Omigosh it's Papanasi!

What's deep-fried, smothered in heavy cream and jam, dusted with powdered sugar and has who-knows-or-even-cares-how-many-calories? Hands in the air if you don't accurately count calories either, but if you happen to be in Romania, the answer to that question would be papanasi. Constructed with a donut-like round as the main base and a donut hole on top of the delicious mess, papanasi is simply made out of cottage cheese, lemon zest, eggs, sugar, baking soda and flour. The heavy cream and fruit jam is what pushes this romanian dessert into the category of “things to try atleast once in your life” but my hunch is that one will never be enough. A list of useful recipe and youtube links help guide the process of putting these together which is very quick and easy. Not to worry if you can't understand the videos; just watch the steps. Incidentally, I titled this post as such because the pronunciation of papansi (it sounded like pah-pah-nahsh to my ears) had me exclaiming omigoshpapanosh!

Recipe at Travel Moments In Time
Papanasi video as demonstrated by female chef
Papanasi video as demonstrated by home cook (I would love to be a guest at his table)