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These donut holes (ponchiki) are heavenly soft, lightly sweet and so delicious. Ponchiki are made with (mostly) farmers cheese and very little flour. This results in a billowy soft and slightly moist center, plus you can actually taste the amazing little cheese curds inside. Equally as impressive – most donut recipes say to eat the donut holes soon after they are made because they lose their lovely fried texture much like a french fry does sitting out too long, but not this recipe!
These cheese donuts are amazing all day long! I kept popping them in my mouth and each time my eyes would roll, my lips would smack and I’d be on cloud 9 indulging in my yummy treat.
Here’s the true story behind these… I made the first batch, worked on them some more and then I made a second batch and thought – yes, this is it! I served that 2nd batch to my hubby and he was not impressed. I then proceeded to throw a small fit letting him know he was being ridiculous and that they were good enough to share. I also rashly told him I was quitting making donuts (lol). I slept on it, came to my senses and worked on the recipe some more.
My husband was right and because of him, these are seriously the best and easiest donut holes (ponchiki) that I’ve ever put in my mouth. My husband was impressed and I apologized (double lol).
Ingredients for Donut Holes (Ponchiki):
1/2 cup all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
4 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups farmer cheese (click here for recipe)
Vegetable oil or extra light olive oil to fry
Powdered sugar to dust
How To Make Donut Holes (Ponchiki):
1. In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.
2. In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat 1 egg for 20 seconds on high speed then add sugar and vanilla and continue beating 1 minute. Add 2 cups farmers cheese and beat on low speed just until well blended (20 seconds). Add flour mixture and stir together with a spatula just until well blended. Dough will be thick and sticky.
3. Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil over medium heat in a medium sauce pan. Once oil is hot (360˚F), using a small ice cream scoop (*see notes below), scoop a flat scoop and plunk it out into the hot oil. Add balls one at a time just one after the other and fry over medium heat until golden brown on all sides (3-4 min total), turning the donuts halfway through if they don’t roll over on their own. Don’t overcrowd the pan or the oil will lose heat. You want to keep it about 350˚F while cooking.
4. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Notes:
*Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the oil. If oil gets too hot, donuts will darken too quickly leaving the center undercooked. If it’s too cool, donuts can absorb oil and become greasy.
*Using a small ice cream scoop that releases the dough quickly and easily and the donuts turn out perfectly round. I love that I keep finding uses for this tool. If you don’t have this scoop, you can use 2 teaspoons; 1 to scoop and the second to scrape the dough off into the oil.
Donut Holes (Ponchiki)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 4 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups farmer cheese
- Vegetable oil or extra light olive oil to fry
- Powdered sugar to dust
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.
- In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat 1 egg for 20 seconds on high speed then add sugar and vanilla and continue beating 1 min. Add 2 cups cheese and beat on low just until well blended (20 seconds). Stir in flour mixture with a spatula just until well blended. Dough will be thick and sticky.
- Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Once oil is hot (360˚F), using a small ice cream scoop (*see notes below), scoop a flat scoop and plunk it out into the hot oil. Add balls one at a time just one after the other and fry over medium heat until golden brown on all sides (3-4 minutes total), turning the donuts halfway through if they don't roll over on their own. Don’t overcrowd the pan or the oil will lose heat. You want to keep it about 350˚F while cooking.
- Remove donuts to a paper towel lined plate. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Notes
*If you don't have a small ice cream scoop, you can use 2 teaspoons; 1 to scoop and the second to scrape the dough off into the oil.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Now the real question is, GOT MILK?
Hello!!!! I was wondering if you could put a recipe for sata andagi on here?
also I just loved the donut holes. Thnx for all your amazing recipes!!!!
Thank you for your suggestion, I’ll check out that recipe and try to add that to our list.
Hi Natasha,
I love all your recipes and enjoy making them. But this specific recipe failed for me. It’s all of the above problems that people mentioned. I followed the recipe. However, instead of baking powder I used baking soda and I also used cottage cheese because I didn’t know that cottage cheese cannot be used. To me cottage cheese and farmer cheese is the same thing:) To my surprise they came out horrible: too greasy, oily, didn’t hold a round shape, wet inside. I never failed with ponchiki before when I used proven cottage cheese old school recipe. Looks like this specific recipe is extremely ingredient sensitive.
Hi Inna, I highly recommend making the recipe as written. Cottage cheese has much more moisture than farmer cheese and they don’t substitute straight across.
Hi Natasha, can I use cottage cheese in this recipe?
Hi Anna, I don’t think it would work well because cottage cheese would make the mixture too wet. Maybe if you drained and squeezed dry the cottage cheese first but I haven’t tested that myself to really say if it would work well.
Huge disappointment, unfortunately. They are nothing at all like ponchiki. They don’t hold shape, too soft inside. Way too much salt and baking powder, killing the taste.
Hi Svetlana, it sounds like you might have used a different cheese? Make sure to use a well-drained Farmer cheese that has a dryer curd. If it is too moist, it will be the way you described. Also, the baking powder and salt are minimal here and you shouldn’t be able to taste them. Did you possibly use baking soda instead or mismeasure the salt?
