Last updated on April 16th, 2025
A traditional South African treat, koeksisters are wickedly sweet and make for a delicious tea time treat. So roll up your sleeves, follow this easy recipe and get ready to work that dough!
Koeksisters
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A super-sweet, traditional South African treat! Perfect with your afternoon tea of coffee!
Ingredients
Ingredients – dough:
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 4 tbsp butter/margarine
- ½ cup of water
- oil for frying
Ingredients – syrup:
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 ½ cinnamon sticks
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 ½ cups of water
- juice of one lemon
Instructions
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
- Rub in the butter and mix until pliable.
- Mix this with the egg and water (adding the water a little at a time).
- Work the dough well. If the dough appears to be lumpy and sticky, continue to work the dough until it will ball up.
- Let the dough rest at room temperature for about three hours (under an inverted mixing bowl).
Method – syrup:
- Prepare the syrup a day before (it needs to be very cold).
- Dissolve sugar in the water.
- Add the spices and lemon juice to this and boil together. Leave the syrup cool in the fridge overnight.
To prepare the koeksisters:
- Roll out the dough (thickness 5mm).
- Cut the dough into strips of 6cm long, 2cm wide.
- Cut each of these strips into three strips (not all the way through, leave the strips connected at the top).
- Plat each strip, pinch together at the end of the strip.
- Deep fry until golden brown.
- Remove and drain quickly – dip the hot koeksisters in the cold syrup (that was stored in the fridge up to now).
- The secret is to keep the syrup cold and the koeksisters hot, this way it will draw just the right amount of syrup.
- You can keep the syrup cold by keeping the syrup bowl in another container filled with iced water.
Can I please have the contact details in regards to the person who took the koeksisters photo?
I really would like to buy the photo.
Kind regards,
Laurike
Hi! These look delicious. Wanted to surprise my South African husband with them. He’s homesick and been living in the U.S. for the last several years. Thought it’d be a nice treat.
What kind of oil is best for frying these in? And approximately how long does it take for them to cook through? I also wanted to know how long you keep the syrup at a boil. Thanks!
Die suurlemoensap kan ook vervang word met nartjiesap of lemoensap en gemmer
Made these for the very first time for my daughter’s international day presentation (we live in France) and they have come out beautifully!! I particularly love the syrup with the addition of the lemon juice as I find the very traditional syrup too sweet. A very easy recipe to follow and much easier to make than I thought it would be. Definite thumbs up!
Making these tomorrow. Only the second time I’ve made koeksisters! Wish me luck 🙂
Very tasty. Thought the syrup was to thick.
if i don’t have cinnamon sticks will grinded cinnamon also be fine
I am very impressed with the quality of the recipes found on this site. It is easy to understand and easy to make!!! Love it!!!
Have tried many recipes. Was intrigued by this one..One question..2 TABLESPOONS of baking powder, can this be right? Just asking, before I boob.. Thanx
No Carrie it is teaspoons. You can actually measure for 1 cup of flour it is ussually 1 teaspoon (5ml)
i’m south African and I love making koeksisters with my mum it is a hell lot of fun and it is very yummy not just to me but to my family.
I love to make this yummy meal with my beautiful and kind daughter who is always tacking care of me I hope she can see this before I die. I just want her to hear how much I love her, I am 82 years old and I can still see her starting to eat the koeksisters. it is a big joy to be a mother and I want her to make these until she is my age and really happy.
belinda du Plessis.
I love you to mum.
What should i do so that my syrup does not christelize?
Can anybody please tell me why the koeksisters burst open when you put it in the cold syrup. Thank you
This recipe is sooooooo easy to follow me and my 11 year old brother (I’m 12 btw) have made them twice once for my class( they loved them) and once for my family my South African dad said they almost tasted like the ones he bought as a kid in South Africa. They didn’t taste the same because we used gluten free flour instead of regular flour.
This recipe worked fantastic. For my first time making koeksisters, they taste delicious. Recipe was very easy to follow and turned out delicious. My only suggestion is for the syrup, do 1 cup of water and 2 1/12 cups of sugar. That 1kg has to be a typo because that is about 5 cups of sugar, and it would be way too sweet.
Overall, 4 stars;)
I failed hopelessly, they just fell into pieces, n is it cause I never made it stand for 3 hours, is the 3 hours a necessity? Pls help
Hallo, I hope you can help. Why is that the koeksisters sometimes fry so nicely, but as soon as you put it the syrup its takeing up a lot of syrup, but is makeing a hole on the one side. What can the reason be for that.
Thank you
Barbara
Made them 2day cz I had a crave for koeksisters they were a yummylicious treat my kids couldn’t get enough!lol thumbs up!
I agree with you.I hope that helps.