Oliebollen are a Dutch treat for New Year's eve. In the Netherlands you will find Oliebollen stands at most any corner from the beginning to the end of December. Oliebollen are traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve from afternoon until midnight. However, oliebollen show up at any new year's party in December and January. It is not common to serve oliebollen at any other time of the year. However, if you make good Oliebollen Dutch usually do not stay a way from the serving plate.
You can serve oliebollen plain or filled with currents, raisins or apple.
Serve your Oliebollen with liberal amounts of powdered sugar sprinkled on top of them.
Caution: This recipe requires frying of the batter in oil. In the Netherlands, every year people are injured and houses burn down when making Oliebollen. Over heated oil may catch fire. Use a candy thermometer or deep fryer with thermostat. Don't drop water in hot oil, don't try to extinguish an oil fire with water. Dutch fire departments reccomend having a wet towel at hand, if the oil catches fire turn off the heat source; with your hand in the wet towel slide the lid on the pan and drape the wet towel over the pan. Don't let this warning scare you away from making this delicious treat, just be careful.
Ingredients:
- 1½ Cups (250g) all-purpose flour
- ½Tsp salt (5g of salt in the original recipe is too much to me)
- ½ egg, it doesn't matter if you use the whole egg.
- ½ Oz. yeast. (12g, Red Star yeast is provided in 7g=¼oz. sacks. If I follow the recipe I use two sacks, if I double the recipe I use three sacks).
- 1 Cup milk (2¼ dl, actually a little less than a cup. The consistency of the batter is more important than the precise amount of milk)
- ½ Cup (50g) currents.
- ½ Cup (50g) raisins. (If you only have raisins or only currents, just use what you have.)
- ½ to 1 Cup of cubed apple.
- Oil for frying. Vegetable or canola oil work good.
Directions:
Mix the yeast into luke warm milk. Soak the currents and raisins in warm water.
Mix the flour and the salt. Make a space in the middle of the flour and break your egg in the space and pour the milk with the egg. Take your mixer and mix the egg and the milk and from the middle mix in more and more flower. Mix until you have a smooth batter.
Testing the batter: Take a spoon, scoop a spoonful of batter and let the batter drop from the spoon. The batter should fall in lumps from the spoon. If the batter flows like a thread or like a ribbon from the spoon, add more flour. If the batter will not drop, add more milk. It will be a sticky batter.
When the batter is good, drain the currents and raisins and use a spoon to mix them in the batter. If you use apple instead of currents and raisins, mix that into the batter with a spoon.
Leave the batter covered to rise on a warm spot for an hour.
Heat the oil in a deep fryer to about 338°F (170°C). Be careful, see note above.
Take two soup spoons. With one spoon take a bit of the batter. Using the second spoon, drop the batter in the hot oil. This is a bit of a trick to get used to. Don't drop the batter from too high or the oil will splash. Depending on how big you want your oliebollen to be take larger or smaller spoons, or take a bit more or less batter. The oliebol will first sink to the bottom of the pan and then float. Depending on the size of your pan you can fry several oliebollen at the same time.
After about three minutes the oliebollen will role over by themselves. If not you may have to help them a bit. Three to four minutes on one side and then two to three minutes on the other side should make the oliebol golden brown and done. Take the oliebollen out of the oil with a slotted spoon. Let them cool and drain a bit on a dish with a paper towel. After the first oliebol cooled a little bit, tear it open: there should be no liquid batter in the oliebol.
Serve the oliebol with liberal amounts of powdered sugar. I like them even when they are cold. An oliebol can be reheated in a microwave for a few seconds.
