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Home » Recipes » Desserts

Cottage Cheese Donuts-Transylvanian Recipe

Published: Oct 16, 2023 · Modified: May 12, 2025 by Timea · This post may contain affiliate links · 12 Comments

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A delight in Sunday afternoons was to eat delicious cottage cheese donuts made after our grandmother's recipe and served with raspberry or apricots jam.

Hungarian fried cottage cheese donuts, also known as "túrófánk", are a traditional Hungarian dessert that has been enjoyed for centuries. "Túrófánk" are made with a simple dough of cottage cheese, flour, eggs, sugar, and baking powder. The donuts are then deep-fried in oil until golden brown. "Túrófánk" are typically served with powdered sugar and a dollop of "lekvár", a Hungarian fruit preserve.

Cottage Cheese Donuts Served on Plate With Strawberry Jam
Jump to:
  • Ingredients
  • How to Make the Hungarian Cottage Cheese Donuts?
  • Storage
  • How to Serve?
  • Cottage Cheese Donuts-Transylvanian Recipe

Ingredients

I used the following ingredients:

  • 500 g of cottage cheese, it is preferable to be full-fat and drier.
  • 250 g wheat flour, the type of flour does not matter so much.
  • 3 pieces of eggs, to be free-range chicken eggs, which will bind the composition.
  • 4 tablespoon sugar, to sweeten the donut batter.
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, or one sachet vanilla sugar.
  • 1 pieces of lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda, which helps the donuts to grow and be fluffy.
  • ¼ teaspoon of sea salt, I recommend adding it to any sweet recipe.
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, sprinkled on top of donuts for decoration.
  • 600 ml sunflower oil, to be at least two fingers high in the frying pan.

How to Make the Hungarian Cottage Cheese Donuts?

Prepare the Batter

I used these quantities for six servings of about 500 g of fresh dry cottage cheese, resulting in about 30 donuts because they are not very big sized.

Cottage Cheese in the Bowl

Put the cottage cheese in the bowl and add the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and lemon peel. Mix until the ingredients are well incorporated.

Cottage Cheese with Eggs, Sugar and Vanilla

Separately, mix about 230 g of wheat flour in the other bowl and put a teaspoon of baking soda and half a teaspoon of salt.

Wheat Flour in the Bowl

Take the egg whites, put them in the bowl and beat them with a whisk until you get a foam.

After that, mix all the ingredients, the cottage cheese and the ingredients with flour, and finally, incorporate the egg foam. You will get a soft and slightly sticky dough from which we will make the donuts.

Cottage Cheese and Wheat Flour

Frying the Donuts

Warm the sunflower oil to medium temperature in a deep pan or a pot. To fry it well, you need to have about 3-4 cm of oil from the bottom of the pan.

Using two spoons or your wet hands, make not too large balls that we put to fry in the pot.

Frying Donuts in the Pan

Fry them for about one or two minutes on each side until they get a golden colour. They will turn around alone if you make round balls and have enough oil.

Turned Frying Donuts in the Pan

After the donuts are fried, take them out in the bowl lined with a paper towel to retain excess oil and continue until finish all the dough.

Fried Cottage Cheese Donuts in the Bowl

Storage

Here are some tips for storing cottage cheese donuts:

  • Store the donuts in an airtight container to prevent them from drying out.
  • If you are storing the donuts at room temperature, place them in a cool, dark place.
  • If you are storing the donuts in the refrigerator, place them on a shelf in the back of the refrigerator, where they will be less likely to be disturbed.
  • If you are freezing the donuts, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to prevent them from sticking together.
  • To thaw frozen donuts, place them in the refrigerator overnight or reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds until warmed through.

How to Serve?

Cottage cheese donuts can be served in a variety of ways. Here are a few ideas:

  • Simple and classic: Dust the donuts with powdered sugar and serve them warm.
  • With fruit: Top the donuts with fresh fruit, such as berries, sliced bananas, or chopped apples. You can also drizzle the fruit with honey or maple syrup.
  • With jam or preserves: Serve the donuts with your favorite jam or preserves.
  • With chocolate: Dip the donuts in melted chocolate or drizzle them with chocolate sauce.
  • With whipped cream or ice cream: Top the donuts with whipped cream or ice cream for a decadent treat.
  • With powdered sugar and cinnamon: Dust the donuts with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
  • With nuts: Sprinkle the donuts with chopped nuts, such as almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts.
Cottage Cheese Donuts With Raspberry Jam on the Plate

Here are a few tips for serving cottage cheese donuts:

  • Serve the donuts warm or at room temperature. Cold donuts won't be as fluffy or flavorful.
  • If you're serving the donuts with fruit or jam, be sure to slice the fruit thinly so that it's easy to eat.
  • If you're serving the donuts with chocolate, let the chocolate cool slightly before dipping the donuts. This will help to prevent the donuts from getting soggy.
  • If you're serving the donuts with whipped cream or ice cream, be sure to do so shortly before serving. This will prevent the whipped cream or ice cream from melting.

