Sweet Buns (Ghana) by Marlys

Please give a warm welcome to Marlys from This and That. I met Marlys through the Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party. Yeah, it’s a long name but a fun way to share and find new recipes. This is Marlys first quest post and as she will tell you, she’s a bit nervous. Give her some love on her blog and Facebook page please.

When Andrea asked me to do a guest post for her while she was on vacation, I was very honoured but truthfully very nervous. I hope that you will all like what I decide to make for you.

I will start out with introducing myself.  My name is Marlys Folly and I am a Canadian transplant into the United States, I have been living here for 12 years. I grew up in a small town just south of Saskatoon.  Six years ago I met the man I was going to marry in Togo, West Africa.

While traveling back and forth to Togo to see my husband and also after he finely got his visa to move here, I was intrigued with learning to cook African food.  I love their food, it has a lot of flavor and it is full of spices.  I am lucky enough to have my husband’s family send me spices from there to get some authenticity into my cooking.  After cooking for awhile I decided to compile some of the recipes and that is how my blog started.  My only problem is that we eat a lot of the same types of food so I had to branch out and that is why my blog is called “This and That”.

As Baking in Saskatoon is more desserts and sweets, I thought I would post something that would go with that theme and I also wanted to do something African.  The biggest problem I didn’t have any African foods that are desserts and there aren’t a lot anywhere but I did come across a couple for different types of doughnuts and I love doughnuts so that is what I decided to write about…. An African Doughnut called Sweet Buns.  This recipe is from Ghana, a country that I have been to a few times.

Sweet Buns (Ghana)

Adapted from Cooking the West African Way

1 egg

½ teaspoon salt

3 teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ cup sugar

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cardamom

1 ½ cup warm water (110 F)

3 ¾ to 4 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

Vegetable oil

I used my dough hook on my Mixmaster to do all the work, although I am sure that in Ghana everything is done by hand.

In bowl add first 6 ingredients and mix together, add water and mix again.  Gradually add flour until dough is sticky. (I used just a little less than 4 cups).

Roll dough in small balls* (about a walnut size).

Pour vegetable oil into deep pot ~ enough to just about cover the balls.  Heat oil on medium high until hot but not boiling**.  Drop a few balls into hot oil and fry for about 3-4 minutes until a golden brown ~ you will need to turn them once the bottoms are a golden brown.

Place on paper towel to drain the extra oil.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and eat warm.

I did bake a few in the oven.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place baking mat on cookie sheet or grease cookie sheet.  Roll balls and place on cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until bottoms are brown. The baked cookies are very crispy on the outside and soft in the inside.

*Putting flour on your hands makes it easier to roll the dough into balls

** to figure out if the oil is hot enough, place one dough ball in oil and watch to see if oil is bubbling around it.

Just a note of interest, the dish that the doughnuts are in and the yellow batic napkin are both from Ghana which I purchased on one of my trips there.

Thank you Andrea, for letting me guest post and I hope you are having a great vacation.

Til next time  Marlys