Polski 
How could you not love these? In Polish bakeries, you’ll find them under the names pączki wiedeńskie (Viennese doughnuts), pączki hiszpańskie (Spanish doughnuts) or simply gniazdka (“little nests”). They’re also known as French crullers. They’re made with choux pastry, which makes them wonderfully delicate and light, with a texture that practically melts in your mouth. Drizzled with lemon icing, they taste exactly like the doughnuts you remember from childhood. They take a little more effort to make than traditional doughnuts, but they’re absolutely worth it :).
Makes about 25 doughnuts (depending on the size of your piping nozzle).
Ingredients for the choux pastry:
- 200 g plain flour
- 100 g butter
- 250 ml water
- 4 eggs
- a pinch of salt
- oil, for frying
Bring the water, butter and salt to the boil in a saucepan. Reduce the heat and add the sifted flour to the boiling liquid all at once. Stir vigorously until you have a smooth, uniform dough that starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Transfer the cooled dough to the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix while adding the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next.
Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Cut the baking paper into squares measuring approximately 10 cm and lightly grease each one with oil. Pipe a ring of dough approximately 6–7 cm in diameter onto each piece of paper, creating a little nest.
You can also pipe the nests directly onto a larger sheet of baking paper and then cut it into individual pieces – this is probably a little quicker ;).
Heat the oil in a wide saucepan or pot to approximately 180ºC. Fry the doughnuts in batches, placing them in the hot oil with the paper facing upwards. After about 1 minute, the paper should easily come away – remove it. Fry the doughnuts for about 4–5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
Ingredients for the lemon icing:
- 200 g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2–3 tbsp hot water
Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice and 2–3 tbsp hot water until smooth and fairly thick.
Drizzle the icing over the cooled doughnuts.
Enjoy!
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