Oliebollen (Dutch Doughnuts)

As a daughter of a full Dutch father, this is what we would look forward to EVERY New Years day. It was a tradition. These are very good but I made them the way my dad did. I did a double batch and used 1 cup of beer (rrom temo) and 1 cup warm water. Did not use milk. Also only used 1 cube of yeast because of the beer. He also made it and let it rise all night and made them in the morning. I have done this tradition with my kids since my dad has passed and hopefully they will carry it on.

They were very good, but way to much salt. I had to throw away the first few batches. Once I cut back on the salt they were fine.

This is the second year I've made this recipe for my Dutch husband on New Years. He swears it's just as good as his Dad made while he was growing up in Holland. A few tips - one package of active dry yeast works the same as the fresh yeast, and I also reduce the salt to 1 tsp. I like to do have the batch with cinnamon mixed in with the powdered sugar. Make sure to finely chop the apples - they should only add flavor, not a lot of texture. Lastly, the balls need to be at least golf ball size - so use an ice-cream scoop to drop them (gently) in the oil.

Oliebollen has always been a huge tradition in my family for New Years Day. It was my favourite thing of the New Year. I decided to make this for my first New Year in China, and it was terrible! The dough didn't rise, and it was so salty, the apples even took on the taste of the salt. I thought maybe I had made a mistake somewhere and forgot to add the sugar, but there's no sugar in this recipe. I'm glad to hear some people enjoyed this recipe...but I think next time, I'll stick with my mom's

My grandma's both use to make these (in the basement 'cuz of the oil smell!) for the holidays. Another German woman I knew made them and call them "Futchins". They are DELICIOUS!! Gramma never added currants, just raisins and apple, but she shook them in cinnamon sugar rather than powdered. Accurate recipe!! Thanks for the memories!!

Just like mom used to make! Well, not quite, but I think it'a more a question of technique. I had to add more milk to make the dough smooth, but they tasted great! Lekker!

My mom used to always tell us about a little bakery in Washington state where she would buy Oliebollen and we've never been able to find them in CA. I was so glad to find this recipe! We made them and had a great time enjoying them! They are delicious!

I was a fan. I used a candy thermometer to make sure my oil was exactly at 375. They only needed to cook for about 4 minutes, not 8. I used 1 1/2 tsp of regular yeast, 1/4 cup sugar and reduced the salt to 1 tsp. Very yummy!

My grandmother used to make these for my sister and i when we slept over, her grams made them on easter in her youth. these are more authentic according to my gram then how she taught me (using pancake mix,as kids we knew these as pancake balls) but I still added her "secret ingredient" a dash of orange juice. if you can find one there is a type of cast iron pan with ball shapes cut out that we fry these in, it cuts the need for a vat of oil. though I inherited the pan from my grams and haven't been able to find a duplicate

A Dutch friend of mine suggested that I find a recipe for these, and am I glad he did! They were heavenly. My children immediately declared them 'apple fritters' but in any case, my double recipe disappeared long before the ball dropped on New Year's. :)

The only place I know that sells these is a little Dutch bakery in Bishop that's hours away. When I found this recipe I just about died! I made them for Christmas morning & everyone in my family loved them!

Our Oma, my stepmom, always made Oliebollen around New Years. Unfortunately, she died last year and when I went to find the recipe, realized it was in her Dutch cookbook (I can't read Dutch). I tried this recipe and it is very similar to what she made. I made one batch with milk and apple for the grandkids, the adult batch with warm beer, apple, raisin, and dried cranberries. Oma always added finely diced citron, but not everyone cares for citron. Made a double batch and they were gone in a flash. Also reduced the salt and used active dry yeast, even with the beer batch.

Not bad! A little denser than ones I've had in the Netherlands, but could have been user error! I had to substitute breadmachine yeast. Overall, not bad when I didn't have a mix and "needed" them for New Years!

I have been making them for almost 50 years, every year for New Years Eve party's. They are by far the most eaten item on the table. Usually all gone by the end of the eve. I make them with and without the raisens. Believe it or not some people don't like raisens, go figure! Personnally they have to have the raisens to get the full flavor of the OliBollen. Thank God for the Dutch.

Active dry yeast was all I had on hand, so I guesstimated 1 1/2 tsp. based on the amount of flour. It took twice as long to double in size, but the results were still good. I gave this recipe four stars because I think it's a bit too salty like some other reviewers. I also substituted golden raisins for the currants. They need more sweetness on the inside, so I will only put 1 tsp salt and add sugar to the batter next time. The procedure is perfect, I used a #20 scoop and 8 minutes cooking time was just right. Bedankt voor de recept, it really "rounded out" our New Year's Day!

A decent version of oliebollen (or smoutebollen as my Belgian Flemmish in-laws would call it.) The springy/chewy texture is spot-on. A couple of things: Firstly, there was too much salt, I will cut it in half for next time. Second, I didn't add the fruit, which is not the typical way I've ever seen it in the serveral places I've had it in Belgium. And lastly I replaced the fresh cake yeast with a single serving of standard quick rise, which i added to the flour as per the yeast's instructions. This worked well and shorted the rise time quite a bit.

I am dutch and must say that these are spot on perfect. My family has made these every new years eve since I can remember. I made these tonight and everyone agreed that these are the real thing. I heavily sprinkle on powdered sugar when they are cool and the crunch and taste is just addicting. I will be making quite a few tommorow for New years eve. Thank you soo much for the recipe. Happy New Years.

