How to Make Koeksisters

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: December 3, 2022

Koeksisters are tasty doughnuts drenched in syrup that are popular in South Africa. There are two versions of this yummy dessert, and where one is a sweet braided doughnut, the other is a spiced cake ball covered in coconut. Both versions are delicious and fun to make, and they both make an excellent dessert for your family and friends.

Ingredients

Afrikaner Koeksisters

3⅓ cups (500 g) cake flour
5 teaspoons (25 g) baking powder
1¾ tablespoons (23 g) butter
1 small egg
1 cup and 1 teaspoon (245 ml) water
Oil for frying, about 3 cups (710 ml)

Afrikaner Syrup

3⅓ cups (800 ml) water
6.5 cups (1.5 kg) sugar
2 teaspoons (10 g) cream of tartar
2¾ tablespoons (40 ml) lemon juice

Cape Malay Koeksisters

4 cups (600 g) cake flour
2 cups (300 g) self-rising flour
⅓ cup (75 g) sugar
1 teaspoon (2.5 g) salt
2 teaspoons (10 g) instant yeast
2 teaspoons (10 g) cardamom
2 teaspoons (10 g) ginger
2 teaspoons (10 g) cinnamon
2 teaspoons (10 g) aniseed
1 large egg
1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil
2 tablespoons (30 g) butter
1½ cup (353 ml) hot water
1½ cup (353 ml) milk
Oil for deep frying, about 3 cups (710 ml)
Desiccated coconut for sprinkling

Cape Malay Syrup

1 cup (225 g) sugar
1 cup (235 ml) water
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Making Afrikaner Koeksisters

1
Make the syrup. The night before you plan to make your koeksisters, make a batch of syrup. This gives the syrup time to chill, and the hot doughnuts will be dipped into the cold syrup to get them crispy and shiny.
- Bring the water, sugar, and cream of tartar to a boil over medium heat in a small saucepan. Stir constantly so the sugar doesn’t burn.
- When the mixture comes to a boil, add the lemon juice. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. You can also add a pinch of cinnamon and dried ginger to the syrup at this point if you want to add a bit of spice.
- After simmering, remove the syrup from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature. Then divide the syrup into two separate bowls and chill overnight in the fridge.
2
Combine the dry ingredients with the butter. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Sifting will remove clumps and make the batter smooth. Add the butter to the flour and use the tips of your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until the butter has been distributed throughout.^{[1]
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- You want to distribute the butter in the flour as evenly as possible. The texture will become slightly crumbly.
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3
Add the egg and water to form a dough. Crack the egg into a small bowl and whisk it together with the water until incorporated. Then pour the egg into the flour and stir with a spoon to combine all the ingredients.
- Continue stirring until everything comes together as a ball of dough. Then knead the dough until it becomes smooth and soft.
- Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap or a damp towel and set it aside for an hour to rest.
4
Heat the oil. Heat the oil over medium heat in a deep fryer or in a deep frying pan. For the best results, you want about three to four inches (seven to 10 cm) of oil. Place a pea-sized ball of dough into the oil.
- When the piece of dough begins to cook and sizzle, the oil is ready.
- If you have a candy thermometer, heat the oil to about 340 F (171 C).
5
Roll out the dough. Turn the dough out onto a flat and lightly oiled surface. Grease a rolling pin with a bit of oil and roll out the dough into a large rectangle that’s about a quarter-inch (6.3 mm) thick.
- Cut the dough into long thin strips that are about an inch (2.5 cm) wide and six inches (15 cm) long.^{[2]
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6
Braid the dough. Take three strips of dough and pinch them all together at one end. Then braid the three pieces together. When you get to the end of the dough, pinch all three ends together to seal them.^{[3]
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- To braid the dough, lay the three strips out side by side. Take the left strip and lay it over the middle strip, so that the two switch positions. Then take the right strip and lay it over the middle strip. Go back to the left strip and lay it over the middle again. Repeat until you reach the end of the strips.
- Repeat this process with all the dough strips until you have assembled all the koeksisters.
- This recipe will make about a dozen doughnuts. If you have any strips of dough left, you can cut them in half lengthwise to make smaller koeksisters, or fry single strips of dough.
7
Fry the doughnuts in small batches. Place a few doughnuts into the hot oil and let them cook for about three to five minutes, until they are golden brown. When they are cooked, transfer them to a paper towel for a few seconds to allow the excess oil to drain off.^{[4]
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- When the first batch of doughnuts is cooking in the oil, remove one of the bowls of syrup from the fridge and place the entire bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice. Keep the other bowl chilling in the fridge.
8
Dip the doughnuts into the cold syrup. After a few seconds on the paper towel, dunk the doughnuts immediately into the bowl of syrup. Allow the doughnuts to soak in the syrup for a minute or two.
- Remove the koeksisters from the syrup with a slotted spoon, allowing the excess syrup to drain off back into the bowl.
- Transfer the syrupy doughnuts to a wire rack to cool.
- When the bowl of syrup becomes warm from the hot doughnuts, return it to the fridge and start using the second chilled batch. Place the fresh batch into a bowl of ice as well.^{[5]
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9
Cool before serving. Allow the koeksisters to cool to room temperature before serving. If you have extra syrup left over, transfer it to small serving bowls for dunking the doughnuts into.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Making Cape Malay Koeksisters