Thanks for the recipe, Natasha! These are so addictive, I will have to double the recipe next time. The first time I made them, they were sticking to the bottom of my wok, though.
So here’s a tip for those who are struggling, I rolled them in flour covered hands and then gave each ball a quick whirl on a flour covered cutting board. This prevented sticking while frying and gave them a more perfectly round and smooth appearance which I like. Also, you can add lemon rind for flavor. Yum 🙂
Glad you loved it! Thank you so much for sharing some tips with us, that is so useful. We appreciate it!
Hi Natasha, love your blog and recipes and videos! Can’t wait to try these ponchiki!
Thank you for that wonderful compliment Valentine! I hope you love this recipe!
Hello! What if you don’t have an electric hand mixer – I only have a Kitchenaid mixer.
Hi Natalie, you can use a Kitchenaid mixer the same way. Use a whisk attachment.
Thank you for Farmers Cheese recipe
You’re welcome Cheryl. Hope you liked it!
What is Farmers milk?
Hi Cheryl, are you referring to Farmers Cheese? We use it in this recipe. I have a link to Farmers Cheese here.
Hi Natasha,
I am absolutely looking forward to trying these Ponchiki!
I attempted making the dough, but when I put them in the fryer, the ball separated itself. I went back through the recipe to see what I may have done wrong, but can’t recall skipping anything. Do you have any idea what I may have missed or done wrong to have them fall apart in the fryer?
This is the first recipe of yours that I managed to mess up haha, your directions for each of your recipes are perfectly explained!
Hmmm…. It sounds like maybe the ratio of wet to dry ingredients may have been off. Here are some things to consider: did you use a large egg? The egg is the binder in this recipe. Also, make sure to measure flour by spooning it into a dry ingredients measuring cup and scaraping off the top – this can be especially critical if the farmer’s cheese you are using is extra dry to maintain the moistness that holds everything together. If the mixture is too dry with too much flour, it will more likely fall apart. I hope that helps!
Hi Natasha! I want to make these donuts, but I do not have a baking powder. Will baking soda be good?
Hi Karyna, I can’t suggest that without testing it first since baking soda is 4x stronger and requires an activating agent. The recipe would need modification and testing. I would suggest sticking with baking powder.
Hi Natasha! Can I substitute farmers cheese for Galbani Ricotta cheese instead?
Thank u in advance😁
Hi Luda, I haven’t tested it with ricotta but I think ricotta would be too wet to work with this recipe. It’s possible that with other adjustments such as changing flour amounts (which I haven’t tested) that it could work, but I just haven’t tried it to say for sure.
Can you make these without cheese perhaps?
Hi Jennifer, that would have to be a completely different recipe but we do have a great baked donuts recipe that does not require cheese.
Wow, these are DELICIOUS! I was making another batch right after the first one. That never happened before. Such an easy recipe too. You always have the most delicious recipes. Have not found a recipe that I didn’t like on your blog. Keep a great job.
Hi Irene, I’m so happy you love our recipes! Thank you so much for the fantastic review and your encouraging words. I am smiling big reading your comment 🙂
Can these be made gluten free?
Hi Sherry! That is a great question! I haven’t tried that myself. It would need a little experimenting! If you try it please let me know how it goes!
Natasha, one more question- how much farmers cheese do I need to make about 80 of ponchikis?
Hi Natalue, this recipe makes 20 (that info is in the print friendly recipe towards the bottom in case you’re looking for it again in the future). So, for 80 of them, you would need to make four times the recipe.
Natasha, are they good cold?
Natasha, are they good cold?
I think they are the very best when they are warm and fresh, but they are still very tasty at room temperature for several hours after being fried.
The recipe is amazing, everything was perfect.I am your fan
Thanks for following Martha! I’m happy to hear you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Hi Natasha, I have made a dozen or so of your recipes. Some worked, a few didnt turn out as quite perfectly.. before I make this recipe, I was wondering if you have a recipe for donut holes without farmers cheese. I am not a fan of cheese- maybe just skip the cheese? Will that work?
Hi Victoria, I really only have this one with farmers cheese. It would not work correctly without the cheese and would need quite a bit of modification.
Hello!
I’m new to your blog (I found a link to your recipe somewhere on tumblr ) and it looks delicious. However, I have a question about the farmers cheese. I saw the recipe and tbh I don’t think I would have the time or patience to make it :(. I live in Mexico and I don’t think I have ever heard about “farmers cheese” does it have another name? Or any suggestions about what I could use instead?
Thank you!
HI Tania, I really haven’t tested this recipe with any other cheese to say if it would work or not. Farmer’s cheese is on the dryer side and it’s crumbly. It looks like feta but tastes nothing like feta. It tastes a little tangier than cottage cheese. It is also commonly called “Tvorog”
Ricotta is a good substitute for farmer’s cheese. Very similar taste. You may want to drain the water out of the ricotta because it has more water than farmers cheese.
Have you tried making these with ricotta cheese? I don’t think I have the patience to make farmers cheese