Oliebollen is a fruit dumpling which we eat on New Years Eve, drenched in icing sugar. Nana used to cook enormous olly balls, piled high on a large delph platter. I saw a photo on facebook yesterday (posted by another Kamp) and I remembered I had my Nanas original recipe taped into my cookbook. Here it is – along with a bonus recipe for a Boterletter, another family favourite at Christmas. Our Boterletter is in a horseshoe shape, iced, and decorated with glazed cherries.

(Note to family – if you look closely you can see Nana typed this on the reverse of a J G Kamp Ltd letterhead from Newlands, Wellington, so it makes this bit of paper circa 40 years old!)

Note: If you are using fast acting yeast sachets – a 7g sachet will suffice as the equivalent for fresh yeast.

This is what the mix should look like before resting:

This is what it looks like after it has risen:

Heat a large deep pan with vegetable oil (or use a deep fat fryer). When hot drop in large tablespoon sized rounds. Don’t make them too large or the dough won’t be cooked through. This quantity of dough mixture will make around 18 small / medium Oliebollen as it puffs out when it cooks.