1. In a saucepan, put the water and sugar and place it on the heat.
2. When the sugar dissolves, add the cinnamon, cloves, and rose water, and let the syrup come to a boil. Lower the heat and boil for only 3 - 4 minutes.
3. We don't want the syrup to thicken too much, otherwise, it won't soak into the loukoumades. Let it cool.
For the batter:
1. Put the flour in a large bowl and add the salt and vanilla. Mix and add the yeast. Continue mixing and gradually pour in the water, while vigorously beating with our fingers and palms until a fluffy batter forms and small bubbles start to appear on its surface. Be careful, the batter should not be stiff, nor too thin.
2. Cover the bowl with a towel, place a blanket over it, and put it in a warm place for 1 - 1½ hours, so it rises and doubles in volume. When we see bubbles forming all over the surface, the mixture is ready.
3. Put oil in a cup (my mother uses water). We will dip the teaspoon we use to cut the loukoumades in this. Put plenty of oil in a wide frying pan and let it heat up well. Lower the heat (if it's too high, the loukoumades will burn on the outside and be raw inside) and take some batter with our left palm.
4. Close your fingers and with a teaspoon dipped in the cup of oil, cut the protruding batter and drop it into the hot oil, pushing the batter off the spoon with your thumb. Repeat this until the pan is full of loukoumades. Dip the spoon in the oil occasionally. This helps the batter not to stick to the spoon. When all the loukoumades are in, turn up the heat.
5. Turn the loukoumades with a slotted spoon until they are golden brown. Press them down so they are covered by the oil. Take them out onto a strainer and immediately place them in the cold syrup. Press them to be well covered by the syrup and take them out onto a strainer to drain the excess syrup. Instead of syrup, we can serve the loukoumades with honey, ganache, walnuts, or other nuts.