We found these oliebollen had too much salt and they were a tad dry. made them with 1 tsp. salt and 2 cups of flour instead. perfect for our tastebuds. However someone ate them all so they could not have been bad at all. thanks

i had never heard of oliebollen until a couple of weeks ago when my husband was talking about his childhood traditions. I tried them on New Year's eve and they turned out fantastic. My husband said they tasted exactly like he remembered! thanks for the great recipe flourGirl

I add a bit more milk to thin it out and use about 1/3 less salt. Let rise for at least 2 hours. I also like to add a bit of cinnamon to the raisin ones and pumpkin pie spice to the apple ones (just a couple dashes)

These are just like my mom always made; sort of, or at least the taste is. My mom always used the boxed mix from our local Dutch store, and she used beer, not milk. But her batter was always runny like a pancake batter. When I made this, the dough was very sticky and hard to work with. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be that way or not. There was no way I could ever shape balls with my hands, altho using two spoons pretty much made it a ball shape. But I will definitely make again with this recipe. Thank you!

My 87 year old mother and I make these every new years eve. We use peanut oil for frying (my idea). We use 5# of unbleached flour and leave out the eggs because her father use to tell her that it makes them like bread and they dry out. We freeze some as soon as they are cool and she enjoys them year around. The last one was consumed a week before Christsmas!

My dad, who never cooked, made this every year for New Year's. He died 31 years ago and I thought he took the recipe with him to his grave, but I found it on this website. Can't wait to make it this holiday season for my family. I was saddened to think that this wonderful recipe had left our home forever. Thank you, All Recipes for providing this perfect, traditional dish for me to share with my loved ones, even after all these years.

They turned out great! Used 1 tsp of salt. Also 1/2 cup of yellow and dark rasins. Apples were a little larger than the typical field run.

I just finished making my first batch and it was just yum yum. I added two tablespoons of white sugar to the milk and yeast. We love apples in ours and we used a tart apple.

When I was growing up, we lived near a grocery chain that always had oliebollen available in the bakery, which delighted my Dutch father. This New Year's I decided to try to make them myself and am very impressed with this recipe. I left out the salt entirely (I rarely use it in baking) and used all currants instead of raisins as that is how I remember oliebollen. They turned out great! Another reviewer suggested using a cast iron pan, and from the description it sounds like an aebleskiver pan, which can be found online and probably in gourmet cooking stores too. I will try that next time I make these to see how they turn out.

Way too much salt and too heavy... should have been light and fluffy...

Turned out REALLY good. I skipped the salt as well per previous reviews and am glad I did. I would encourage testing one every so often to double check the oil temperature and that they are cooked through. As a native Dutch woman, I do recommend this recipe.

These are AWESOME!!!

I cut the salt to 1/2 tsp, added 1/4 cup granulated sugar to dough and also added a. tsp of cinnamon to the powdered sugar and THEN, these were amazingly good! Best eaten warm. We aren't Dutch but I think, based on my 2 yr. old grandsons reaction of "yummy, yummy" we have decided to adopt this tradition as well. Seriously good! Rated a 5 with these changes.

As a real Dutchie I can recommend this recipe to everybody! I haven't had oliebollen since I left The Netherlands and now made them myself with this recipe and I love them. I did cut back on the salt, currants, and raisins. 1 tsp salt, 1/4 cup currants, and 1/4 cup raisins.

These turned out great!! I've never made them before and was so stoked with the outcome!! I did need to use about 1/3 cup or so more milk to get the right consistency. Saving for next time!!

Made as written. Perfection!

After reading a few review, I added 2 tsp of sugar and decreased the salt to 1/2 tsp. Also my dough needed a 1/4 cup of more milk. Otherwise mine was the same as my Dutch neighbour's. Thanks for the recipe!

This wasway, way too much salt in the recipe. Clearly, somebody messed up.

just like I remember, next try around I will be halfing the salt like others recommend.

I made the recipe and it looked beautiful but I'm used to a sweeter dough. This tasted really salty. There is no sugar in this recipe so I will likely try it again with some sugar added.

We used to have a stall sell these at our local rotary markets and always loved them. These were a pretty close replica. Think after reading reviews that I’d agree to reducing the salt amount and reducing the amount of dried fruit added in. But overall yummy ??

I could not get the batter to rise.

I don't understand what went wrong. I followed the recipe to a T. I used all the ingredients mentioned, let the dough rise for hours, fried my oliebollen etc.etc. The problem is they tasted horrible! These had zero taste. I I tried to drown them in powdered sugar, but that didn't help at all.

Made exactly as recipe directed . Too salty, and no matter how small I scooped them, they were raw and doughy on the inside. I have made oliebollen every year but lost my recipe, so I quickly went to this site for a new recipe. I will lose this one and hopefully find the original.

I moved to America when I was four years old and we always made Oliebollen. My mother made the dough and my father always fried them up using my mother's metal knitting needles as probes to turn them and skewer them out of the hot oil. This tastes just like I remember and they always had currents and raisins unlike what some other posts have said. As others I reduced the salt to 1/4 the amount listed and used a little extra milk. I also doubled the recipe- too much effort for such a small batch, plus they always get eaten.