- 1 hour 35 minutes
- Prep 1 hour 10 minutes
- Cook 25 minutes
- Serves 8
Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.
Ingredients
- 500g plain flour
- 100g caster sugar
- 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, plus a pinch for the sugar
- Half a teaspoon salt
- About 1 litre vegetable oil, for deep frying
- To finish: 40g caster sugar (about 3 tablespoons)
Let's cook
- Mix the flour, 100g sugar, yeast, 1 teaspoon nutmeg and salt in a large bowl.
- Pour in 450ml warm water; it should feel just warm on your wrist, not hot. Stir, then beat with a wooden spoon or your hand for 3 to 4 minutes until you have a smooth, sticky, stretchy batter, thicker than pancake batter.
- Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave it somewhere warm for about 1 hour, until doubled in size and full of bubbles.
- Heat the oil in a deep pan, no more than a third full, to 170C, or until a drop of batter sizzles and floats at once.
- Wet your hand. Scoop up some batter, close your fist and squeeze a ball about the size of a walnut out between your thumb and first finger, then drop it into the oil. Two wet teaspoons work too. Fry 6 to 8 at a time.
- Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, turning them, until deep golden all over. Break the first one open to check the middle is cooked; if it browns too fast, turn the heat down a little.
- Mix the 40g sugar with a pinch of nutmeg. Lift the puff puff onto kitchen paper with a slotted spoon, then roll them in the nutmeg sugar while warm. Serve warm.
Tips
- Never leave hot oil alone, and keep children away from the pan.
- The batter should be loose enough to squeeze but thick enough to hold a round shape.
- Puff puff is best eaten the day it is made.
Swaps
- No sugar coating: dust lightly with icing sugar, or serve them plain.
- Spiced: add half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the batter.
Tags
Contains: Cereals containing gluten .
Gluten is the only one of the 14 allergens in this recipe, from the plain wheat flour.
Check every packet for allergens.