choux batter

Place the water, zest, salt, sugar and butter into a pot. Bring to the boil, and once the butter has melted, add the flour and cook on a medium heat, stirring continuously.
Keep beating the mixture until it looks cooked, uniform, and doesn't stick to the sides of the pan.
Put the mixture into a kitchen mixer and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Turn the mixer on with a paddle and add the eggs one at a time.
Cover the batter in greaseproof paper and place in the fridge.

caramel sauce

Place the sugar in a dry pan and warm gently until it begins to caramelise.
Very carefully and slowly whisk in the cream, cooking on a low heat until the sugar and caramel are fully mixed and there aren't any pieces of caramel left in the pan.
Serve slightly warm.

caramelised apples

Warm a pan that will fit all the apples in a single layer (or in two batches).
Add some butter to the pan and cook the apples gently, so that they colour on the outside while cooking in the middle.

frying

Warm a deep fryer or a pot of oil to 180°C.
Take a kitchen spoon and dip the end into the oil, then take a shallow scoop of the batter and carefully drop it into the fryer. You can cook nine or ten at a time.
Cook the beignets on one side for 2–3 minutes, then flip them over and cook until consistently golden brown, puffed and fluffy.
Carefully scoop them out and leave on kitchen paper to cool.
Once cool, liberally dust with icing sugar.

finish and serve

Add some cream to a plate.
Place the beignet and apples on the plate.
Liberally cover in the caramel sauce.