Oliebollens are Traditional Dutch food eaten on New Year's Eve. These fried Dutch doughnuts are made with a yeast dough full of dried fruits and apples.
150ml/ 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp brown beerroom temperature
175ml/ 3/4 cup waterroom temperature
175ml/ 3/4 cup milkroom temperature
50g/ 3 1/2 Tbsp unsalted buttermelted but not hot
1small egg
200g7 oz, or 1 1/3 cups raisins
1small apple or half a big apple
vegetable oil for frying
powder sugar
Instructions
In a large mixing bowl mix flours and yeast with a whisk.
Add salt, sugar and cinnamon, and mix again.
Add beer, water and milk (mind the room temperature), the melted butter, and the egg.
Attach the paddle to your mixer (or the dough hook, if you don’t have one) and mix the ingredients thoroughly. Go on until the dough becomes elastic, a few minutes.
Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
In the meantime cut the apple in small cubes, as big as peas or beans.
Add raisins and apple to the dough, and mix well with a spatula.
Put a wet towel over the bowl, and let the dough rise for an hour, until is has nearly doubled in size.
In the meantime, put the oil in your deep fryer. Heat it to 180°C / 355°F.
Get ready for cooking: place a tray on the counter and cover it with two layers of paper towels. Have something ready to place your scoops on, to not cover your counter with grease. And have a timer handy, to track frying time.
Once the dough has doubled in size and the oil is hot, dip your ice scoop in the oil to avoid sticking, and fill it with dough, leveling it against the side of the bowl. Take care to include a reasonable amount of filling.
Release the doughball carefully into the oil, by sticking the scoop into the oil and pulling the lever. For now, don’t add more oliebollen. Start the timer.
Observe the behavior of the oliebol. It will start floating around, and after some time, it will turn over automatically. That way, in the ideal situation, it will brown on both sides. If the oliebol doesn’t turn over, help it when the frying time is halfway over, using a fork.
After five minutes of frying, take it out of the oil and put it on the tray with paper towel. Wait a minute, and then cut it through the middle with a sharp knife. Look at the center. Do you see raw dough? Then you should have cooked it longer. Do you see a bread-like texture? Then it is done, and you could even try to shorten the cooking time.
If you are satisfied with the texture? Then start again, but now with a few oliebollen at once. Are you not satisfied? Try again with a longer or shorter frying time.
Keep frying until there is no dough left, and make sure the oliebollen are all the same size, otherwise they will need different cooking times. Don’t forget to start the timer with each batch, and remember that the ones you put in first, should be taken out first.
Oliebollen are best when you eat them while they are still hot and crunchy. Sprinkle them with powdered sugar and enjoy!