Pust is approaching, starting in Ptuj this weekend and around the country in the weeks ahead. It’s a time of costumes, naughtiness and feasting, with krofi a key item in the latter. Krofi are jam (or jelly) doughnuts (or donuts), and you’ll learn how to make them in today’s recipe. However, if you’d rather buy one readymade then know that in Ljubljana “the best” are said to come from Hotel Slon, on Slovenska and Čopova. The next best, in our opinion, are those from Rašica and Trubar, in Črnuče and Trubarjeva cesta, respectively. But here’s how to make your own, which you can of course adjust to better suit your taste, making it the best for you.
Ingredients:
Sift the flour and place it in a mixing container. Make a dimple in the middle and pour warm milk in it. Crumble yeast into the milk then wait for it to rise.
Into the side of the mixing pot add egg yolks, oil, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, lemon jest, lemon juice and rum. Mix until the dough is smooth. You can beat it with a wooden spoon until it starts coming off the side of the container.
The dough needs to be soft, at least compared to the dough for potica.
We then divide the dough into 10 pieces of same size, 70-80 g each, and shape them into balls. We place the balls on floured cloth and cover them for 10 minutes to rise, then turn them around and cover for another 10 minutes. If the dough is rising slowly then be patients and wait a bit longer, so the doughnuts won’t sunk too deep in the oil when frying.
Preheat the frying oil to 170°C. To test whether it’s hot enough, dip the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil, and if bubbles form around it then you’re ready to fry.
Place your doughnuts into the hot oil and fry on each side for two or three minutes. Take them out and place them on a rack or a piece of paper to drain. Meanwhile fill a large syringe with apricot jam and inject it into the still warm donuts.
Wait till cool then sprinkle with powdered sugar.
