We are back, and this time we’ve brought Loukoumades!
Yay! It feels so good to be sitting down writing to all of you, and of course about Greek food!
The extremely short story is that one of us not only changed jobs – but career fields! Yeah, so it was a big adjustment with a log of hiccups and while it’s still not 100% settled, we think we are in a good place to become your faithful weekly Greek food bloggers again 🙂
Not all is bad however. We’ve still been cooking, testing, shooting food, recipe writing, and documenting in our food journals. Thus, we have lots of good stuff in store for you!
For those of you not familiar with running a food blog, it is actually hard work. Besides the general upkeep and replying to emails, tweets, Facebook messages – there is the cooking, writing, editing, shooting, picture editing, research, tasting, restarting, recooking, and finally succeeding and eating cold food since you didn’t want to eat until you were happy with the shot. Oh, and the dishes…let me tell ya about the dishes!
However, it is fun and rewarding. It releases stress from the day jobs and is something we can do together. As a matter of fact, we did not really even consider how much time goes into this blog until we ran short on it, with one in intense training classes and job interviews, and the other helping the freelance workload while working. It was crazy!
Anyhow, let’s get back into the swing of things with this recipe. A greek dessert recipe to be exact. One that we couldn’t believe wasn’t included in our repertoire.
As a matter of fact, we were so shocked, something like this happened upon discovery of this missing dish:
Allow me to introduce you to the golden dough balls we all know and love so much: Loukoumades | λουκουμαδες.
For some, this will instantly trigger fond memories of making these in the kitchen, for others their favorite Greek festival (since I’m pretty sure these are served at every one across the world).
While one doesn’t really need a reason to make loukoumades, we did *have* to make to for our readers and the blog. I mean, it’s a staple Greek dessert!
We’re not going to lie either, this were some of the best things we’ve ever had in our life. If it were possible to live off this and nothing else, neither of us would complain.
I mean, this warm dough fried dough ball, coated in a delicious honey syrup and topped with some cinnamon…see, I want some now.
And while we didn’t have that fancy cranking machine seen at the festivals to make them perfectly round, we think we did alright. Not having that gives them character!
Some Notes When Making Greek Loukoumades
First, boiling hot syrup on your skin does not feel good. It hurts. So make it ahead of time and allow it to cool a bit before using. We recommend making it while the batter is resting. When you have about 20min left on resting time, make the syrup. This way you can roll the dough, fry and add right into the syrup and it won’t be too hot to use.
Second, it can be a little bit of a challenge to get that perfectly round ball, so get creative. We used a large serving spoon and worked with it that way, just be careful when adding them to the hot oil. If you have any tips for achieving that perfect roundness, let us know!
Thirdly, they will puff up while they are frying. Totally normal. Also, lightly frying them and lightly tossing them in the honey mixtures makes a huge difference. Adjust to find your perfect taste/sweetness levels.
Go ahead and enjoy these delicious Greek donuts now!
Kali Orexi,
Kenton & Jane
Loukoumades | Greek Honey Donuts
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups flour
- 1 yeast packet
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 32 ounces safflower oil enough to have the Loukoumades float
- ground cinnamon to top
- Your favorite chopped nuts for topping optional
- --Syrup--
- 1 cup water
- 12 tablespoons of honey plus extra for preference.
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, yeast, and warm water, mix well.
- Add in salt, sugar, milk, and eggs, mix until thick batter is formed.
- Cover and let rest for minutes 60 minutes.
- With about 20 minutes left of resting time, combine water and honey in pot and bring to simmer; continue simmering for 5 minutes. When done, remove from heat and empty into large bowl.
- Add safflower oil to a soup pot and heat over medium-high.
- Once oil is hot, take 1 tablespoon of batter, form a ball, and gently drop it into the hot oil.
- Fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side - should be a nice golden brown color.
- Remove and place on plate lined with a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
- Repeat until all batter is used.
- After excess oil is removed, add balls to syrup bowl and toss to coat.
- Place honey soaked loukoumades on plate and top with cinnamon and nuts if using.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
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Recipe adapted from Vefa’s Kitchen
Loukoumathes, or Greek honey donuts, are a delicious treat! They’re also much easier to make than you would expect. These donuts are delicious when smothered with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. I also like to sprinkle them with crushed walnuts that have been mixed with sugar because this gives the donuts an extra crunch.
At school we are doing a ‘Greek Week’ and I tried you recipe for Loukoumades. SO glad I checked out this site!