Gogoși

Gogoși, doughnuts of light yeast dough, are among the best-loved home-made sweets in Moldova, fried in hot oil until golden and browned on the outside but soft and airy within. Generously dusted with sugar, they give off a sweet, warm scent that for many is inseparable from childhood and from a grandmother's kitchen.

How it is made

The dough for gogoși is a yeast dough, similar to that for cozonac but simpler. It is made from flour, warm milk, yeast, eggs, sugar, a pinch of salt and a little oil or butter. After kneading, the dough is left to rise in a warm place, away from draughts, until it doubles in volume and becomes light. It is then rolled out and cut into rounds, or shaped by hand into balls or rings.

The doughnuts are fried in plenty of hot oil, turned on both sides until they take on an even golden colour. It is important that the oil be hot enough, but not too fierce, so that the doughnuts cook through without burning on the outside. After frying they are drained of excess oil on paper and dusted with icing sugar or vanilla sugar. There are filled versions too, with plum magiun, jam, chocolate spread or sweet cheese, in which the filling is added either before or after frying, using a piping nozzle.

When it is eaten and its cultural role

Gogoși are usually made for a sweet snack, for a festive breakfast, or simply when the house calls for something warm and inviting. They belong to winter memories, when their smell fills the kitchen and gathers children around the stove, impatient to taste them warm, before they even have time to cool. In some families gogoși are also made in the days before a fast, as a last sweet indulgence before the period of restraint.

Although simple in their ingredients, gogoși have a particular warmth. They are shared with neighbours, taken to children and served to unexpected guests, an expression of spontaneous hospitality and of small everyday joy. They call for no special occasion and no expensive ingredients, yet they always manage to bring smiles to the faces of those around. For generations of Moldovans, the taste of warm doughnuts dusted with sugar remains one of the dearest tastes of the parental home and a symbol of quiet Sundays spent with family.