Koeksisters

Koeksisters are of Cape Dutch - or Afrikaans - and Cape Malay origin. It is debatable which came up with this delectable form of doughnuts first. The version I have for you is the Afrikaner version, as taught to me by my mother and her mother, my Ouma, which is much more syrupy and crisp than the Malay version of these doughnuts. The dough may include yeast or baking powder as the rising agent and is spiced with powdered cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. It is deep fried, then placed in hot syrup. My sister and I often made these for cake sales at our high school when we were teenagers, an activity in which we were not alone. A monument of a koeksister in the Afrikaner enclave of Oriana, in the Northern Cape, South Afrika, celebrates a folk tradition of baking them for fundraisers for churches and schools.

Ingredients:

For the Pastry:
240g cake flour
20ml baking powder
2.5ml salt

2ml ground cinnamon

2ml ground cardamom

2ml ground ginger
30ml butter
125ml milk

vegetable oil for frying

For the syrup:
1 kg sugar
500ml water
1.25ml cream of tartar
5ml vanilla essence or extract

Method:

For the syrup:
Place all the syrup ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil, while stirring constantly.
Reduce to a moderate simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and place in a metal bowl if you have one.

Place the bowl in a bigger container (or kitchen sink) filled with ice water -- you want to get your syrup really cold. You can place it in the freezer too (in a Ziploc bag) when cool enough.
Leave to chill while making your dough.

For the Pastry:
In a bowl, sift the dry ingredients together and rub in the butter. Add the milk and mix into a soft dough; knead thoroughly, then leave to stand for about 15 minutes.

If the dough is too crumbly, add a dash more milk - if it's too wet, sprinkle with a little more flour.

Roll out to a thickness of about 5mm and cut into strips 1.5cm wide and about 7cm long. Divide the 1.5cm into strips 5mm wide, but keeping them joined at the top.

Create plaits with the three strips, making sure that you press the strips together firmly at both ends -- this is very important because if you don't, the koeksuster will fall apart in the oil. I know the plaits might seem very small now, but they expand when they fry and then absorb all the syrup. Don't be tempted to make them bigger!

Deep fry the koeksusters in hot oil until golden brown -- don't be afraid to get them a rich, golden brown.

Drain quickly and immediately dip into the ice-cold syrup. I leave mine in the syrup for maximum saturation, and only remove them just before I’m going to serve.

Yum!