Food & Drink
Puff Puff Recipe: Delicious & Dangerously Addicting!
Want to eat a sweet, delicious treat reminiscent of a mini donut? Here’s a puff puff recipe sure to delight your taste buds and satisfy your sweet tooth.
April 1, 2022
If there’s one thing that satisfies a craving for carbs, it’s fried food. Doubly so, if that food resembles a sugary mini-donut or a savory pretzel that tastes crispy and melts in your mouth like butter.
Grabbing a quick bite to eat is convenient and delicious, and you can find variations on doughy treats everywhere, including the Nigerian puff puff. If you’ve never had one of these fantastic snacks before, we’ll tell you all about them and teach you a Nigerian puff puff recipe so you can make them at home.
What is a puff puff?
A puff puff pastry is a deep-fried dough that originated in Nigeria. It’s a combination of warm water, active dry yeast, all-purpose flour, salt, sugar, and nutmeg, all fried in vegetable oil to create bite-sized golden brown dough balls with a crispy exterior. Although they’re not donuts, puff pastry balls are often compared to donuts because of their similar baking process.
Multiple African countries have their own variant of puff puffs local to their region. In Ghana, they’re called bofrot or togbei. In South Africa, they’re named mandazi. In Cameroon, it’s beignet; for Sudan, it’s legemat. Although the recipes can differ, each fried puff pastry is just as delicious as the last.
You can customize this fried puff pastry to suit your tastes and carvings. It can be a savory snack, served with red pepper sauce or another dip of your choosing. Or you can make them as sweet as donuts by rolling them in granulated sugar. Because they’re a finger food, puff puffs are a great party appetizer, perfect for serving alongside other quick-fry foods as a platter or an item to add while you’re cooking up a hearty breakfast.
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What ingredients do you need for making puff puffs?
Recipe adapted from Kitchn
Preparation time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Serving size: 8
Ingredients
1 ½ teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar for proofing the yeast
Two-thirds cup of white granulated sugar
2 cups of lukewarm water (make sure it’s not too hot or cold, as this will kill the yeast activation)
2 ¼ teaspoons of active dry yeast
3 cups of all-purpose flour
One-half teaspoon of nutmeg
3 cups vegetable oil for deep frying
Baker’s tip: If you don’t want to make your dough from scratch, you can use store-bought puff pastry instead.
Supplies
1 large bowl
1 medium bowl
1 wooden spoon
A kitchen towel
Ice cream scoop
Deep skillet or frying pan
Wire baking racks
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How to make puff puffs
You can make this puff puff recipe in 15 simple steps. And trust us: the first time you make these certainly won’t be your last.
First, you need to proof the yeast to activate it. To do so, grab your medium bowl, and add the warm water. Sprinkle the dry yeast over the water and a teaspoon of sugar. Skip this step if you’re using instant yeast.
Stir the ingredients together.
Set the bowl aside in a warm place for five to eight minutes until the yeast has started to foam.
Grab your large bowl, and add the flour, sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Whisk them until evenly combined, then create a circular dip with a spoon or your hands in the center of your dry mix.
Pour the yeast mixture into the center of the dry ingredients to create the puff puff batter. Use a spoon or hands to gently mix the two until the flour turns doughy and sticky. No visible lumps of flour should remain.
Once mixed, scrape the sides of your bowl using a rubber spatula so the dough forms in the center.
Leave the dough in the bowl, and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel to let the dough rise.
Leave the bowl on the counter at room temperature, and let the dough rest for one to two hours or until it has doubled in size.
Once your puff puff dough has risen, fill your skillet with 3 cups of vegetable oil and heat it to 350ºF.
While the oil heats, prep your wire rack or baking sheet by lining it with paper towels. You’ll place your dough balls here when you finish frying the puff pastry — the paper towel will soak up the excess oil.
Once the oil in the skillet has heated, use an ice cream scoop to drop a dollop of puff puff dough into the hot oil. You should be able to fit at least seven puff puffs into your skillet at once.
Fry the puff puff on either side until it’s golden brown. On average, this should take about four to six minutes.
Once the puff puffs are golden brown, remove them from the hot oil and place them on the paper towel while you complete the next batch. Repeat steps 11 to 13 until you’ve used all the dough.
After all your puff puffs are fried, you can roll them in a cup of sugar if you desire a sweet treat. If you don’t, skip the sugar and keep it plain.
Serve the puff puffs warm or at room temperature with a dipping sauce of your choice.
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Common questions about puff puffs
Can puff puffs be eaten the next day?
Yes. Although these doughy treats taste best when they’re fresh, you can store them in a container at room temperature for a day or two.
To eat puff puffs as leftovers, warm them in the microwave or oven.
How do I dispose of the oil I used for my puff puffs?
Never pour hot oil down the sink because it can clog your plumbing when it cools and thickens.
Instead, pour hot oil into a sealable container, let it cool completely, then close the lid. Drop it off at a disposal depot that takes waste of that kind.
Why are my puff puffs flat?
You might end up with flat puff puffs if they weren’t given enough time to rise.
Make sure your dough sits long enough to double in size and that pockets of air in the dough rise to the surface.
What are some excellent ways to eat puff puffs?
As a breakfast food, snack, or side dish.
As a sweet treat, top your puff puff doughnuts with powdered sugar.
As a savory snack served with West African pepper sauce.
Get your snack fix
If you need to shop for some pantry supplies or ingredients to concoct this Nigerian street food, don’t forget to order online through Gopuff. We’ll deliver what you need right to your door — even if it’s just one item.
