Classically made using a yeast-leavened dough, these are cooked in an old-school poffertjies pan.

Makes 80

Ingredients

For the poffertjies:

¼ cup (50g) sugar
1¾ cups (430ml) lukewarm milk
1 sachet (7g) yeast
2 eggs, whisked
2 Tbsp (30g) melted butter
2 cups (300g) flour
1 tsp (5ml) salt
Canola oil, for frying
Sifted icing sugar and softened butter, for serving

Method

1. Spoon 1 tsp sugar into a large bowl along with the warmed milk, stir to dissolve.
2. Whisk through the yeast and set aside until frothy, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the eggs, butter and remaining sugar, then whisk until fully incorporated.
4. Sieve flour and salt over the wet ingredients and whisk thoroughly into a batter. Cover and set aside at room temperature to proof for 1 hour. After an hour, the mixture should be very bubbly.
5. Whisk to bring mixture together again, then fill a squeeze bottle with the batter.
6. Brush a poffertjies pan with oil and place over medium heat. Pipe portions of batter into each hole.
7. Cook for 1 minute, or until bubbles appear on the top of the poffertjies, indicating the bottom is cooked and ready to flip. Use a fork or wooden skewer to flip over.
8. Cook for another minute, or until golden. Remove and repeat process with remaining batter.
9. Serve warm, dotted with knobs of butter and topped with generous amounts of icing sugar.

Our verdict

These were filled with lovely air pockets created by the yeast.
The taste was more savoury (like bread) than sweet, so the addition of icing sugar and butter topped them off perfectly!

Recipe & styling: Sjaan Van Der Ploeg  
Photographs: Zhann Solomons