Spicy Fried Pickles with Chipotle Ranch Sauce

I thought it would be appropriate if my first official food blog post would be fried pickles. I tried this for the first time about 2 years ago. My mother in law told me about them and I thought it sounded so tasty. I'm not from the south so I didn't grow up eating everything fried. I made them and fell in love with them instantly. Since then I've had them in several restaurants, they are my appetizer of choice if they are on the menu. My favorite way to eat them is along side a grilled hamburger. It would be good on the burger too and you could top it with the chipotle ranch dressing. Those of you who may be skeptical, don't knock it until you've tried it. Here are the ingredients used, apart from the peanut oil for frying.

Start off by combining the buttermilk, eggs, two tablespoons of self-rising flour and Tabasco sauce. I used two teaspoons but it's a matter of preference to how spicy you like it. Remember the dipping sauce has chipotle peppers in them so that will give it a little kick too.
Whisk it all together and set it aside.
Pour your peanut oil into your fryer and set to 375 degrees. You do not have to use peanut oil. Vegetable oil can be used as well but I prefer peanut for two reasons, they say you can heat peanut oil hotter than vegetable oil AND the main reason it doesn't make your whole house smell like you've been frying! If you do not have a deep fryer you can use a pot and use a thermometer to read the temperature.

While waiting for the oil to heat up, chop up your chipotle peppers and add them to 1/2 cup ranch dressing and set aside. I started out with one and tasted it. Then I added another one and tasted it again. I choose to add three in total but again some of you will want to add more and some of you will only want to add one.

Now back to the pickles. Place the pickles on a paper towel and dry them off.
Mix the self rising flour with salt and pepper. Then dredge each pickle in the flour so it is lightly coated, like so. This will help the breading stick to the pickle when it is frying.

Then dip it into the buttermilk batter and then back into the flour.
Drop your pickles into the hot oil. Remember it is HOT, don't burn yourself! Cook them for about 3 minutes until they are golden brown. Then transfer them to a paper towel.

With each batch of pickles make sure you let the oil return to 375 degrees before you drop them in. To keep the pickles warm, place them in a 200 degree oven. Once you are done frying them up serve them, your guests will be ready to eat them!!!
Spicy Fried Pickles with Chipotle Ranch:

1 jar of kosher pickles (or your preference)

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons Tabasco Sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Peanut oil for frying

1/2 cup Ranch dressing

3 Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce