World Cuisines: Oponki (Poland)

This is one of my favorite Polish deserts. It's a kind of donut. The secret ingredient is farmer cheese - dairy product.

Ingredients:
- 1 kg farmer cheese
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 full eggs
- 4 (just the) yolks
- 1/2 kg all-purpose flour
- 125 grams margarine (room temperature)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- oil for deep frying (around 1 liter)
- 1 cup powdered sugar

Preparation:
- Sift the flour and baking powder onto the board/counter/working area into a pyramid. Make a well in the middle of it.
- Put the white sugar, eggs, yolks and margarine in the middle.
- Press the farmer cheese through a potato ricer and add it as well.
- Knead until well mixed and not clumpy, but they should be still a little bit sticky. Too much flour will make them tough and not fluffy.

- Roll the dough with a rolling pin until it is 3/4" thick. (Use extra flour so it doesn't stick to the counter/rolling pin - not in the dough.) You can roll all of the dough straight away if you have enough space or you can divide it into 3 parts and work with each separately.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a pot on medium heat (around 375°F)
- Use a glass to cut circles out of the dough. Use a smaller glass (e.g. a shot glass) to cut the middles out of your circles to make a donut shape as in picture. If the dough sticks to the glass, dip the rim of the glass in tiny bit of flour.

                

- Carefully put the oponki and the remaining holes into the hot oil and cook on both sides until golden brown. Make sure they have enough space in the pan so they don't stick together. It will take a few rounds to fry them all.
Remember to flip quickly the tiny ones, otherwise they might not flip easily in the oil or at all.

- When ready, remove them carefully and let them cool on a paper towel.
- Serve with powdered sugar for extra flavor and as decoration.

This recipe provides quite a big amount of treats, probably enough for 10+ people or a smaller group for a couple of days.

Smacznego!