My Mom's "Hefeküchle" (little yeast cakes)

While I was a little kid, my Mom used to make these little yeast cakes in the evenings for dinner, as a special treat for my brother and me. They are very simple, you just dust them with sugar. So tasty!

This is a recipe that my Mom actually grew up with. Her mother called them something like "Kliemes". I tried to google this name and recipe to find its origin, but wasn't successful. Maybe the name was just a made-up name from my grandmother. However, I did find a similar recipe of so-called "Welsh yeast cakes". Maybe this was originally an English recipe? Or maybe It could also be something from my mother's father's side. My grandfather was from Latvia, and maybe the orginal recipe came from there?

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour (and a little extra)
• 1/8 l milk (and a little more)
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 20 g fresh yeast
• a pinch of salt
• 4 tablespoon oil
• 1-2 tablespoon sugar (as topping)
• Serve with dry fruit compote

Preparation:

1. Prepare the dry fruit compote: Use a package of dried mixed fruit, including for example plums, pineapple, apricots, peaches and dates. Put in a small pot, cover with water, add 1 teaspoon sugar. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 10-15 minutes till soft.
2. Prepare the dough: Add the flour to a bowl and create a little well in the middle. Warm up the milk. Be careful, it must not be hot, only lukewarm. If the milk is too hot, it will kill the yeast. Pour the milk into the well of the flour. Add sugar to the milk. Crumble the yeast into the luke warm milk. Stir the milk-yeast mix a little bit till the yeast is dissolved. Add a little bit of the flour from the sides and stir till the milk-yeast-flour mix is thick but still runny. There should still be some of the flour around the thick batter. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towl and let sit in a warm place for about 30-60 minutes. The yeast will now work (it will create bubbles, if not, the milk may have been too hot) and the batter will rise a little bit. Then, uncover the batter, mix in the remaining flour from the sides and add a pinch of salt. If the batter is too thick, add a bit more lukewarm milk. If it is too thin, add a little bit more flour.
3. Fry the cakes: Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan. Pour several small (about one laddle spoon full of the mix) round cakes in the hot oil. The top side will have a lot of little wholes from the working yeast mix. Let fry from one side till the sides get dry, then flip. Fry the other side for another minute till golden brown. Place on a plate with a paper towl to assorb excess oil. Immediately (while they are still warm) dust with sugar. Keep them warm in the oven at very low heat till you have baked all the cakes.
4. Serve about 5 cakes with a side of dry fruit compote per person.

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