Koeksister

A koeksister is a traditional Afrikaner confectionery made of fried dough infused in syrup or honey. It should not be confused with the similar sounding Cape Malay koe'sister, which is a fried ball of dough that's rolled in desiccated coconut.

Koeksisters are prepared by frying plaited dough strips in oil, then submersing the hot fried dough into ice cold sugar syrup. Koeksisters have a golden crunchy crust and liquid syrup centre, are very sticky and sweet, and taste like honey.

Popular brands include Ouma Rooi Koeksisters, whose founder won the Huletts Koeksister Competition before taking part in the popular South African Koekedoor Show.

A monument of a koeksister in the Afrikaner community of Orania alludes to the Afrikaner tradition of baking them to raise funds for the building of churches and schools.