It’s the last day of the year and that means Oliebollen! This is a typical Dutch dish and tradition which I have grown fond of. I like mine when they are warm, have a crust and are filled with alcohol soaked raisins. Oh and when they are topped with a tiny mountain of powdered sugar! Hmm, delish.
Headnotes
- Servings: ± 20-25 oliebollen
- Ready in: ± 30 minutes
- Waiting time: ± 1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 beaten egg
- 7 grams of yeast (one sachet)
- 9 grams of vanilla sugar (one sachet)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 450 grams of flour
- 250 ml of milk
- 145 ml of beer
- 75 grams of raisins
- Sunflower oil (for baking) about 2 liters
- Powdered sugar
Directions
- Start by letting the raisins soak in beer. Add the vanilla extract and let it rest. I used Radler beer, because it’s one of my favorites. There is only 2,0% of alcohol in it, which is enough for the raisins to bring a slight alcohol kick. Also Radler is mixed with lemon juice, which gives the oliebollen even nicer taste. The longer you let the raisins soak, the stronger the taste.
- Heat the milk and the vanilla sugar in a pan of choice to lukewarm. Combine the yeast and sugar in a dish or bowl and pour 100 ml of milk in it. Give the yeast 10 minutes of time to start foaming.
The yellow bowl on the left has the yeast mixture after 10 minutes of foaming. The green bowl on the right is the fluffy beaten egg.
- Beat the egg till it’s very fluffy. Put the flour and salt together in another big bowl and make a hole in the middle. This way you have less chance of getting lumps. Add the yeast mixture and the beaten egg in the hole in the middle of the bowl and start mixing the batter with a big whisk. Add the rest of the milk and the beer mixture to the batter and continue whisking until the batter is smooth.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and let the batter rise for an hour. Make sure to put the bowl somewhere warm and draught-free. The better the rise, the fluffier the oliebollen. A good rise is when the batter has doubled in size.
- Start heating the sunflower oil in a deep pot till about 175 degrees Celsius. If you don’t have a thermometer you can test if the oil is hot enough by laying a drop of batter in the oil. If the drop fries fast and is quickly golden brown, then the oil is too hot. If the drop sinks to the bottom and takes longer than 10 seconds to come up and float on the surface, then the oil should heat a bit more. If the drop of batter first sinks to the bottom, rises back up in 3 to 5 seconds and sizzles softly to a light golden brown color, then the temperature is perfect.
- Take an ice cream scoop or two tablespoons and grease them in the hot oil, this way the batter will scoop easily. Start scooping and laying batter-balls in the oil. Fry 5 oliebollen at a time. An oliebol takes about 5 minutes to fry and should be golden brown. If done correctly the oliebollen will turn by themselves, if not, then you should turn them with a spoon or spatula at halftime. Place the oliebollen in a colander covered with paper towels till you finish the whole batter.
- When ready to serve, place the oliebollen on a platter and generously dust them with powdered sugar. Seriously, you may be very generous.
Footnotes
- Instead of cow milk you can also use soy milk or almond milk. The amount of milk won’t change. The taste of the oliebollen will slightly be different, but still good-tasting.
- You can also change the beer if you like or make a Radler of your own. To use champagne or white wine is also a nice alternative.
- If you don’t like raisins, you can replace them with diced apple. One green apple is enough and the directions stay the same.
- Oliebollen go nicely with a glass of champagne to drink, but I like eating mine aside a bottle of Radler, haha.
- When you have leftover oliebollen, which is almost impossible, it’s best to reheat them in the oven. This way you’ll get a nice crust. You can also reheat them in the microwave for about a minute, but then I would prefer reheating them in a frying pan. I like to cut the bollen in half so I can bake them like a tiny pancake on both sides. And to make them even tastier, I like putting a layer of Nutella as topping and of course still a generous dust of powdered sugar.
Did you use this recipe? Please leave a comment with your experience! Feel free to share ideas, alternatives and tips.
Thank you!
Tashmness. 