Recipes
MasterChef SA koeksisters
Here's the ultimate koeksister recipe, from the official MasterChef South Africa cookbook.
Serves: 12 - 14
Ingredients
Method
For the syrup:
Place the water, sugar and cream of tartar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Once the syrup starts to boil, add the lemon juice and continue to simmer for 10 minutes.
Cool the syrup to room temperature. Pour half of the syrup into a bowl and keep over ice to cool rapidly. Place the remaining syrup in the fridge to cool.
For the dough:
Sift the flour and baking powder together in a bowl and then rub in the margarine with your fingertips.
Add the beaten ½ egg to the water and whisk to incorporate.
Make a well in the centre of the fl our mixture. Pour in the water mixture and then start to mix until a smooth dough has formed. Knead thoroughly.
Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes or up to 5 hours. Heat the oil to 160 °C.
Using an oiled rolling pin, roll out the dough on an oiled surface to a thickness of 5 mm. Cut the dough into rectangles of 6 x 15 cm. Cut each rectangle lengthways into 3 strips, leaving one side uncut. Plait the 3 strips and press the cut ends together firmly.
Fry in batches of 6 in the hot oil for 6–7 minutes, or until dark golden brown. Drain them for a few seconds on paper towels. Keep the rest of the koeksisters covered to prevent them from drying out.
Dip the koeksisters into the ice-cold syrup while they are still hot. Remove from the syrup with a slotted spoon and place on a wire rack. The syrup will gradually become hot with use, so when you have done about half of the koeksisters take the remaining syrup from the fridge and use this for the balance.
Top tip: For a yummy flavour, add a piece of dried ginger and a stick of cinnamon to the syrup when the lemon juice is added. The colder the syrup the better! Make it the day before and place in the fridge to ensure it is ice cold.
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lovely and spectacular thanks alot now i will get high marks at school for cookery class
I was so excited to make these koeksisters (live in the United States) and used a conversion table. The only problem is that I could not figure out what 4 x 250 ml (500g) cake flour meant. Does it mean 500 grams of flour or does it mean 250 ml x 4 = 1000 ml ? Very disappointing 🙁
It means 4 measures of 250 ml (we call that 1 cup) will weigh 500g.
So you can EITHER measure out 4 cups by volume, or weigh it and use 500g, or 1/2 a kilogram
Hi Debbie. Don’t know if you had a reply to your question yet. However I thought it well to answer. It is indeed 1000ml i.e. 4 cups. Enjoy the rest of your day! Dalene
Well 1000ml =500 grams, they say this so that you can use a cup measure and use four of them in case you do not have a scale but 1000ml is equivalent to 500 g but it more accurate to use a scale and measure grams
This is probably very late and you have figured it out by now lol. .but it is 500g flour…
Happy cooking and enjoy
Kind regards
Nic.
In South Africa one cup = 250 ml.
So u will use 4 cups.
I AM LOOKING FOR A RECIPE WHERE YOU PUT THE KOEKSISTERS IN THE WARM SYRUP PLEASE!!
There is a cape Malay recipe for these koesisters that my friend uses. Google Cape Malay koesisters
Africhef has a good recipe
I have made these and I would like to know how to make them more sticky and moist with the syrup – mine were not as good as the Woolworths koeksisters.
You need to keep the syrup cool – I usually rest the syrup container in a large bowl of ice water with ice-cubes floating in the ice water to keep as cold as possible. The hot koeksisters should then suck up the syrup more readily. I usually have a second pot of syrup and bowl of ice water in the fridge ready for the next batch of hot koeksisters. I hope this helps?
Question: why is there small hard lumps in my koeksisters?
Hi Cornelia
If you find the cause of the lumps please let me know I have the same problem. You can SMS me your phone No. and I will call you or you can email me.
thank you
Regards.
4×250 ml cake flour is 1 kg not 500 gms or 1/2 kg. make cake flour by taking 1 tablespoon of flour from a cup and replacing with 1 tablespoon of cornflour.
Ek soek raad vir die vgl :
1. Is daar raad om te verhoed dat die koeksisters te gou sag of pap word.
2. Wat veroorsaak dat die koeksisters soms bars.
DANKIE.
I live in Australia now and I have to give a talk at our local U3A centre about my life in South Africa. I am going to make koeksusters for tea after my talk.
Thanks for the recipe.
Our pleasure, Barbara! We’ve no doubt everyone will love the koeksusters. Good luck for your talk 🙂
I’m from Philippines and I want to try Koeksisters recipe…just join now…
Hi,
If the koeksusters are of a medium size, approx how many can this recipe make?
Between 12 and 14. Happy baking, Wally!
Hi there – is there a way to “revive” my soft koeksisters? I think my syrup was not cool enough. 🙁
We’re so sorry for the very tardy response – we have no idea how to solve this dilemma, but perhaps our friends at Food24 will be able to help 🙂
Hi @ Gypsy (Sorry, obviously not in time to save your soft koeksusters) …but freezing them and defrosting 30min before serving will do the job.
I’ll try this recipe, but will definitely use butter instead of margarine. Regaring koeksusters with hard white lumps – I’ve been told this is due to the dough drying out. To remedy this, keep the dough moist between damp towels.
Please tell me how you halve an egg
Sue you beat it first the halve the quantity.