So, Mike and I have been on a little Moroccan cooking theme lately. I’m not entirely sure how it came up but now I’ve been looking at flights to Morocco and thinking that it should definitely be on our travel bucket list. Morocco looks GORGEOUS. But, I’m a little ashamed to admit that maybe even more than the colorful cities and beautiful Mosques, I’ve been staring at the food. But, I’ve also been staring at photos of the Sahara, so there’s that.

But, back to the food because the FOOD. These doughnuts were on a list of must eats when you visit and since we’re not going going anytime soon, I thought I’d try my hand. There were fun to make and so different than other doughnuts that I’ve made before. I mean, essentially, sfenj are a deep- fried yeasted dough but the texture of both the raw dough and the finished doughnut was so different from what I typically think a doughnut is.

First off: the dough is extremely sticky with a high hydration. The dough comes together quickly, easily and much like most yeasted doughs. Yeast is activated with a bit of warm water and sugar, then stirred into flour with a bit of salt. I used my trusty Kitchen Aid to do the heavy kneading and then it was just a question of letting the dough rise for four hours. Yup, four hours. The long rise produces lots of air bubbles and a more complex flavor.

After the rise, you lightly oil your hands squeeze off a plum sized piece of dough, shape it into a ball, then poke a hole in it, kind of how bagels are made. I don’t think you could cut out this dough even if you wanted to. The results of hand shaping are quirky and rustic. A quick deep fry with a bit of time for cooling and you’ll want to devour these babies right away. They’re golden and crispy on the ouside and chewy, hole-y, and fluffy on the insides. We forgot to snap a photo of the insides, but they had a beautiful crumb. They kind of reminded me a bit of the texture of mochi doughnuts but even more chewy.

I don’t know if I’m doing a good job describing these guys but I will say that they were SO GOOD. And dangerous because Mike and I ate entirely too many doughnuts. I liked mine with cinnamon-sugar (completely inauthentic) and Mike liked them plain with a bit of extra salt. He thought they were kind of like Chinese doughnuts, but not as crispy. They’re more of a snacking doughnut, not a sweet dessert doughnut and I’m kind of in love. Donuts all day everyday!