February 7th
2008
No sweat - that's what I keep telling myself while I'm typing this. I really do hope, that my family and friends forgive me referring to these cutesies as Berliner (which is a correct term, just not in Bavaria). Tip of the day: unless you're in for a surprised look, try Krapfen - when you're in Munich. These delicious airy dough balls are basically a doughnut without the hole - so instead of poking one in, we give it a sweet filling like jam or custard.
Yesterday was the last day (hooray!) of what we call Fasching or Karneval (carnival), which, traditionally rooted, is celebrated differently across Germany. While I've never been bent on becoming princess, clown or cowgirl for a day, the culinary side-effects to this time of the year are not half bad. Not bad at all - they actually make up for the craziness around.
The good news, you can hardly avoid stumbling into Krapfen, as they are everywhere, and so are other traditional fried dough specialties (Hasenöhrl, Auszogne, Mutzen, Schneeball'n and more). And not just the regular ones (filled with apricot jam, dusted with powdered sugar), they are available filled with chocolate creme, eggnogg custard, champagne custard, raspberry jam and - an old favorite of mine - rose hip jam. I'm most certainly a picky Krapfen eater, they shouldn't be packed with too much rose hips jam filling and they better not be too greasy. Hard to find, I can tell you!
Now that this year's carnival season has come to an end, I wanted to try my luck with my very first homemade Krapfen. Fully custom designed: Smaller in size than off the shelf ones (so you could have more without feeling guilty!) and of course filled with my favorite rose hip jam. Since I love working with fresh yeast, it couldn't really be much of an affair, could it?
We're not talking rocket science here, the whole procedure is completely doable (a bit of cheating included). Pictures say more than words, a step by step guide:
Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a hollow in the center. Add a tablespoon of sugar as well as the crumbled yeast ...
... pour the lukewarm milk into the well ...
... before carefully stirring once or twice. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and let the pre-dough rise for about 15 minutes ...
... the surface will start to look bubbly.
Add the other ingredients (the remaining sugar, egg yolks, lukewarm melted butter, a pinch of salt) and ...
...knead well, either by hand or with your kitchen machine until dough can be easily removed from the bowl (non-sticky). If it still feels too sticky, add a tad more flour. Let the covered bowl rest again in a warm place for at least 30 minutes or until the dough has almost doubled. Knead briefly ...
... then roll out with a rolling pin about 2cm (0,8 inch) thick. Since I wanted to create a miniature version of Krapfen, I used a cookie cutter to stamp out little discs (~5cm/2 inches in diameter).
Let them rest a final time on a floured tray or baking mat, well covered with a kitchen towel.
Meanwhile heat the fat of your choice in a large pot (or deep-fryer) until it reaches the desired frying temperature of 175°C (~345°F).
The original recipe tells you to add the dough pieces upside down, and to flip them after they attain a golden brown color. Which I exactly did. Quite sadly no white ring, the key-feature of Krapfen, anywhere. Here comes the cheating part: I got rid of as much oil as necessary, to stop them from free-floating - iniquitous, I know! On the upside - pun intended - , they now gained a nice ring around their bellies. I verified with online sources afterwards (should have done it in advance!), just to find out, that it's key to close the lid after sliding the dough pieces into the fat. The developing steam helps to lift the Krapfen up, leaving a lighter ring. Oh well, I'll make a mental note for next time! Oh and on a final note, always watch the fat's temperature: if too low, the Krapfen get all greasy, if too high, they get too dark too quick and may not be baked through.
Remove them from the fat with a skimmer when done and let excessive fat drip off on a paper towel.
Let them cool down for a couple of minutes, then fill the minis with your favorite jam using a long piping nozzle. Finally dust these little cuties with powdered sugar and enjoy! And don't feel obliged to only have them during carnival season!
Mini-Krapfen
Recipe source: Ich helf Dir kochen by Hedwig Maria Studer, p.369, adapted
Prep time: ~1,5 hours
.
