Hungarian cottage cheese donuts (Túrófánk)

These cottage cheese donuts are very easy to make, ideal for beginners. A quick dessert recipe, it takes only 15 minutes to prepare. The dough does not contain yeast, just a small amount of baking powder, so you do not need to leave it to rest, the doughnuts can be deep-fried right after you mixed all the ingredients.
February is the awaited carnival season in Hungary. There is no celebration without some form of the deep fried sugary goodness of donut, there are lots of different types. Try this recipe, it is easy, quick and delicious.

Hungarian cottage cheese donuts, turofank recipe

15 mins
Serves 4

Ingredients:
250 grams (8.8 ounces) of dry cottage cheese (or farmer’s cheese or ricotta cheese),
3 eggs (if you use ricotta, then add just 2 eggs),
150 grams (5.3 ounces) 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

Directions:

Place the cottage cheese in a bowl and crumble. Add 3 eggs, the flour, sugar, baking soda, vanilla extract and the lemon zest and stir to combine.

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.

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.

Transfer the donuts to the paper towel and and continue to fry the rest of the dough until finished.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with apricot jam.