Romanian Cheese Doughnuts – Papanasi

Try this recipe for Papanasi a traditional Romanian dessert the next time you crave doughnuts. Made with ricotta cheese and flavoured with orange zest these fluffy donuts are a great winter comfort food.

About These Romanian Cheese Donuts

• These fried cheese doughnuts are soft and tender on the inside and golden and crisp outside.
• Papanasi are different from the normal ring donuts you might be familiar with which are made with flour and yeast. These are made with Romanian cheese similar to ricotta, have very little flour and are yeast free.
• They are easy to make and taste divine.
• This recipe makes five Romanian cheese doughnuts, but it can easily be doubled to serve ten.
• It’s quick to make and a perfect dessert or treat to have on cold days.
• A budget friendly recipe when you make your own ricotta cheese.

What is Papanasi?

Papanasi is basically a yeast free cheese doughnut and doughnut ball served with sour cream and a sweet preserve like sour cherry jam.

There are fried and boiled versions of this donut and I will be showing you how to make my version of a fried Papanasi.

To tell you the truth I’ve never made or even heard of Papanasi until recently. I came across it by accident when researching new recipe ideas.

It was a video in Romanian that got me curious. After watching the video and more like it I just had to make it, perfect it and share it with you.

Here is my version of how to make Papanasi ricotta cheese donuts.

Recipe Ingredients

Ricotta cheese – you will need to use a traditional style ricotta cheese that is grainy and almost dry.

Do not buy the spreadable ones that come in tubs. These have too much moisture in them and will make the dough extra soft and unmanageable.

I’ve also read on other blogs that you can use cottage cheese or feta cheese as a substitute, but I would not recommend this.

Look I’ve never made papanasi with cottage cheese but from my experience and looking at what I can buy here; the cottage cheese is much wetter than traditional ricotta.

If you do use cottage cheese, try and get the type with grains. Don’t use it straight from the tub squeeze out as much liquid as you can, the drier you can get it the better.

Feta cheese is generally a salty cheese and I would not use it myself for this dessert.

If you can’t get ricotta you can make it yourself. See the recipe notes further down the page for more information on this.

Plain flour – only a small amount of flour is used and because of this the doughnuts are light in texture.

Baking powder – acts as a rising agent, which also helps to create a lighter doughnut.

Don’t be tempted to use more than 1 1/4 level teaspoon baking powder because, using too much can give a soapy taste to food.

Eggs – use large eggs at room temperature. The eggs are separated, and the yolks are added to the dough at the start.

The egg whites are beating until thick and fluffy before being added at the end.

The beaten egg whites also act as a rising agent and is another reason why the donuts are light in texture.

Citrus zest – You can use the zest of an orange or lemon zest, the oils from the zest will release flavour into the dough.

You don’t need to use the zest, but it does give a lovely refreshing flavour to the doughnuts.

Vanilla – use vanilla paste or essence. This is also for added flavour.

Sugar – If you don’t like a sweet dessert you can reduce the amount of sugar you add to the doughnut dough.

Salt – a pinch of salt will help balance out all the other flavours. Without it you may find them a little bland or think that there is something missing.

Oil for deep frying – use vegetable oil or a neutral flavoured oil.

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1 – I have made my own ricotta cheese for this recipe; it’s cheap and very easy to make. Follow the recipe directions for my whole milk ricotta, using the ingredient quantities listed below (in the recipe notes section just after the step by step section) and you will have more than enough ricotta for this recipe.

When draining the ricotta allow it to hang for 10-15 minutes and squeeze it while still in the cloth (just be careful it can still be a little hot), this will remove most of the liquid making it dry enough to use in this recipe.

You will get about 500 grams (17 oz) of fresh ricotta and you will need about 400 – 450 grams ricotta for the recipe.

You can make the ricotta cheese 2-3 days before making the recipe. Keep it covered and stored in the fridge until needed.

If using store bought ricotta.

Place the ricotta cheese into the centre of a clean tea towel and twist and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. The ricotta should look dry and crumbly (see image 1 above).

