Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you go
- Makes 35 small doughnuts
- 500 g (1.1 lb) sweet potatoes
- 350 g (2¾ cups) sifted all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- 8 g (2½ tsp) active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs
- 140 g (⅔ cup) light brown sugar (you can reduce it to 100 g / ½ cup if you like it less sweet)
- 50 g (¼ cup) neutral oil
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- zest of 1 organic orange (optional)
For frying
- neutral oil
- To serve
- powdered sugar (icing sugar)
This easy recipe for sweet potato Hanukkah doughnuts will surprise you with how simple and sweet it is.
Making the sweet potato doughnuts
- Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into cubes and steam them until very tender (about 20 minutes). Mash them into a purée (for a really smooth purée, use a food processor or blender).
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, the vanilla sugar and the zest if using. Add the sweet potato purée, the oil, the yeast and the flour. Mix well: the dough should become fairly easy to handle, barely sticky and pull away from the sides of the bowl (adjust the flour as needed). Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 1 hour 30 minutes.
The dough should rise well:
- Punch down the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface (this keeps the doughnuts from sticking to it). Cut out rounds with a cookie cutter (or a glass; for reference, mine is 6 cm / 2½ inches in diameter) and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Fry the doughnuts in a pot of neutral oil for about 3 minutes per side (6-7 on my induction cooktop), turning them until golden. Tear open the first one and taste it to adjust the cooking time for your stove (the center should be cooked through, not doughy). Drain on paper towels and serve right away, dusted with powdered sugar and, if you like, a little cinnamon.
Tip
- Steaming keeps the sweet potato from soaking up water.