Recipes
Duke’s Oliebollen
Oliebollen (OH-lee-boh-len) are a sort of Dutch donut filled with fruit. It’s traditional to make them around Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas Day — Dec. 5) and New Years. They’re very simple to make, but take about 3 hours of work. Since they are a yeast bread, it’s best to eat them cold. They are not overly sweet, so they make a good snack. (I’ve often had them for breakfast.) They last a long time and will keep in a cool place (i.e. a windowsill). You can fool around with the ingredients a bit but be sure to get the yeast, flour and milk right. The apples are important so they’ll stay moist. Note that there are no spices required. Feel free to add cinnamon or anything else appropriate.
Ingredients
- 2 (large) apples
- 500 g / 15 oz. raisins
- 250 g / 8 oz. candied fruit
- 1 cc / 2 tsp. (for yeast) sugar
- 1.5 cc / 4 tsp. yeast
- 1 kg / 8 cups flour (all-purpose)
- 1 l. milk
- 2 l. deep-frying oil (e.g. grape-seed or sunflower)
- 200 g / 6 oz. icing sugar
Yields 50.
Equipment
Deep fryer (or a big heavy pot), large bowl, wooden spoon, ice-cream scoop, metal tongs, various measures, sieve, cellophane, paper towels & newspaper
Instructions
- Soak the raisins in lukewarm water.
- Mix 2 tsp. sugar in 1 cup warm water (not too hot). Stir in the yeast (in a bowl!). Let stand for exactly 10 minutes.
- Chop the apples up into tiny cubes, say 1/4”.
- Put the flour into a large bowl. Mix in the milk and the yeast solution. (Add milk gradually.) Mix in the apples , the (strained) raisins, and the fruit. Cover the bowl with cellophane and cover with a tea towel. Place in a warm spot and let rise for 1 hour.
- After 40 minutes heat the oil to 130° C / 270° F (takes 20 minutes).
- Hint: Put a piece of orange rind into the oil — when it turns brown, the oil is ready.
- When the dough and oil are ready, scoop out the dough with the ice-cream scoop into the oil, 10-12 per batch.
- Fry each batch for 15 minutes, turning the balls every 3 minutes.
- Let the balls drip out on newspaper covered with paper towels.
- Sprinkle the icing sugar on with the sieve.
- Eat’em up, yum!
Tips
NB: numbers here are for an Electrolux induction range. Experiment for your own range.
- Spread a plastic sheet on the kitchen table to protect it from oil, and cover it with a layer of newspaper and paper towels to put the cooked oliebollen to cool and sprinkle icing sugar
- Put dough in oven with light on to rise or at 40°
- Use 1.5 - 2 l grapeseed oil in medium large pan
- For a half portion, add some extra milk.
- NB: Takes 90m (not 60m) for the dough to rise sufficiently.
- Heat oil on front left burner at 7 with lid on for about 15m to 130°C.
- Alternate between 6 and 8 if necessary. (Increase temperature when you add a new batch, and lower it after a few minutes.)
- The next day you can reheat the oliebollen in an air fryer for 4-5m at 180°
