Name: Oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 100 min
Yield: 20 oliebollen
Cuisine: Dutch
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour; 7 g instant dried yeast (1 sachet); 1 tsp salt; 50 g caster sugar; 1 egg; 400 ml lukewarm full-fat milk; 150 g raisins; 100 g currants; 3 litres frying oil; 100 g icing sugar

A classic for New Year’s Eve: light, golden-brown oliebollen (Dutch doughnut balls) with raisins and currants, crisp outside and soft inside. The batter is a yeast batter of milk, egg and flour that you leave to rise for an hour, without a packet of oliebollen mix. With an ice cream scoop you drop balls into hot oil, where they float and turn over when done. Dust them generously with icing sugar while still warm. A tip: let the batter properly double in size, then the oliebollen come out light and not greasy.

Method

Make the batter

Mix the flour with the yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Beat the egg into the lukewarm milk and pour it onto the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon to a smooth, thick batter without lumps.

Add the raisins

Pat the raisins and currants dry and stir them into the batter.

Let it rise

Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave the batter to rise in a warm place for 60 minutes, until doubled in volume and full of air bubbles.

Heat the oil

Heat the oil in a large, deep pan to 180 °C. Test with a little batter: after a few seconds it should rise to the surface, bubbling.

Fry

Carefully drop balls of batter into the oil with a wet spoon or ice cream scoop, no more than 5 at a time. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes, turning halfway, until golden brown. Check one oliebol: the dough must be cooked through.

Drain

Lift the oliebollen out of the oil with a slotted spoon and drain them on kitchen paper.

Dust

Dust the warm oliebollen generously with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Tips & notes

Deep-frying is dangerous with children nearby: use a pan or deep fryer with a lid, fill it no more than half with oil and never leave it unattended. Never put out an oil fire with water: put the lid on or use a fire blanket. Pat the raisins and currants dry so the oil does not spit. Oliebollen are best freshly fried; keep leftovers for 1 day at most and reheat them for 5 minutes in the oven at 180 °C. Use about 3 litres of frying oil or other neutral frying fat.

Chef's tip

Keep the oil at 180 °C: too hot gives a dark crust with a raw centre, too cool gives greasy oliebollen. Fry a test ball once the oil is at temperature. Scoop the batter with a wet spoon or ice cream scoop so it slides off easily. Fry no more than 5 oliebollen at a time, otherwise the oil temperature drops too much.

Variations

With apple: add 1 peeled apple in small cubes to the batter.
Apple fritters: core an apple, cut it into rings, dip them in the batter and fry until done.
Without yeast: replace the yeast with 3 tsp baking powder and rest the batter for 15 minutes; the oliebollen will be slightly denser.

Contains: Gluten Milk Eggs