These delicious Ricotta Donuts are a popular Romanian donut that are traditionally served with sour cream and jam. So good, a must try!
I may have called these donuts, and they may look like donuts, but when you see the ingredients in these donuts, you might wonder if they are truly donuts.
And yes they are served with sour cream and jam. Don’t ask me why, all I can tell you is that this is an awesome dessert. It is also a traditional Romanian dessert, which if you ever happen to make it to Romania, you will find these in all restaurants and they are called “Papanasi”. And they are good, oh are they ever good. I thought it was strange too, sour cream on donuts? Who ever heard of that? Why not whip cream?
These wonderful little gems are made with…
are you ready?
…with ricotta cheese! Yes the main ingredient is ricotta cheese, so the texture of this donut is different than a regular donut and they are a bit heavier and not as fluffy as a normal donut. My mouth is watering now, just thinking about them.
To make these babies is simple. Traditionally they are not made in a mixer but I’m all about simplifying my life, so I use the mixer every chance I get. So in the bowl of your mixer, add the cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and baking soda. Mix it all until it’s well incorporated and then add the flour and continue mixing. You will notice that the mixture is kind of sticky but don’t add any additional flour.
Next you’ll need to flour your table really well. Dump the donut mixture onto the floured surface and using lots of flour on your hands shape the dough into a ball. Cut the dough into 8 pieces, because this recipe will make 8 donuts and 8 donut holes. Take each piece and cut a little bit from it, this will make the donut hole. So now you should have 16 pieces of dough, 8 bigger ones and 8 smaller ones. Take the small pieces and roll them between your hands to form the little donut holes, flour your hands as necessary. Do the same thing with the bigger pieces, but flatten them out and using your finger just press in the middle and make a hole, to look like a donut. Alternatively you could roll out the entire dough and then use round cookie cutters to make the donuts, totally up to you.
Heat up the oil in a frying pan. Fry the donuts, 4 at a time, you don’t want to crowd them in the frying pan.
Finish frying all the donuts. They are already looking so good and it was hard to stop myself from eating them hot!
And now comes the easy and fun part. Place the donut on a plate, add a couple big tablespoons of sour cream in the middle, then another big heaping tablespoon of some good jam then top it off with the donut hole. I, of course, had to use my favorite Saskatoon strawberry jam, which is just delicious.
Wipe that drool off your face. 🙂
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Ricotta Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 lb ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup jam your favorite
- oil for frying
Instructions
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and baking soda and salt. Mix it all until it’s well incorporated and then add the flour and continue mixing. You will notice that the mixture is kind of sticky but don’t add any additional flour.
- Flour your table really well. Dump the donut mixture onto the floured surface and using lots of flour on your hands shape the dough into a ball. Cut the dough into 8 pieces, because this recipe will make 8 donuts and 8 donut holes. Take each piece and cut a little bit from it, this will make the donut hole. So now you should have 16 pieces of dough, 8 bigger ones and 8 smaller ones. Take the small pieces and roll them between your hands to form the little donut holes, flour your hands as necessary. Do the same thing with the bigger pieces, but flatten them out and using your finger just press in the middle and make a hole, to look like a donut. Alternatively you could roll out the entire dough and then use round cookie cutters to make the donuts, totally up to you.
- Heat up the oil in a frying pan. Fry the donuts, 4 at a time, you don’t want to crowd them in the frying pan.
- Finish frying all the donuts.
- Place the donut on a plate, add a couple big tablespoons of sour cream in the middle, then another big heaping tablespoon of some good jam then top it off with the donut hole.
Nutrition Information:
Enjoy! I sure did!
Some how I knew you would have this dessert on your website !! Yay!! Can’t wait to make this! 🙂
Oh it’s fabulous, let me know how you like it. 🙂
I highly recommend using cherry preserves (found usually at Publix). It has the jam as well as some bits of cherry. By far my favorite.
Thanks Florin, never tried these with cherry preserves, but I’m sure they’re delicious.
Hi Jo,
I found your site looking for food ideas and I remember I have not had Papanasi since I went to Sinaia in 1988. I guess I’ll try making them now I have the recepie so no excuse ( really love them with Visine Jam but kind of hard to find it in Ottawa 😉 Your blog is awsome!
Hi Monica,
Thanks! Yeah I know, I never find those jams here in Calgary either. Let me know how they turn out. 🙂
This dessert is new to me, but any kind of doughnut is a wonderful thing. They look amazing with the sour cream and jam!
Thank you. They are a different kind of donut, I thought it was strange at first too, until I had one. They are very yummy and very filling.
How interesting that they are made with ricotta!
wow… looks and sounds delicious. Especially with that interesting jam