OPINION | FRONT BURNER: Enjoy a fair favorite at home with this easy funnel cake recipe

My first funnel cake memory isn't of strolling the Midway at the Arkansas State Fair — it's eagerly waiting while my mother (and maybe one of my aunts) stood over a pot of bubbling oil frying and draining the crispy-on-the-outside-tender-on-the-inside confections as quickly as my dad, brother, cousins and I could eat them.

I'm positive it wasn't my first time eating a funnel cake because I remember thinking how cool it was that we needn't wait all year for the fair or another festival to take place to enjoy the delicious sugary fried treats.

And of all the many scrumptious treats available at the fair — smoked turkey legs; foot-long corndogs; giant pretzels; perfectly seasoned, whole-spiral cut fried potatoes; deep-fried Snickers; cotton candy; candied and caramel apples to scratch the surface — funnel cakes are still my favorite.