If there’s one thing everybody can agree on, it’s doughnuts. It seems like every culture on earth has perfected some kind of sweetened and fried dough. Here are just a few doughnuts from around the world.
Pastry: Beignet
Country: France
Details: French cooks can make even a doughnut—simple dough, cooked in oil—seem fancy. “Beignet” is a deep-fried pastry made out of a versatile dough base called choux. Consisting of little more than butter, flour, eggs, and water, the same dough is used to make other French desserts, including éclairs and profiteroles. A beignet is usually rectangular, served hot, and topped with a mound of powdered sugar.
Pastry: Kleinur
Country: Iceland
Details: Iceland’s version of the doughnut is made out of flattened dough, which is then cut into the shape of a parallelogram. A hole is cut in the middle, through which one of the ends is pulled through, making a knot. Then, it’s fried…in beef tallow.
Pastry: Fritule
Country: Croatia
Details: These doughnut-hole like treats are a traditional Christmas treat in the former Yugoslavian republic. Balls of dough are flavored with brandy and orange zest, filled with raisins, and are then deep-fried and topped with powdered sugar.
Pastry: Picarones
Country: Peru
Details: The idea of doughnuts was introduced to Peru by European explorers in the 16th century. But unlike wheat or potato flour, picarones are made from flour ground out of starches native to Peru: squash and sweet potato. After being fried, picarones are coated in a molasses syrup called chancaca.
Pastry: Jyutping
Country: China
Details: These doughnuts from the Canton region are also called “ox-tongue” or “horse ear”—because that’s what these flat, fried, floppy pieces of dough look like. Soft on the outside, chewy on the inside, they’re traditionally served with soy milk.