Sweet ricotta fritters with orange-honey syrup

The syrup isn’t essential to these fritters, but it does make a wonderful addition. Alternatively, you could drizzle the fritters with maple syrup. The kids can help make the batter, but an adult will need to do the frying.

Serves 4 Prep 10 mins Cook 15 mins

250g firm ricotta

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1-2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp caster sugar, plus

1 tbsp extra to serve

1 orange, zested

100g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder vegetable oil, for frying

FOR THE ORANGE-HONEY SYRUP

55g caster sugar

2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice (ensure you grate the zest for the fritters before juicing)

1 tbsp honey

1 First, make the orange-honey syrup if desired. Put the sugar, 60ml water and the orange juice, in a small saucepan and bring it slowly to the boil to dissolve the sugar. Add the honey and simmer for 2-3 mins. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool.

2 Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3 if you want to keep the fritters warm once cooked. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, eggs, 1 tbsp milk, the caster sugar and the orange zest. If your ricotta is really dry you may need to add the extra tablespoon of milk. Sift the flour and baking powder into the ricotta mix and stir gently to combine.

3 Fill a medium saucepan with oil to a depth of 3- 4cm, then warm the oil over a medium heat. Drop 1/ tsp of batter into the oil – if it 2 bubbles and rises to the surface, it means the oil is hot enough. Carefully drop some dessert spoonfuls of mixture into the hot oil (this is easiest done with two spoons, using the second spoon to scrape the mixture off the first). Fry for about 2 mins, until golden, turning once during cooking and keeping an eye on the oil temperature as you cook each batch. Check when the batter goes into the pan that it doesn’t stick to the bottom – if it does, just give it a gentle nudge to dislodge. Remove the fritters from the pan with a slotted spoon, transfer them to some kitchen paper and keep them warm in the oven while cooking the remaining fritters.

4 To serve, sprinkle the fritters with caster sugar and drizzle over the orange-honey syrup, if using.

Recipes adapted from Dinner Like a Boss by Katy Holder (£12.99, Hardie Grant). Photography © Benito Martin These taste best fresh from the pan while they’re piping hot and crisp