Koeksisters: The ultimate South African sweet treat. Image: Supplied.
Koeksisters – Sweet South African tradition
Revive a sweet old South African tradition by preparing a tempting batch of koeksisters.
Koeksisters: The ultimate South African sweet treat. Image: Supplied.
At any South African get-together, there must be a tray of koeksisters along with other sweet and savoury bites. This syrupy bite is entrenched in South African culture and simply delightful.
Culturally, koeksisters come in two flavours. One is the Afrikaner recipe, which is this one set out below. And secondly, there is the traditional Cape Malay variant which is slightly thicker and softer, rolled in coconut and a bit spicy. Both are incredibly delicious and worth a try.
A great tip when preparing the syrup is to make two mixtures or divide it into two bowls as it tends to warm up when you dip the boiling hot koeksisters in the ice-cold syrup. So, when the one syrup is getting too warm, swap it for the other one and allow the first one to cool down again. Using ice-cold syrup is the secret to getting the koeksisters crispy.
Revive a sweet old South African tradition by preparing a tempting batch of koeksisters.
Koeksisters recipe
Course: SnacksCuisine: South AfricanDifficulty: EasyPrep time
30
minutesCooking time
30
minutesResting time
60
minutesTotal time
2
hoursIngredients
- Syrup
500 ml 500 water
1 kg 1 sugar
½ teaspoon ½ cream of tartar
sliced rind and juice of 1 lemon
5 – 10 ml 5 – 10 glycerine
- Dough
500 g 500 flour
½ teaspoon ½ salt
2 tablespoons 2 baking powder
55 g 55 butter, chopped into fine pieces or grated
1 1 egg
250 – 375 ml 250 – 375 milk and water.
cooking oil for frying
Method
- Syrup
- Slowly dissolve the sugar in the water.
- Add the cream of tartar, bring the syrup to boil and then simmer the syrup for 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon rind, juice and glycerine before removing the syrup from the heat. The glycerine makes the koeksisters look shiny.
- Cool the syrup overnight in the refrigerator.
- Dough
- Sieve all the dry ingredients together and rub in the butter with your fingertips.
- Beat the egg and add 250 ml milk and mix it with the dry ingredients.
- Keep adding water if the dough is too thick, stiff or cracked. Knead the dough until bubbly and soft and then leave it under a damp cloth for about an hour.
- Roll out to a 1 cm thickness. Cut the dough into rectangles roughly the size of a business card (about 2″x3″) and pinch it at the end. Alternatively, cut the dough into strips the size you like them and plait the koeksisters. You can cut the offcuts in little niblets and bake them too.
- Heat about 7 – 10 cm of oil to 180-190°C. Test it by dropping in some bread: If it goes golden brown then the oil is ready.
- Remove the syrup from the fridge. To solve the problem of keeping the syrup cold as you plunge the hot koeksisters into the cold syrup, you can put the syrup aside in a bowl of ice. That is why it is best to divide the syrup into two bowls.
- Fry the koeksisters for one to two minutes, or until they turn that delicious golden brown, on both sides.
- Lift the koeksisters out of the syrup with a ladle with holes in so the excess syrup drips back in, and then pop them onto a wire rack to cool down. Make sure your syrup is kept cold or replace the syrup with a colder bowl while baking.
Notes
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