Elephant ears
Photo: Rick Obst · CC BY 4.0

History

Elephant ears arrived at the Indiana State Fair in the 1970s and have stayed in the food-building rotation ever since, alongside corn dogs, deep-fried Snickers and the long-running Pioneer Village pioneer-cooking demo. The same disc shape and topping appear at midwestern county fairs from Ohio to Iowa under various names (palmiers, fried dough, beaver tails); in Indiana it is reliably called an elephant ear and dusted heavily with cinnamon sugar.

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Common allergens: Gluten

Make it at home

Yield 6Hands-on 20 minTotal 1 hr 30 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 1 cup warm milk, about 110 F
  • 1 packet active dry yeast
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • Vegetable oil for deep frying
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar mixed with 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, for finishing

Method

  1. Whisk warm milk, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Let stand 5 minutes, until foamy.
  2. Stir in salt, melted butter, egg and flour. Mix to a soft dough.
  3. Knead 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a greased bowl, cover, let rise 1 hour until doubled.
  4. Punch down and divide into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece flat with a rolling pin, as thin as possible, to a roughly 8 inch disc.
  5. Heat 2 inches of vegetable oil in a wide heavy pot to 360 F.
  6. Fry the ears one at a time, 45 seconds per side, until puffed and deep golden. Lift out with tongs and drain briefly.
  7. While still hot, toss in the cinnamon sugar to coat both sides. Serve immediately.

Tip from the editors. Roll thinner than you'd dare. The dough doubles in size as it fries; thick dough turns into a fried bun, thin dough becomes the elephant ear.

Where to eat elephant ears

Elephant ears in Indianapolis

The Garage Food Hall ★ 4.5

$ Street foodBottleworks District

The Garage at Bottleworks in Indianapolis is the city's largest food hall. Two dozen counters cover pizza, ramen, tortas, ice cream and many more options.

TryMulti-vendor food hall

Directions

The Original Farmers' Market ★ 4.2

$ MarketDowntown

The Original Farmers' Market on Monument Circle in Indianapolis runs Wednesday morning May through October. The downtown lunch crowd's mid-week produce stop.

Directions

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