$7 buys an apple fritter the size of your head at Karl’s in Everett

EVERETT — If you want to fritter your money away, head to Karl’s Bakery & Cafe.

What’s up with that?

Karl’s makes an apple fritter the size of your head. And it looks like a giant brain.

The bakery only makes one per day and puts it in the case to tower over the normal-sized pastries. Even so, it doesn’t always sell.

“They are a little intimidating,” said Jordan Stensrud, chef at the bakery at 2814 Wetmore Ave.

At $7, the jumbo fritter is a sweet deal.

“We start with 16 ounces of dough,” bakery owner Sheila Jensen said. “It’s a big piece of dough with apple filling, cinnamon, deep fried, and then dipped in sugar and glazed.”

It sizzles in oil for three minutes.

“I would imagine it would exceed your daily calorie allowance by quite a few,” she said.

A regular fritter uses 4 ounces of dough and is fried for a minute. It sells for $3, the going price of many items.

The bakery is a go-to place for cheaters.

“We’re a stop for cheat days, if you’re on a diet and want to cheat,” Jensen said.

Might as well go frittin’ big.

“People love taking pictures of it,” Stensrud said. “I’ve seen families sit down and eat one. I saw a guy sit down once and eat an entire one by himself. He was a big guy. I wanted to take his picture.”

The massive fritter spills over the edges of a dinner plate.

Use a knife and fork or your fingers.

“Pull little pieces off,” Jensen said. “They freeze well, too, if it’s more than you want to tackle.”

Sometimes even then it’s not big enough. She has on occasion made a special order apple fritter the size of a full sheet cake. Custom cakes are a Karl’s specialty and earn top reviews on Yelp, as do the fritters.

A fitday.com story “4 Types of Doughnuts You Should Always Avoid” listed apple fritters as “among the unhealthiest doughnuts.”

“Just because a doughnut has fruit in it doesn’t mean it is a good choice,” the article said.

Other bad boys: Boston cream, due to saturated fat from chocolate frosting and cream filling; maple bar, especially those with bacon; and Bismarck, a thick cake doughnut filled with jelly or cream, dipped in powdered sugar.

FYI: Fritters are not the same as bear claws, which usually are baked and without apples.

Giant fritters were a mainstay long before Jensen bought Karl’s eight years ago.

Karl’s is an Everett classic spanning generations. The first Karl’s opened downtown in 1944 and moved to the Wetmore Avenue site in 1964. Funko headquarters moved in next door in 2017. Look for the big bobblehead statues.

At one point, Jensen made a mammoth Bigfoot maple bar daily along with the giant fritter.

“It was like a maple bar on steroids,” she said. Most went unsold, so they were discontinued.

The monster fritters are almost a hidden secret.

I discovered the gorgeous gooey glob by accident on a visit to Karl’s to get a lemon bar and raspberry crumble bar on my way to work. I made the mistake of telling my editor I had an apple fritter the size of his head in my car. He didn’t believe me and insisted on proof. Or so he said. Turns out what he really wanted was a giant piece of it.

It fed the newsroom, gobbled up along with my lemon bar and raspberry crumble. Sadly, those don’t come supersized.

Is there a person, place or thing making you wonder “What’s Up With That?” Contact reporter Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.