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Golden ridged tulumbe coated in syrup on a brown serving plate.

Tulumbe – Balkan Syrup-Soaked Fried Pastries

170.95kcal
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Prep 30 minutes
Cook 45 minutes
Cooling and Soaking Time 45 minutes
Total 2 hours
Ridged fried choux pastries briefly soaked while hot in completely cooled lemon syrup. This recipe makes small, evenly sized pieces with a set center and a syrup-softened interior.
Servings 24 pieces
Course Dessert
Cuisine Balkan

Ingredients

Lemon Syrup
  • 17.64 oz granulated sugar weighed
  • 13.53 fl oz water US fluid ounces, rounded; Metric gives the reference volume
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice rounded US measure
Cooked Dough
  • 8.45 fl oz water US fluid ounces, rounded
  • 2.71 fl oz sunflower oil for the dough; separate from frying oil
  • 1/6 tsp fine table salt weigh if possible; table salt reference is 6 g per teaspoon, not kosher salt
  • 7.05 oz all-purpose flour weighed; plain flour, not self-rising; German Type 405 may be used
  • 3 large eggs about 50 g each without the shell; crack separately and add individually
  • 1 tsp baking powder 4 g per teaspoon reference; sift before adding
For Frying
  • 33.81 fl oz sunflower oil starting supply, not the amount eaten; use refined oil suitable for frying, and keep the pot below one-third full

Equipment

  • Kitchen scale
  • Two saucepans
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Sturdy wooden spoon
  • Mixer with dough hooks
  • Heavy high-sided pot about 8–8¾ inches (20–22 cm) across; enough capacity to keep the oil below one-third full
  • Sturdy piping bag
  • Open star tip ½–9/16 inch (12–14 mm)
  • Kitchen scissors
  • Frying thermometer
  • Instant-read thermometer
  • Two slotted spoons
  • Paper towels
  • Wide syrup dish
  • Shallow serving dish
Start Cooking

Method

  1. Make the syrup. Heat the syrup sugar and water in a saucepan, stirring only until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and simmer 1 minute more.
  2. Cool the syrup completely. Remove from the heat and let the syrup reach room temperature with no residual warmth. Transfer to a wide dish on a stable surface well away from the frying pot. Make the dough while it cools; do not start frying until the syrup is fully cool.
  3. Cook the dough. Bring the dough water, dough oil, and salt to a boil in another saucepan. Reduce the heat and add all the flour at once. Stir vigorously over low to medium heat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms one mass, pulls away from the pan, and leaves a thin pale film on the bottom.
  4. Cool and mix in the eggs. Transfer to the mixing bowl and cool for about 15 minutes, until only lukewarm. Work in the eggs one at a time, completely incorporating each before adding the next. The mixture may separate briefly before coming together. Sift in the baking powder and mix for about 30 seconds. The smooth, glossy dough should hold distinct piped ridges; do not taste raw dough.
  5. Set up for frying. Fit a sturdy piping bag with the open star tip and fill with dough. Put the frying oil into a dry, heavy, high-sided pot, never filling it more than one-third full. Heat to about 329°F (165°C). Monitor with a frying thermometer and maintain 320–338°F (160–170°C). Keep water, wet utensils, children, and the syrup dish away from the hot oil.
  6. Pipe small batches. Lightly oil the scissors with a little cold oil reserved from the frying supply. Hold the tip close to the oil without touching it. Pipe lengths about 2⅜ inches (6 cm) long, snipping each close to the surface to limit splashing. Keep hands back. Fry only a small batch with room to expand and move freely; about six to eight pieces fit the source-size pot, but use fewer if crowded.
  7. Fry until cooked through. Fry for about 6–8 minutes per batch. Wait until the surface sets before turning, then turn carefully several times for an even dark-golden color. Keep the oil within the stated range. Lift a sample onto a clean plate to check the first batch: the center should be fully set, with no wet, gummy or raw dough, and reach at least 160°F (71°C) on a clean fine-tip thermometer. Color and the clock alone do not prove doneness; fry longer as needed at the controlled temperature.
  8. Soak while hot. Lift the cooked pastries out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels for only 20–30 seconds. Immediately put them in the completely cooled syrup. Soak for 5–7 minutes, turning once or twice. Use a separate clean slotted spoon to lift them into a shallow dish in a single layer.
  9. Repeat and cool. Bring the oil back to about 329°F (165°C) before each batch. Repeat with the remaining dough, coordinating the brief soaking with the next batch without leaving hot oil unattended. Turn off the heat when finished. Rest the soaked pastries for at least 30 minutes, until fully cool; serve at room temperature or chilled. Refrigerate within the time limits in Notes.

Nutrition

Calories170.95kcalCarbohydrates27.32gProtein1.65gFat6.43gSaturated Fat0.8gCholesterol23.25mgSodium38.56mgFiber0.23gSugar20.85g

Notes

  • Yield and scaling: The servings selector counts individual pieces. Keep the same tip and piece size at 2x or 3x; expect roughly twice or three times as many frying batches and a longer working time. The scaled frying-oil quantity is a supply allowance, not an instruction to pour it all into one pot. Reuse the working oil between batches and keep the vessel below one-third full; do not increase batch size to match the scale.
  • Timing: Allow about 2 hours for the base batch: 30 minutes preparation, about 45 minutes combined syrup cooking and frying, and 45 minutes for dough cooling and final cooling. Syrup cooling and short soaking overlap other stages. The syrup must be completely cool before frying; allow longer if needed, and extra time for larger batches.
  • Texture: Hot pastries go into fully cooled syrup. Lift them out after the short soak instead of storing them submerged. Their surface gradually softens; a soaked interior should remain set rather than gummy.
  • Oil safety: Never leave heating oil unattended or add water. If oil smokes, stop heating and let it cool safely. Never use water on a grease fire. Let used oil cool completely before straining or disposing of it under local rules; do not pour it down the drain.
  • Storage: Best on the day made. Refrigerate in a shallow covered container at 40°F (4°C) or colder within 2 hours of frying, or 1 hour above 90°F (32°C). Use within 3 days. Do not wait for a large pile to cool on the counter. Freezing softens the texture and is not the preferred make-ahead method.
  • Nutrition estimate: Per piece at the base yield. Independently calculated with USDA FoodData Central reference foods, counting all dough ingredients and the entire prepared syrup, plus a hypothetical 70 ml of absorbed frying oil per base batch (oil density 0.92 g/ml). The remaining frying supply is excluded. The 70 ml assumption comes from the source and is not a measured or independently validated absorption rate. Uneaten syrup is not measured either, so the displayed sugar and calories are a full-syrup allocation, not measured intake. Actual values vary with both oil and syrup uptake; this is an illustrative estimate, not a precise per-piece analysis.