Traditional South African Koeksisters

 I finally got the courage to attempt traditional South African Koeksisters after having been asked over and over by my partner for the past year and a half. I must say I was quite impressed and proud of the result, once you have made it once it does not seem like such a daunting task anymore. This is a family recipe that comes from my great-grandmother and I feel quite honoured to have lived up the expectation of what her koeksisters were like. I am not going to lie, although the recipe is quite simple the process from start to end it quite time consuming and you need two people to execute this properly. For those who perhaps do not know what Koeksisters are, it is a plaited, fried dough that is then submerged is a sugar syrup. 

The first step is to make the syrup, this should be done the day before and once cooled placed in the freezer overnight to make sure it is ice cold! The syrup is simply water and sugar mixed in a pot until all the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear. Place it in a deep container, two containers if possible (ice cream tubs work well). Two containers work best because then when the one gets too warm you can swap.

The next day, make the dough. Mix the flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Cut the butter in with dry ingredients and rub it in. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl with a little bit of milk. Add the eggs and milk mixture and mix into a dough, you might have to add some more milk and flour until the consistency is right and it is not sticking to the bowl.

Let the dough rest of about 30 minutes. Take half the dough and roll it out until it is quite thin. Using a rectangular cookie cutter or a mustard tin, cut out rectangles from the dough. The size will depend on how big you want the koeksisters to be. Cut the rectangles into three strips without cutting all the way through. Plait the dough, taking one side and placing it over the middle strip and the take from the other side and place over the middle. Pinch the strips together at the end to make sure it does not split when fried.

Once you have the dough plaited and ready, it is time to deep fry them. Fry them until they are nice and golden brown and crispy. As soon as they come out of the oil, place them directly into the cold syrup. You kind of have to set up a production line here, dough, fry, syrup. The syrup should pull all the way through so each bite is filled with deliciously sweet syrup!

Once completed store in the fridge and enjoy this traditional South African sweet treat!

The ingredients are for a half the usual recipe so feel free to double up and make a full batch! 

Ingredients

Syrup

• 5 Cups Sugar

• 2 ½  Cups Water

Koeksister Dough

• 2 Cups Flour

• 2 tsp Baking Powder

• ½ Tbs Sugar

• 55 gr Butter

• 2 Eggs

• Milk (approx ¼ cup)

How To Make Koeksisters

The day before make the syrup. Place the sugar and water in a pot and heat over medium to high heat. Stir occasionally until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is a clear colour. Divide the syrup into two deep containers and store in the freezer. 

For the koeksisters combine the flour, baking powder, and sugar. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and rub it into the dry ingredients. Whisk the eggs together with a little bit of milk and add  the dry ingredients. Mix the dough, adding milk and flour as needed until the dough is no longer sticky (almost like with bread dough). Let the dough rest for about 30 min. After the dough has rested, take about half the dough and roll it out until it is about 0.5 cm thick. Use a rectangular cooking cutter or a mustard tin to cut the dough, how big is up to you. Cut the rectangles into three strips, make sure not to cut it all the way through. Plait the dough. Continue until all the dough has been plaited. 

Warm up the oil in a deep fryer or a large pot. Deep fry the koeksisters until they are golden brown. Transfer the koeksister directly into the ice cold syrup and submerge completely in the syrup. Let it soak in the syrup until the koeksister starts to float in the syrup.