Delicious! You can try other dessert recipes from our blog like:

  • cream cheese filling crepes recipe,
  • swet fried semolina pudding recipe,
  • best raspberry cheesecake recipe.
Cottage Cheese Donuts Served on White Plate With Raspberry Jam

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Cottage Cheese Donuts-Served on Plate With Strawberry Jam

Cottage Cheese Donuts-Transylvanian Recipe

Timea
A delight in Sunday afternoons was to eat delicious cottage cheese donuts made after our grandmother's recipe. This recipe is found in both Hungarian and Transylvanian cuisine as "turofank". It's a recipe that's easy to make and fast, but is so tasty.
5 from 5 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Total Time 35 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine Hungarian
Servings 6 people
Calories 1142 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 500 g cottage cheese dry
  • 250 g wheat flour
  • 3 pieces eggs
  • 4 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pcs lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • 600 ml sunflower oil

Instructions
 

We're preparing the ingredients

  • I used about 6 people about 500 g of fresh dry cottage cheese which will result in about 30 donuts.
  • In this amount of cheese we will put egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and lemon peel. Mix until the ingredients are well incorporated.
  • Separately we mix about 230 g of wheat flour and put a teaspoon of baking soda and half a teaspoon of salt.
  • We take egg whites and beat them until we get a foam.
  • We mixed all the ingredients, the cheese with flour and finally we incorporated the egg foam.

Frying donuts

  • In a deeper bowl or even in the fryer, warm the sunflower oil to medium temperature. To fry it well, you need to have about 3-4 cm of oil in the pan.
  • Using two spoons or wet hands, we make not too large balls that we fry.
  • We fry them for about two minutes on each side until they get a golden color.
  • If you make round balls and have enough oil they will turn around alone.
  • After the donuts are fried, we put them on a paper towel and put the rest in the frying pan.

Serving

  • The cottage cheese donuts are served sprinkled with powdered sugar and with raspberry or peach jam.

Video

Notes

Serve the donuts warm or at room temperature. Cold donuts won't be as fluffy or flavorful.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gramsCalories: 1142kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 13gFat: 104gSaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 681mgFiber: 1gSugar: 12g
Keyword cheese donuts, cheese donuts recipe, cottage cheese donuts
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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Comments

  1. C says

    August 27, 2019 at 7:13 pm

    Thanks very much this sounds delicious! I have never tried much Transylvanian Cuisine to my knowledge but I'm sure it is very good. Using the cottage cheese probably gives it a great texture and the whole recipe probably makes it very delicious. Also thanks to the cottage cheese it is high in protein!
    Great recipe and I will have to let other people know about this because it's always good to try new foods.

    Reply
    • Timea says

      August 27, 2019 at 7:25 pm

      Thanks for the appreciation and we are waiting for you on our blog.

      Reply
  2. Monica says

    August 27, 2019 at 7:14 pm

    These sound delicious!  My mom used to make powdered sugared donuts when I was little and all my friend used to want to come to my house to have them for breakfast!  She used a yeast dough and fried them similar to yours.  I bet using the cottage cheese lends a unique texture.  I can't wait to try them!  Thank you!

    Reply
    • Timea says

      August 27, 2019 at 7:26 pm

      Thank you Monica, try this recipe and you will not regret it, it is delicious.

      Reply
  3. RoDarrick says

    August 27, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    Wow! Interesting recipe you have written up here and I'm glad to have read about it. I'm obsessed about cooking and learning new ways to cook new cuisines. This cottage donuts Transylvania seems very yummy and delicious too. Thanks for giving iyt the ingredients and the procedure to making it. Thanks much for this and I'm definitely going to give it a trial

    Reply
    • Timea says

      August 27, 2019 at 7:42 pm

      Thanks for the appreciation, it is worth trying the recipe because it is especially tasty.

      Reply
  4. Henderson says

    August 27, 2019 at 7:21 pm

    Preparing this dounut isn't so hard, my grandma made something similar when we were you her and it was really good to enjoy. Making thischeese donut shouldn't be a problem for me myself as the ingredients to make it isn't that much and I can grab them at home. Thank you for the idea.

    Reply
    • Timea says

      August 27, 2019 at 7:38 pm

      With the greatest pleasure, to know that my grandmother also made this recipe.

      Reply
  5. Dane says

    August 27, 2019 at 7:22 pm

    A really simple and and straight forward way to arrive at this really nice donuts. At first I thought it woukd be another complex procedure to arriving at it. Simple and available recipe, i would love to try it out one weekend at home with my family. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Timea says

      August 27, 2019 at 7:36 pm

      If you try this Dane recipe, you will surely delight your family.

      Reply
  6. Stella says

    August 27, 2019 at 7:26 pm

    I have been preparing baking donut for sometimes now but I haven't tried cottage and cheese donut before. My baked donut are usually sprinkled by sugar. Am very sure these deep frying donut with cottage or cheese will make a new taste when I prepared it for my household. This is an addition to my snacks and pasteries recipes. I haven't used raspberry before.

    Reply
    • Timea says

      August 27, 2019 at 7:34 pm

      I'm glad Stella if I managed to complete your recipe collection with a new and delicious recipe.

      Reply
5 from 5 votes (5 ratings without comment)

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Hi, I am Timea and together with my husband Laci we decided to invite you to our virtual kitchen. You will see step by step how we cook and how tasty is the Transylvanian and Hungarian cuisine.

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