Since today is St. Patrick’s Day, I hope nobody will be disappointed that I’m not posting something containing spinach, matcha or any other green super food (there will be another time for that too I promise!). I am sharing with you today these sweet little bites of fried dough, Croatian traditional sweet pastry called “fritule” or “ustipci” that are usually made in Christmas time or just before the Lent begins. That doesn’t mean however that you can’t make them any time of the year when you want a little sweet treat that is easy to make and requires very few ingredients.
They are something like mini doughnuts, just better but the best would be to just make them and see for yourself. Now I have to tell you that there are quite a few versions of “fritule” out there and most of them involve “rakija” as one of the ingredients, strong alcoholic beverage similar to Italian grappa. Like with many traditional recipes, almost every family makes them slightly different and everybody thinks that their recipe is the “real” one! 😀 I chose this, a little bit different version with no alcohol but with yogurt and apple. Yum!
So here is the recipe and please let me know if you decide to try it out!
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (1 sachet) baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (200 ml) plain yogurt or kefir
- 2 eggs
- 1 apple, peeled & grated
- In a mixing bowl combine eggs and yogurt, add vanilla extract and mix well until combined.
- In another bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt and add it to the mixture of eggs and yogurt. Leave it for about 5 minutes.
- Peel and grate the apple. Add the grated apple to the egg mixture and stir well.
- In a frying pan heat the oil (I use coconut oil) and using a spoon make little balls and fry them until they turn nice golden color.
- Put them on a kitchen paper so that any excess oil is absorbed. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!
What beautiful images! You are very talented indeed, Lili!
I love when people keep their traditions, food within, very nice. And these beauties also very tempting 🙂
That is such a nice thing to say dear Miriam, thank you!!
I really want to make this (mostly because it reminds me of something my grandma would make me for breakfast back in Bulgaria), however I’ve never cooked with coconut oil before. How much do you recommend to use ?
Thank you Marta! You can just use coconut oil like any other oil you would normally use for frying, so enough to cover the bottom of the pan.
Thank you for this recipe that I found in “Woman’s World magazine 6/26/2017. My MOM USE TO MAKE THESE WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL, I’m NOW 82 AND I MADE THEM THE OTHER DAY AND THEY SURE BROUGHT BACK MANY MEMORIES , JUST LOVE THEM . kEEP UP THE GOOD BAKING. I AM A Croatian WOMAN.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write and for your kind comment! I am so glad that you liked my recipe and that it brought back some lovely memories! Have a beautiful day and thank you again, Lili.