Cottage cheese donuts from Hungary (Túrófánk)

Hungarian cottage cheese donuts are very easy to make, ideal for beginners. A quick dessert recipe, it takes only 15 minutes to prepare.
Hungarian cottage cheese is a fresh, soft curd cheese, similar to farmer’s cheese or quark, dry and bot liquidy at all. It is most often made with cow milk. If you use ricotta cheese, then add only 2 eggs. These delicious doughnuts are made without yeast, so there is no need for leavening – you can taste them in minutes!

Ingredients

• 250 grams (8.8 ounces / 1 cup) of dry cottage cheese (or farmer’s cheese or ricotta cheese)
• 3 eggs (if you use ricotta, then add just 2 eggs)
• 150 grams (1 cup) of plain flour
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• few drops of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest
• Vegetable oil for deep-frying (I used sunflower oil)
• Apricot jam
• Powdered sugar

Takes 15 min
Serves 4.

Instructions

1. Place the cottage cheese in a bowl and crumble. Add 3 eggs, the flour, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract and the lemon zest and stir to combine.
2. Heat the oil to medium temperature, I used a smaller pan with about 3cm of oil, it was enough to give a good depth for the doughnuts.
3. With the help of 2 teaspoons scoop and drop little balls into the hot oil and fry each side until golden brown, it takes about 4-5 minutes.
4. Transfer the donuts to the paper towel and and continue to fry the rest of the dough until finished.
5. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with apricot jam.