South African Koeksisters – a crunchy doughnut drenched in syrupy goodness
Koeksisters is a heritage south african afrikaans sweet treat. Deliciously crunchy doughnuts, drenched in sugary syrup laced with ginger, cinnamon and lemon juice. Taste explosion and an indulgent treat.The first time I had it, it felt like a cross between a gulab jamun and a jalebi!
So first things first, koeksisters are pronounced like, ” cook sister”. It is a super popular South African sticky doughnut deriving it’s name from the Dutch word “koekje”, which can be interpreted as “cookie”. The “sis” part of the name is assumed to be the sizzling sound made when the hot doughnut meets the cold sugar syrup.There are two versions of this popular doughnut: this is the Afrikaner version, and there is the Cape Malay version called the koesister, which are not braided and more like a round cake covered with coconut and slightly spicy.
The koeksister are believed to have been brought to the Cape by Dutch settlers in the 17th century. They are an integral part of the South African heritage.
The first few times I made this, I couldn’t get the doughnut crunchy, they ended up soggy. The proportions didn’t seem to be right. with 3 tsps of baking powder and lot of sugar, it was not an easy recipe to accept. I finally adapted the recipe from Warren Mendes who explains everything so well, that there was no room for mistake. The initial mistakes I made was that the sugar syrup was not thick and led to the koeksisters turning out soggy. Also the syrup needs to be really cold to ensure that the koeksister absorbs the syrup all the way through. Refer to the notes for additional tips. You can easily omit the egg to make this a completely vegan recipe.
Koeksisters
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 cups allpurpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 large egg
For the sugar syrup
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp dried ginger powder
Instructions
Prepare the sugar syrup
- Add all the ingredients except the lemon juice to a saucepan and allow the sugar to dissolve over medium-low heat
- Let it simmer until the sugar syrup thickens
- Set aside and mix in the lemon juice
- Let it cool and store in the fridge for atleast a few hours or preferably overnight
For the dough
- Rub the cold butter into the flour and salt and mix until it resembles coarse sand.
- Make a well in the centre and pour the milk and add the egg.
- Knead for 5-8 minutes until the dough is smooth
- Wrap in clingfilm and store in the fridge for atleast an hour
- After an hour, take out the dough and roll it on a lightly floured surface to form a rectangle, around 6-8mm thick
- Cut the rectangle into 5cm wide strips and then cut it in half again into smaller rectangles – around 3-5 cm wide
- Take each rectangle and cut it into 3 equal portions, leaving the top portion intact. Braid/plait the strips and fold over the ends to seal. Pinch the top of the braid to form a triangle
To assemble
- Keep the sugar syrup on a bowl of iced water. *See notes
- Fill a wok or deep pan with oil and let it heat until a piece of dough added to the oil rises to the top immediately and sizzles with bubbles around it.
- Fry the koeksisters in the hot oil. When they rise to the top, carefully flip them over and fry until they are golden brown
- Immediately, add the fried koeksisters to the cold sugar syrup and toss over until the syrup coats the koeksisters
- Let it rest over a cooling rack to cool and let the excess syrup drain out
- Store in the fridge and serve cold.
Notes
- The sugar syrup should be really cold when adding the koeksister, otherwise it will not soak up the syrup
- Divide the syrup into couple of bowls and take out only 1 bowl at a time so that you can swap it for colder ones should the syrup become warm as you are adding the hot koeksisters.
- It is best to prepare the sugar syrup the previous night and let it chill in the fridge overnight.
