a pretty successful recipe test yielding tasty cheese nuggets.

I returned yesterday from a delightful Puerto Rico vacation centered on my younger son John David's wedding to the talented and lovely Alexandra. I might bring you a recipe from the trip next time.

But before I left on the 14th, I was busy writing Deep Fried Death, the twelfth Country Store mystery. Robbie Jordan has been avoiding acquiring a deep fryer for her restaurant but decides it's finally time. And one yummy dish she can offer her customers is cheese fritters. Fritter means fry, after all.

That said, I don't like to deep fry at home, so I adapted the recipe Robbie will use so I could oven-fry these babies. Enjoy!

Cheese Fritters

I baked these fritters, but you can deep fry them if you like.

Ingredients

(Note: I thought I would add minced garlic but decided against it.)

1 1/4 cups flour (self-rising might help them puff more)

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch cayenne pepper

1/3 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 cup Swiss cheese, shredded

½ cup green onions, diced

1 ½ cups Panko crumbs (I used seasoned)

 

Directions

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper

Combine dry ingredients except Panko crumbs in large bowl. Add the cheeses. Make a well in the middle and lightly whisk in the eggs and sour cream.

 

Mix all well. Scoop golf ball-sized balls onto the baking sheet. (I rolled them at this stage, but because they weren't cold, it was messy.)

 

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or freeze for half an hour.

Place crumbs in a bowl. Roll a ball in your hands to firm, then roll in the crumbs and return to the baking sheet. 

Repeat for all the balls.

To bake:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F before you remove the balls from the refrigerator. Bake about 12 minutes, then turn all.

 

Bake about 5 more minutes, until golden and crispy.

Transfer parchment paper to a wire rack to cool. 

 

To deep fry:

Heat oil to 350 F. Scoop golf ball sized balls of batter and fry until golden.

Drain on brown paper on a wire rack.

No matter which way you cooked them, enjoy warm with soup or as an appetizer.

Readers: Do you deep fry? What's your favorite kind of fritter or fried food?

My most recent release is Four Leaf Cleaver, which came out in January, 2023.

The next book out will be Murder at a Cape Bookstore, releasing in August, 2023.

Murder in a Cape Cottage is the fourth Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery, which came out in September, 2022.

"Scarfed Down," my Country Store novella in the collection Christmas Scarf Murder also released 2022.

Check out all my writing!

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.