Papanasi - Romanian Cheese Donuts
Sweet and fluffy these Romanian cheese donuts (papanasi) arevery easy to make. This is a delicious winter comfort food is smothered in sourcream and a cherry jam perfect as a filling snack or for sharing after dinner.
Ingredients
- 500 grams (18 oz) ricotta cheese store bought or homemade - please see notes in the notes section below.
- 1 ¼ level teaspoons baking powder
- 100 grams (3.5 oz) plain flour
- 1 – 2 teaspoons grated orange or lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 140 grams (5 oz) white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Deep frying
- Vegetable oil
For serving
- 200 grams (7 oz) sour cream or fresh cream lightly beaten
- 150 grams (5 oz) jam any variety but the darker jams do look better for presentation.
Instructions
Preparing the ricotta cheese
- 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.If using homemade ricotta and you made it as directed below in the notes, it should be dry enough to use as is. If not squeeze out the excess liquid as instructed above.
Make the Dough
- 1. Weigh 450 grams of ricotta cheese into a large mixing bowl.2. In a small bowl the baking powder and flour together.Put aside.3. Separate the eggs. Put the whites into a clean mixing bowl and add the yolks to the ricotta cheese bowl.4. Place salt, sugar, zest and vanilla into the ricotta bowl, and use a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients. 5. Mix in the flour a little at a time until well combined. If you find it too difficult to mix with a wooden spoon.6. Use an electric beater or hand whisk and beat the egg whites until it becomes stiff and soft peaks form. 7. Add the beaten egg whites to the ricotta mixture and mix until everything has combined. The mixture will be firm and slightly sticky.8. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and allow and the dough to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Shaping the donuts and donut balls
- Lightly oiling your hands and the work bench makes it easier to handle the sticky dough.9. Weigh five 120-gram (4.2 oz) pieces of dough, shape each into a round flat disc 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 (0.78 inch) wide.10. With the remaining dough take 30-gram (1 oz) pieces and shape into five round balls.Place the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes, this will firm up the dough making it easier for you to put into the hot oil.
Fry the donuts
- 11. 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.12. 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. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on absorbent paper. Continue cooking until all the doughnuts are made.You don’t want to overcrowd the pan because, this will reduce the oils temperature and can lead to very oily doughnuts.
Notes
Makes about 805 grams (28 oz) of dough.
RICOTTA CHEESE NOTES:
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 ½ teaspoons salt
- 10 tablespoon white vinegar