Quarkbällchen

February is the season for Fuesent in Luxembourg – it’s carnival season!

Besides fancy dress parties and cavalcades across the country (not this year though), carnival is really the time to head to your local bakery and try out various doughnut creations which are only around at this time of year.

The most iconic Fuesent doughnuts are Verwuerelter – deep-fried pastry knots dusted with icing sugar and often flavoured with a hint of rum. You can find my mum’s foolproof recipe here.

A second amazing Fuesent treat are Quarkbällercher – small round doughnuts, which are pretty moist inside since their batter is made with quark. I can’t get enough of Quarkbällercher, so this year I’ve decided to make my own. They’re much easier to make than Verwuerelter, since the dough for the Quarkbällercher requires no yeast and is quickly assembled. All you need to do is mix all the ingredients and start frying immediately.

Find the recipe here in Luxembourgish.

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Ingredients

100g butter, room temperature
75g sugar
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
200g quark
1 tsp baking powder
250g flour
¼ tsp salt

2l oil, for frying

To serve:
100g sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon

Method

Makes 35 Quarkbällchen – Prep: 1h

Put the butter with the sugar, vanilla sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and mix. Add the soft white cheese and mix again. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between additions. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix to get a smooth batter.

In a deep plate, mix the sugar with some cinnamon and set aside.

Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer or large saucepan to 180°C.

Fry the Quarkbällchen in batches: take a teaspoon of batter and shape into a ball with a second teaspoon. Slide into the hot oil and fry the balls in batches for approximately 4 minutes, stirring regularly with a slotted spoon until the balls are nicely browned all over.

Remove the fried balls with a slotted spoon and drain on a piece of kitchen paper, then roll the hot balls in the cinnamon sugar.

Continue with the remaining batter until everything is used up.

These are best eaten on the day they are made or they can be frozen. They are best reheated briefly in the microwave, so that they are slightly warm.

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