Khfaf Recipe with Cinnamon Sugar

Khfaf is a spongy fried rounds of bread dough with a thick, tender chewy edge and thin slightly crispy centre.

Eaten for breakfast or as an afternoon treat with a cup of coffee or tea. Plain or topped in cinnamon sugar, it’s hard to resist eating only one.

I’m a bit late this week sharing my weekly recipe, yes if you hadn’t noticed I’ve been consistently posting every week for about 2 months after a year-long hiatus. With that being said I may skip posting a recipe next weekend because it’s Eid on Friday! preparations, including deep cleaning the entire house which I’ve already started and by the time I’m finished both my kitchen and bathroom which I tackled first may need yet another deep clean. Dust and sand people, dust and sand.

Plus there is that whole dilemma to bake or not to bake mountains of cookies etc. I don’t think I will make many if any.

These Khfaf could make an appearance though if I feel up to the task on Eid morning. It’ll put my mind at ease and put off what I’m about to do with the slaughtered sheep. Which will not be that much, except maybe holding the odd organ or piece of meat while my mother and sister-in-law cut it into pieces for Osbane etc. I have the weakest stomach for all the blood and really just the reality of it all (i literally feel faint and weak at the knees) but these things have to be done and so I must build up some courage, no really I must.

More reasons why I’m late sharing:this is a photo heavy post = lots of time spent editing. Also during the week I got the idea I wanted to talk a lot in the post too (yeh me), about how specific foods remind me of special people:

My grandfather and apples or more specifically how he can peel the skin (I mean peel) of an apple without it breaking off so you are left with one long spiral of apple peel and as a child I was always mesmerised by this. That and his skill of calligraphy. He painted an ice cream truck among other works of shop signs etc. That same ice cream truck would come with his jingle every day during summer in the late 90s / early 00s, of course it got new paint jobs but none as good as grandads.

Doughnuts I associate with my mother, they remind me so much of days out with her visiting the seaside etc and she would always buy some.

Back to Khfaf

Khfaf are the Algerian variation of doughnuts known as Sfenj in some parts of Algeria and other countries of the Maghreb.

A distant relation to the American doughnut, Khfaf have their own charms and are far more economical to make at home.

There are no butter, eggs or milk to enrich the dough. Khfaf are made from fine semolina and a small amount of flour along with the regular ingredients you find in homemade bread.

Khfaf are one of my mother-in-law’s specialities and while this isn’t her recipe (i adapted my recipe from les amis de sherazade blog) they sure taste the same, minus the cinnamon sugar because while she sometimes adds sanoudj-nigella seeds or zabeeb-golden raisins I’m sure she has never considered sprinkling them with cinnamon sugar.

The plain Khfaf you see I sent to my in-laws while my children and I enjoyed the cinnamon sugar ones with our afternoon tea/coffee.

In a large mixing bowl add semolina and flour, put tbsp sugar & yeast on one side of the bowl and salt on the other, then mix thoroughly.

Gradually add enough water to form a dough then knead for 5-10 mins while adding remaining water little by little until you have a soft supple dough that stretches easy. Cover and let rise for 1hr or until doubled in size. Degas or knockdown the dough then recover.

If choosing to dip khfaf in cinnamon sugar after frying (not traditional) make that now and place in a large shallow dish.

Pre-heat a high-sided frying pan half-filled with oil to anywhere between 175-180C.

Oil hands and a large dinner plate, break off a piece of dough (approx 80g), roll into a ball, place in well of plate and flatten, using both hands gentle lift the dough and place in frying pan to cook (be careful!). Carefully using a Turner flick oil onto the top of the khfaf while the underside is cooking then flip over khfaf and repeat. Once cooked remove khfaf and directly put in cinnamon-sugar. The frying of each khfaf should take no more than a few minutes in total, the khfaf should be light-medium golden brown.

The amount of khfaf you may cook at same time, depends on size of frying pan and how large you make the khfaf.