Koeksisters.
Plaited Doughnuts in Ice-Cold Syrup
Koeksisters · say it: KOOK-sis-ters
A koeksister is a small plait of enriched dough, deep-fried and then plunged, still hissing, into syrup that has been refrigerated until it is almost too cold to touch. That temperature gap is the entire dish. The hot pastry contracts and pulls syrup deep into itself within seconds, while the crust sets hard rather than dissolving, so a finished koeksister is crisp and faintly crackly on the outside and completely saturated inside. Bite one and it leaks. They are sold cold, eaten cold, and no other treatment of dough and sugar behaves quite like it.
- Gate
- South Africa
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Total time
- 9 hr 20 min incl. 8 hr rest
- Serves
- 16
- Status
- Takes skill
- Nutrition / serving · estimated
- Calories 320 kcal
- Protein 3 g
- Carbs 56 g
- Fat 9 g
- Sugar 38 g
Why this recipe works.
- The syrup is made a day ahead and refrigerated, which is the one non-negotiable step most rushed recipes skip.
- Cream of tartar and lemon juice keep the syrup from crystallising while it sits cold and gets used in batches.
- The dough is rested and chilled, so the plaits hold their shape in the oil instead of unravelling.
- Gives the exact frying window and the drain-and-rest routine that stop the finished plaits going limp.
Ingredients.
13 itemsFor the syrup
For the dough
For frying
Equipment
- Heavy saucepan for the syrup
- Deep pan or fryer with a thermometer
- Slotted spoon
- Two mixing bowls for the ice bath
- Cooling rack
Instructions.
Make the syrup a day ahead
Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan over low heat and stir only until you cannot feel a single grain against the base. Add the cream of tartar, lemon juice, cinnamon stick and ginger, bring to the boil and cook for 8 minutes without stirring, until the syrup coats the back of a spoon in a thin film.
Tip Brush any sugar off the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush before it boils. A few stray crystals can set the whole batch grainy.
Chill the syrup overnight
Cool the syrup to room temperature, pour it into a container and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. It should be thoroughly cold and slightly thickened when you come back to it, not merely cool.
Make and rest the dough
Rub the cold butter into the flour, baking powder and salt until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs with no visible lumps. Mix the beaten egg into the cold milk, pour it in, and bring everything together into a soft dough. Knead briefly until smooth, wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Roll and plait
Roll the dough out to 6 mm thick on a floured surface and cut it into rectangles about 8 cm by 5 cm. Slit each rectangle lengthways into three strands, leaving one short end joined, plait them firmly and pinch the loose ends together, tucking them underneath.
Tip Work with half the dough at a time and keep the rest in the fridge so it stays cold and easy to cut cleanly.
Chill the plaits and set up the syrup
Lay the plaits on a floured tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile pour half the cold syrup into a bowl sitting inside a larger bowl of ice water, and keep the rest in the fridge to swap in when the first lot warms up.
Fry in small batches
Heat the oil to 175°C and fry four plaits at a time for about 2 minutes per side, until they are an even deep gold and float high in the oil. Break one open on the first batch to check the centre is cooked through and no longer doughy.
Tip The oil temperature drops each time you add dough. Let it climb back to 175°C between batches or the later ones come out greasy.
Straight into the cold syrup
Lift each koeksister out with a slotted spoon, let it drip for two seconds and submerge it in the ice-cold syrup, pressing it under with the spoon. Leave it for 45 to 60 seconds, until it stops hissing and feels heavy, then lift it onto a rack set over a tray.
Tip If the syrup in the bowl has gone lukewarm, swap in the cold reserve. Working syrup is the difference between crackle and sponge.
Cool and serve cold
Leave the koeksisters on the rack for at least 20 minutes so the surplus syrup drains and the surface sets to a firm shine. Serve them cold, straight from the rack or from the fridge.
Tips from our kitchen.
- Make the syrup the day before and leave it in the fridge overnight. Two hours is not enough — it needs to be properly, uncomfortably cold when the pastries hit it.
- Keep half the syrup in the fridge and work with the other half in a bowl set inside a larger bowl of ice, swapping batches as it warms.
- Chill the plaited dough for at least half an hour before frying. Cold dough browns more evenly and the strands stay woven.
- Fry at 175°C and no hotter. Above that the outside colours before the centre cooks, and you get raw dough that syrup cannot rescue.
- Give each koeksister 45 to 60 seconds submerged in the syrup, no longer. Left to soak they soften and lose the crackle entirely.
- Lift them onto a rack, not into a bowl. Stacked warm, they weld together and the undersides go slack.
Substitutions.
- Cream of tartar → An extra tablespoon of lemon juice
- Both work by stopping sucrose crystals forming. Lemon juice adds a faint sharpness, which most people find an improvement.