1
Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately. In a large bowl, sift together the flours, spices, sugar, salt, and yeast. In a different small bowl, whisk together the butter and hot water to melt the butter.
- When the butter has melted, whisk in the milk.
2
Combine all the wet and dry ingredients. Crack the egg into a small bowl and whisk it briefly. Add the egg, oil, and butter and milk to the dry ingredients.
- Use a wooden spoon to mix all the ingredients together. Continue mixing until the ingredients come together to form a smooth dough. If mixing with the spoon becomes difficult, knead the dough with your hands instead.
3
Leave the mixture to rise. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place it somewhere warm to rise for one to two hours.^{[6]
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Research source} It’s important to cover the dough so that it doesn’t dry out.
- A good warm place for the dough to rise is an oven that’s turned off, but with the oven light turned on.
4
Roll out the dough. When the dough is ready, cover your hands with a layer of oil and turn the dough out onto a flat surface. Roll the dough out with your hands into a long cylinder that’s two inches (5 cm) thick.
- Cut the dough cylinder into smaller pieces that are one to two inches (2.5 to five cm) long.
- Arrange the dough pieces on two baking sheets and leave them to rise for another 30 to 40 minutes.
5
Make the syrup. While the dough is rising for the second time, prepare the syrup. The doughnuts will be fried and then dunked into the syrup right away, so it needs to be ready for when the doughnuts are fried.
- Combine the sugar, water, and spices in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent the sugar from burning. When it comes to a boil, lower the heat and continue simmering and stirring until the syrup becomes thick.
- Lower the heat again and keep the syrup warm over low heat until the doughnuts are ready.
6
Stretch and fry the dough. Fill a deep fryer or deep frying pan with oil and heat it over medium–high heat. Drop a pea-sized piece of dough into the oil. When it begins to cook and sizzle, you know the oil is ready.
- Take a piece of dough and stretch it out slightly to get an oval shape. Repeat with every dough piece before frying.
- Drop a couple oval dough pieces into the oil, but don’t crowd them.
- Fry the dough until the koeksisters become golden brown, about one to two minutes.
7
Dip the doughnuts in the syrup. Remove the doughnuts from the oil one at a time using a slotted spoon. Place them on a paper towel to remove some of the excess oil. Poke a few holes in each doughnut with a fork.
- Transfer the doughnuts to the warm syrup and roll them around to coat all sides.
8
Roll in coconut before serving. When the doughnuts are drenched in syrup, remove them one at a time with the slotted spoon. Allow the excess syrup to drain off over the saucepan.
- Roll each doughnut in the shredded coconut to coat them completely. Transfer them to a serving plate and enjoy!^{[7]
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Community Q&A

Question

Can I leave the cream of tartar out if I don't have it in the house?

Community Answer

If you leave out the cream of tartar, the consistency of the final product will differ, so it's best to replace it with every 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar in the recipe with one teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar.
Question

Does the syrup taste sweet or sour?

Community Answer

The syrup will taste sweet.
Question

Can I put leftover koeksisters in the freezer?

Ann Hupe

Community Answer

Yes. You can either freeze them in their unbaked state, or you can bake them and then freeze them once cooled.