Cottage Cheese Donuts-Timea's Best Transylvanian Recipe (2024)

A delight in Sunday afternoons was to eat delicious cottage cheese donuts made after our grandmother’s recipe and served with raspberry or apricots jam.

Hungarian fried cottage cheese donuts, also known as túrófánk, are a traditional Hungarian dessert that has been enjoyed for centuries. “Túrófánk” are made with a simple dough of cottage cheese, flour, eggs, sugar, and baking powder. The donuts are then deep-fried in oil until golden brown. Túrófánk are typically served with powdered sugar and a dollop of lekvár, a Hungarian fruit preserve.

Ingredients

I used the following ingredients:

• 500 g of cottage cheese, it is preferable to be full-fat and drier.
• 250 g wheat flour, the type of flour does not matter so much.
• 3 pieces of eggs, to be free-range chicken eggs, which will bind the composition.
• 4 spoons sugar, to sweeten the donut batter.
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract, or one sachet vanilla sugar.
• 1 pieces of lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon baking soda, which helps the donuts to grow and be fluffy.
• one pinch of sea salt, I recommend adding it to any sweet recipe.
• 1 spoon powdered sugar, sprinkled on top of donuts for decoration.
• 600 ml sunflower oil, to be at least two fingers high in the frying pan.

How to Make the Hungarian Cottage Cheese Donuts?

Prepare the Batter

I used these quantities for six servings of about 500 g of fresh dry cottage cheese, resulting in about 30 donuts because they are not very big sized.

Put the cottage cheese in the bowl and add the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and lemon peel. Mix until the ingredients are well incorporated.

Separately, mix about 230 g of wheat flour in the other bowl and put a teaspoon of baking soda and half a teaspoon of salt.

Take the egg whites, put them in the bowl and beat them with a whisk until you get a foam.

After that, mix all the ingredients, the cottage cheese and the ingredients with flour, and finally, incorporate the egg foam. You will get a soft and slightly sticky dough from which we will make the donuts.

Frying the Donuts

Warm the sunflower oil to medium temperature in a deep pan or a pot. To fry it well, you need to have about 3-4 cm of oil from the bottom of the pan.

Using two spoons or your wet hands, make not too large balls that we put to fry in the pot.

Fry them for about one or two minutes on each side until they get a golden colour. They will turn around alone if you make round balls and have enough oil.

After the donuts are fried, take them out in the bowl lined with a paper towel to retain excess oil and continue until finish all the dough.

Storage

Here are some tips for storing cottage cheese donuts:

• Store the donuts in an airtight container to prevent them from drying out.
• If you are storing the donuts at room temperature, place them in a cool, dark place.
• If you are storing the donuts in the refrigerator, place them on a shelf in the back of the refrigerator, where they will be less likely to be disturbed.
• If you are freezing the donuts, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to prevent them from sticking together.
• To thaw frozen donuts, place them in the refrigerator overnight or reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds until warmed through.

How to Serve?

Cottage cheese donuts can be served in a variety of ways. Here are a few ideas:

• Simple and classic:Dust the donuts with powdered sugar and serve them warm.
• With fruit:Top the donuts with fresh fruit, such as berries, sliced bananas, or chopped apples. You can also drizzle the fruit with honey or maple syrup.
• With jam or preserves:Serve the donuts with your favorite jam or preserves.
• With chocolate:Dip the donuts in melted chocolate or drizzle them with chocolate sauce.
• With whipped cream or ice cream:Top the donuts with whipped cream or ice cream for a decadent treat.
• With powdered sugar and cinnamon:Dust the donuts with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
• With nuts:Sprinkle the donuts with chopped nuts, such as almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts.

Here are a few tips for serving cottage cheese donuts:

• Serve the donuts warm or at room temperature. Cold donuts won’t be as fluffy or flavorful.
• If you’re serving the donuts with fruit or jam, be sure to slice the fruit thinly so that it’s easy to eat.
• If you’re serving the donuts with chocolate, let the chocolate cool slightly before dipping the donuts. This will help to prevent the donuts from getting soggy.
• If you’re serving the donuts with whipped cream or ice cream, be sure to do so shortly before serving. This will prevent the whipped cream or ice cream from melting.

Delicious! You can try other dessert recipes from our blog like: old-fashioned peach cake, cream cheese filling crepes recipeor sweet fried semolina pudding recipe.

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