happy new year - oliebollen recipe
Happy New Year! On New Year’s Eve we made our traditional Dutch apple fritters, called oliebollen. The Dutch believe that eating oliebollen (literally, “oil balls”) on New Year's Eve brings good fortune - anything circular is good luck because it symbolizes the “completion of a cycle of a year.” (My son recommends Ritz crackers in line with this reasoning…) And who can’t use some extra good luck?
Here’s my recipe that I translated from a Dutch recipe (the metric volumes, not the language):
Oliebollen (makes about 10 fritters)
1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
1 ¼ tsp salt
2 ½ tsp sugar
4 tsp yeast
¼ tsp cinnamon
lemon juice
2 Tbs raisins
4 oz chopped apples
Oil for deep frying
Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top
Mix flour, water, salt, sugar, yeast, cinnamon, lemon juice, raisins and apples. Let rise about 45 minutes in a warm location. Heat oil to 350 degrees F in a deep fryer. Form balls of dough using an ice cream scoop and drop into oil. (The dough is very loose, so its a bit of a challenge to produce a round ball...) Fry about 6 minutes each or until they're golden brown. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
My family's original version of the recipe is to core and peel the apples and then slice them into rings (flat sections from peeled quartered apples are easier, but less lucky). Make the dough, omitting the raisins and apples. After its risen, dip the apple to coat with batter, then fry in a skillet with a layer of hot oil.