I’m a doughnut enthusiast, they are definitely on my Top 10 list, but I’m only interested in homemade ones. I was so excited when I first met those lovely cottage cheese donuts, and I felt the urge there to prepare them at home. In Hungary the most widely used recipe is the so called ribboned carnival doughnuts, which are traditionally made during the carnival season. The recipe of cottage cheese doughnuts, however, comes from Transylvania, where they are often served as a dessert or a main dish after thick soups.
The dough doesn’t contain yeast, just a small amount of baking soda, so you don’t need to leave it to rest, the doughnuts can be deep-fried right after you have knead the ingredients together and cut out the rings. These golden doughnut rings are soft inside and crispy outside at the same time, their taste is incomparable, and despite deep-frying they are light and don’t swim in fat.
photo: zserbo.com
Ingredients:
- 250 g (~2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 250 g (~1 1/4 cups) cottage cheese
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- oil for deep-frying
Sift the flour in a bowl. Add cottage cheese, egg yolks, sour cream, sugar and baking soda, and knead into a smooth dough. On a floured surface roll out the dough until it is about 1/2-inch thick. Use two different sizes of round cookie cutters to cut out the doughnuts and then cut out the middle. Re-roll scraps and cut out more until you run out of dough.
Pour enough oil into a deep skillet to make a layer approximately 1 inch to 1½ inches deep. Slowly heat the oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil reaches the right temperature, place some doughnuts in the hot oil. Once they have browned on one side (this takes 2 to 3 minutes), turn them over and continue to cook for another minute or just until browned. Transfer the doughnuts to the paper towel-lined bowl and continue to fry the rest of the dough until finished.
Serve immediately, with blueberry jam and/or sour cream.
