Ingredients Bread + Dough Fried Dough Fritter Gale Gand's Sugar-Dusted Vanilla Ricotta Fritters 4.0 (1,988) 2 Reviews Gale Gand, an F&W Best New Chef 1994, is the executive pastry chef and a partner at Tru in Chicago. She's also the host of Food Network's Sweet Dreams. Her follow-up to the cookbook Gale Gand's Short + Sweet is a collection of recipes from Tru. Gand got this recipe from her mother-in-law, Vita Seidita; the fritters are also good sprinkled with cinnamon sugar or dipped in jelly.Plus: More Dessert Recipes and Tips By Gale Gand Gale Gand Gale Gand is an acclaimed and award-winning pastry chef who has opened five restaurants, written eight cookbooks, and hosted Sweet Dreams, the first dessert cooking show to air nationally. She has been cooking, writing, and teaching about desserts and cooking for almost 25 years.Experience: Gale Gand is a nationally acclaimed pastry chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and television personality.Gale is based in Chicago, where she opened her first restaurants with culinary partner Chef Rick Tramonto. As acclaim for Trio and Brasserie T built, they opened Stapleford Park in Leicestershire, England. In 1999, Gale and Rick created Tru (open for 18 years), which won awards from the James Beard Foundation and was named Chicago's best restaurant by Chicago Magazine. From 2014-2016, she ran a two year pop up restaurant called Spritz Burger.In 2001, Gale was awarded Outstanding Pastry Chef by the James Beard Foundation. She hosted the first ever dessert-only cooking show, Sweet Dreams, that ran on the Food Network from 2000-2008.In addition to television and restaurants, Gale has written eight cookbooks: American Brasserie, Butter Sugar Flour Eggs, Just a Bite, Short and Sweet, Tru: A Cookbook from the Legendary Chicago Restaurant, Chocolate and Vanilla, Gale Gand's Brunch, and Gale Gand's Lunch.Gale created her own artisan cinnamon ginger root beer brand, Gale's Root Beer, available nationally.Education: Gale majored in gold and silversmithing at the Rochester Institute of Technology and attended the Cleveland Institute of Art. She studied culinary arts at La Varenne in Paris. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on April 16, 2019 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © John Kernick Total Time: 30 mins Yield: 8 Ingredients Vegetable oil, for frying 3 large eggs 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/2 pound whole milk ricotta cheese (1 cup) 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder Confectioners' sugar, for dusting Directions In a large saucepan, heat 2 inches of vegetable oil to 375°. Set a large wire rack over a baking sheet, top with paper towels and position it near the saucepan. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the ricotta and beat until smooth. Add the flour and baking powder and beat just until blended. Using a very small ice cream scoop or 2 teaspoons, slide 8 walnut-size rounds of batter into the hot oil. Fry over moderate heat until deep golden all over and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fritters to the rack to drain. Continue frying the remaining fritters in batches of 8. Arrange the fritters on a platter and dust well with confectioners' sugar. Make Ahead The fritter batter can be refrigerated for up to 6 hours. Fry just before serving. Rate it Print