Step 2 – Place the ricotta into a large bowl and add the egg yolks, citrus zest, vanilla and sugar mixing well.

Step 3 – Add the flour and baking powder and mix until well combined.

Step 4 – Beat the egg whites until they become foamy and stiff, then gently fold into the mixture.

Step 5 – Your dough should look something like this firm (see picture on the left) and slightly sticky.

Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and allow to stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

Step 6 – Lightly oiling your hands and the work bench makes it easier to handle the sticky dough.

Weigh five 120-gram pieces of dough, shape each into a round flat disc about 1 – 1 1/2 fingers thick and place them on the oiled bench.

To make the doughnut holes, push your pointer finger into the centre of each of the dough discs and shape, it to be about 2 cm wide.

With the remaining dough take 30-gram pieces and shape into five small balls.

Step 7 – Pour some oil into a deep saucepan just enough so that it is you can deep fry the donuts.

Heat the oil over a low/medium flame. The doughnuts can be cooked once the oil has reached the correct temperature.

The correct temperature is when you can stick the end of a dry wooden spoon into the oil and see bubbles form around the handle and they are gently floating up. 

If the oil bubbles are bubbling to hard the oil is too hot, reduce the heat and allow the oil to come to the correct temperature before frying the donuts.

If you cook the doughnuts in a too hot an oil they will brown to fast and can end up being raw in the middle.

Step 8 – Carefully place one or two doughnuts and two balls into the hot oil and cook for about 7-8 minutes, turning them several times until they become golden brown.

The oil needs to be slightly cooler because the sugar in the dough will cause them to brown very quickly, making the look burnt and under cooked.

Remove with a slotted spoon and place on absorbent paper. Continue cooking until all the doughnuts are made.

Tip: Cook 1 or 2 donuts at a time, keep them moving in the oil and turn once you see the sides tuning and light golden colour. After that turn frequently until light and golden.

Step 9 – Serve warm or hot. To serve place one doughnut onto a serving plate, spoon over the top of the doughnut and then a little jam. Add a doughnut ball to the centre of the doughnut and top with a little more jam and sour cream.

Recipe Notes

Which ricotta cheese to use?

Using the right type of ricotta will make all the difference to the recipe.

Store bought
If you buy ricotta cheese don’t buy the spreadable paste types sold in tubs. These are too wet and are not suitable for this recipe.

Instead buy the traditional style ricotta that has a grainy look. These are usually packaged in a plastic bowl with holes, tightly sealed in plastic. It’s a firmer ricotta with most of the moisture removed similar to my homemade ricotta cheese.

Homemade
I have made my own ricotta cheese for this recipe; it’s cheap and very easy to make.

Follow the recipe directions for my whole milk ricotta, using the ingredient quantities listed below and you will have more than enough ricotta for this recipe.

• 3 litres of milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 10 tablespoon white vinegar

When draining the ricotta allow it to hang for 10-15 minutes, this will remove most of the liquid making it dry enough to use in this recipe.

You will get about 500 grams (17 oz) of fresh ricotta and you will need about 400 – 450 grams ricotta for the recipe.

You can make the ricotta cheese 2-3 days before making the recipe. Keep it covered and stored in the fridge until needed.

Flour

• You can use self-rising flour instead of plain (all purpose) flour and baking powder.
• The is naturally a little sticky so avoid adding extra flour because it will make the donuts hard. If needed you could add about 1 – 2 tablespoon more.

Can Papanasi be frozen?

No. You are better of making and eating them straight away.

Can Papanasi dough be made the day before?

These are best prepared and made just before cooking. The reason of this is baking powder is used, it’s a rising agent and is activated once it come in contact with moisture.

If left for too long the chemical reaction would have ended and your donuts won’t rise during cooking.

What Else Can You Make With Ricotta Cheese?

• Easy fluffy lemon ricotta pancakes
• Italian ricotta cookies
• Cannoli muffins – snappygourment.com
• Italian lemon ricotta cake – thisitaliankitchen.com

More Delicious Sweet Recipes To Try

• Pineapple tarts
• Peach upside down cake
• Greek cookies with powdered sugar
• Baked donuts