Fritters and pies

Last weekend I went to Lattin’s farm, on the Tumwater side of Olympia, to introduce my favorite ten-month-old to pumpkins.  His mother claims that orange is K’s favorite color, but he seemed pretty unimpressed by the squash.  He was fascinated, however, by the nine-year-old boy throwing a tantrum in the check-out line.  I have to admit, the kid was impressive. 

As I’m sure K realized long before the rest of us, introducing him to pumpkins and farm animals was really just an excuse for mom, dad and Auntie Jo to collect our annual Lattin’s apple fritters.  We’d all been daydreaming about these fritters for a full year and they did not disappoint.  Picture a giant doughnut, shaped like a bear claw, with apples baked into the dough and a sugary glaze over the top.   They only serve them on weekends and they are in such hot demand that you literally get them straight out of the oven.  Can you make them at home?  Well you’d need a deep fryer to start, but given that they cost just $2.50 and that they’re clearly not a health food, it’s really better to just go out to Lattin’s once a year. 

As most locals know, the Lattin’s family suffered a terrible tragedy earlier this year when an employee’s abusive ex-boyfriend showed up at the farm one morning.  I made a small donation to her memorial fund at the register and bought a $6 gallon of their pasteurized apple cider, a $6 jar of wild blueberry freezer jam, and a $10 frozen wild blueberry pie.  Since the small jar of apple butter I bought last year only lasted a few months, I bought the big $8 jar this year.  Considering that the apple butter and freezer jam will last months in the refrigerator and that I can freeze the cider too... not a bad investment. 

Blueberry pie is my absolute favorite and I love how naturally sweet the tiny wild berries are in this pie.  Props to the baker for holding back on the sugar to let those flavors come through and rolling out a light crust that doesn’t get in the way.  I like the pies at the Boston Harbor Pies downtown and at San Fransisco Street Bakery on the Eastside, but they both make their fruit pies really sugary sweet so I think Lattin's has the best pie in town.