Celebrating New Year in style - dutch style that is!

And I do not mean the fireworks we picked up in Pennsylvania... no, I mean our famous Dutch Fried Dough we like to make around New Year's!

A little background on the Dutch Doughnut:
Oliebollen are said to have been first eaten by Germanic tribes in the Netherlands during the Yule, the period between December 26 and January 6. The Germanic goddess Perchta, together with evil spirits, would fly through the mid-winter sky. To appease these spirits, food was offered, much of which contained deep-fried dough. It was said Perchta would try to cut open the bellies of all she came across, but because of the fat in the oliebollen, her sword would slide off the bodies of whoever ate them...

For centuries the Dutch ate olykoek ("oil cake"), an old name for oliebol. The oliebollen visible in an Aelbert Cuyp painting from around 1652 are very similar to today's oliebol. During the nineteenth century the word "oliebol" started to be used more. These oil balls or early doughnuts were simply balls of dough fried in pork fat (Belgium) or rape oil (Dutch) until golden brown and liberally sprinkled with powdered sugar.  

Throughout the holidays most Dutch downtowns will have a temporary Oliebollen Kraam (Fried Dough Vendor). Since 1993 Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad has held an annual highly publicized oliebollentest at the end of each year, testing the skills and recipes of these traveling oliebollen salesmen! And customers do keep track of the results...

The Doughnut Shape
As Dutch immigrants began to settle in the United States, they continued to make their oliebollen, and influenced by other cultures it morphed into what we call doughnuts today. Because the inside of an oliebol does not cook as fast as the rest, problematic oliebollen (a.i. too large or undercooked) could have an uncooked center. One solution to this gooey center was to stuff it with fillings that did not require cooking but Hansen Gregory, an American ship captain, had another solution. In 1847 Gregory solved this problem by punching a hole in the center of the dough ball. The hole increased the surface area, exposure to the hot oil, and therefore eliminated the uncooked center (plus he could impale a doughnut on the ship’s steering wheel handles so that he could use both hands to steer!).

http://foodreference.about.com/od/history_myths/a/The-History-Of-Doughnuts.htm & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliebol and a little by yours truly.