- Butter in the dough → Hard block margarine, or half butter and half lard
- Margarine is what many old bazaar recipes actually call for and gives a slightly crisper, less rich pastry.
- Whole milk → Cold water, or buttermilk
- Water gives a plainer, crisper result. Buttermilk makes a softer dough that needs an extra 10 minutes chilling before rolling.
Variations.
- Cape Malay koesister
- A different pastry sharing the name: yeasted dough spiced with cardamom, ginger and aniseed, formed into ovals, dipped in syrup and rolled in desiccated coconut. Eaten warm and soft rather than cold and crisp.
- Orange and clove syrup
- Steep two strips of orange peel and three cloves in the syrup as it cools, then strain them out before chilling. The citrus carries well against the fried dough.
- Twisted, not plaited
- Cut wider strips, slit them down the middle and pull one end through to make a twist. Faster than plaiting and it holds syrup just as well.
Storage & reheating.
Koeksisters are at their best on the day they are made, but they keep 3 to 4 days in a sealed container in the fridge and are meant to be eaten cold, so this is not a compromise. They lose crispness by day two while staying pleasantly chewy. They freeze surprisingly well for 2 months: freeze them in a single layer on a tray, then bag them, and thaw in the fridge rather than at room temperature so condensation does not sit on the surface. Do not try to refresh them in an oven — the syrup runs out and the pastry burns before it crisps.
Serve with
Cold from the fridge with strong coffee or rooibos tea, on a plate that can take the drips.
The story behind Koeksisters.
Two different sweets in South Africa answer to versions of this name, and confusing them is a reliable way to annoy somebody. The koeksister described here is the Afrikaans one: plaited, leavened with baking powder, fried and syrup-soaked, served ice-cold and glassy. The Cape Malay koesister is a different pastry altogether — a yeast-risen, oval, spiced dumpling flavoured with cardamom, ginger and aniseed, dipped in syrup and rolled in desiccated coconut, traditionally bought or made on a Sunday morning in the Bo-Kaap and eaten soft and warm. They share an ancestor and a syrup pot, and which came first is not settled.
The name itself is argued over on the same lines. One reading takes it from Dutch koek, cake, with the second half describing the hissing sound the dough makes hitting hot oil. Another traces it through the Malay word for the spiced Cape pastry. Both explanations are plausible, both are repeated in print, and neither has been demonstrated — which is roughly what you would expect from a food made in overlapping kitchens at the Cape for three centuries.
What is not in dispute is the status. Koeksisters are church-bazaar and school-fundraiser currency, made in batches of dozens by people who have plaited so many they no longer look at their hands. The town of Orania in the Northern Cape went as far as putting up a monument to one. In practice, though, the dish is judged on a single technical point that has nothing to do with heritage: whether the maker got the temperature difference right. Warm syrup produces a sad, soggy, uniformly sweet pastry. Syrup left overnight in the fridge produces the crackle, and everyone who eats them knows immediately which one they have been handed.
Questions, answered.
Why does the syrup have to be cold?
The temperature difference between hot pastry and cold syrup is what makes a koeksister work. As the fried plait cools sharply, the air inside it contracts and draws syrup into the crumb, while the chilled syrup is too cold to soften the crust. Warm syrup does the opposite: it soaks the outside, dissolves the crispness, and leaves you with a uniformly soggy, very sweet piece of dough.
What is the difference between a koeksister and a koesister?
They are two distinct pastries with a shared name. The Afrikaans koeksister is plaited, raised with baking powder, deep-fried and dunked in ice-cold syrup, and is eaten cold and crisp. The Cape Malay koesister is a yeast-risen oval spiced with cardamom, ginger and aniseed, syrup-dipped and rolled in coconut, and is eaten warm and soft. Ordering one and receiving the other is a common disappointment.
My syrup turned grainy and set hard. What went wrong?
Sugar crystallised, usually because undissolved grains were left clinging to the side of the pan or the syrup was stirred after it came to the boil. Dissolve the sugar completely over low heat before it boils, brush the pan sides down with a wet pastry brush, and leave it alone once it is boiling. Cream of tartar or lemon juice in the pan makes crystallisation far less likely.
Can I make koeksisters in advance for an event?
Yes, and most people do. Make the syrup up to a week ahead and keep it refrigerated. Fry and dip the koeksisters the day before, then store them cold in a sealed container. Since they are served chilled anyway, a day-old batch is completely normal and saves you standing over hot oil while guests arrive.
How do I stop the plaits from coming undone in the oil?
Pinch both ends firmly, tuck them under the plait, and chill the shaped pieces for at least 30 minutes before frying. Cold dough is stiffer and holds the weave. It also helps to lower them into the oil gently rather than dropping them, and not to turn them until the first side has set to a firm golden colour.
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Recipe by The DishRoute Kitchen · published August 20, 2026 · updated August 20, 2026