oliebol

The difference beteen a donut and an oliebol is that an oliebol has no hole and can contain fillings like raisins and apple pieces. An oliebol filled with jam is a Berliner bol.

Oliebollen can be made at home, but as they are deep-fried they make the entire house smelly and greasy. Therefore many people prefer to buy them at an oliebollenkraam: oliebollen stall. These stalls are most often large rebuilt caravans that contain one or more deep-frying units and a large counter in the side. They appear on many streetcorners in The Netherlands around September or October and disappear after New Year's Eve. Most carnivals include an oliebollenkraam all year round, though.

For those of you who don't care about smelly houses, here is a (fancy) recipe for oliebollen.

For 35 oliebollen you need:
1 kg white flour
1 litre water
80 g yeast
200 g raisins
100 g apple pieces
50 g sugar
10 g cinnamon
25 g salt
powdered sugar

Dissolve the yeast into the water, mix shortly. Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the ingredients and leave to rise for 45 minutes.
With a spoon or ice cream scoop, form little balls of batter (they will not become evenly round! That doesn't matter. Just use the scoop to measure the right amount of batter) and scoop them into 180 degrees C oil. Cook for about six minutes until a little darker than golden brown. Serve with lots of powdered sugar and ignore the white patches that form on your clothes while eating.