Ingredients (yields about 25 Mini-Krapfen):
500g all-purpose flour
20g fresh yeast
50g sugar
250ml lukewarm milk
3 egg yolks (L)
100g melted butter, lukewarm
a pinch of salt
about 750g clarified butter, lard or coconut oil for frying
jam for the filling (preferably apricot or rose hips)
powdered sugar for dusting
They're so pretty!
Funny though, my local newspaper, The PLain Dealer i Cleveland, had a recipe of the Polish version, Paczki, the other day. According to the paper this is the same as Berliner or pfannkuchen. What do I know.
I might give your mini-krapfen a try although I have severe paranoia over having a big pot of hot oil in my kitchen.
I love all kinds of mini foods, especially baked goods. They look so much nicer than recular sized pastry. Great job!
Oooohhh, wonderful! I love this speciality and yours look unbelievably scrumptious!
Cheers,
Rosa
They look gorgeous!!! We also have plenty of doughnuts in Poland at this time of the year, but we don't have them with apricot filling. They must be delicious!!! I've made rose hip doughnuts for the first time this year too. The recipe is similar, but I added more egg yolks and some alcohol - it's said the doughnuts absorb less fat this way. Also, in Poland we fill the doughnuts with jam before, not after frying.
Super pas à pas pour les berliner ! Merci !
I haven't tried to make my own Krapfen but yours look superb. This year, I've bought several krapfen of my favourite flavour (Strawberry jam) and tried to compare what was the best. In addition, I discoverd that Cafe Högl delivers cartons of 30 Krapfen to your office or at home!
I love your mini version of Krapfen.. well, I love all your mini-versions: buns, bagels...
I didn't know about the trick to get the white ring, I never never use a lid when I fry because of the condensation which might drop some water in the oil.. Anyway, I'm happy my Berliner came with a nice ring
http://sandrakavital.blogspot.com/2007/12/hanoucca-fte-des-lumires-et-des.html
yum yum yum.... Love Krapfen, they remind me of doughnuts. I don´t like Krapfen with too much jam-filling either, much too sweet. Yesterday we had quark bällchen! *slurp slurp* Thanks for showing how to make krapfen, will try them out next year :)
These are blindingly adorable. I can't wait to try them. Thank you for this!
Jam-filled doughnuts in mini version sound like an excellent idea ;) BTW - they're known as 'Berliini pontšikud' in old cookbooks here in Estonia.
These look so yummy. Step by step pictures are very much appreciated!
I'm already drooling! they look so good!
it's very important to proof the dough on a lightly oiled surgace and NOT on a floured surface, as the flour creates an icky crust once you fry it.
This looks scrumptious! It reminds me of a donut keychain that I have attached to one of my point and shoot cameras from Kid Robot http://www.kidrobot.com/products2.cfm?ID=1236
It's the jelly sticking out that looks like a funny tongue sticking out at me or a smucker :)
Lovely!
please include some recipes for those fillings! those sounds absolutely heavenly.
Rose hip filling is my favorite too. They look very good and delicious!
Wow, I would never think to make these and now I want to make them so badly! I'm very impressed...and hungry :)
well, very good
These look wonderful! And so easy as well! Tho.. I'm pretty bad at frying anything..
My boyfriend comes from Berlin and we are constantly buying "Krapfen" from the bäkerei here in stuttgart. I'm definitely gonna give these a shot sometime soon (and save some money! ;))
They look marvellous! I must give them a try!
These look lovely. Love doughnuts but never heard of Krapfen before. But am learning new things all the time these days.
I love Krapfen. (that´s also how they´re called in Austria - sometimes we say Faschingskrapfen). Your mini ones look really fluffy and delicious.
hi! Your red butter warmer is tres cute!! where did you get it?
Cute junior doughnuts ! The look so precious... jewel doughnuts :)
Your mini-Krapfen are lovely ! I dreamed about mini-Krapfen one week long before Fasching, found a recipe on the net, printed it, but I never got time to make them. Looking at them on your blog makes me feel happy :-) Thanks.
[...] - En son link de her yeni yazısını heyecanla beklediğim Nicky’nin blogu Delicious Days’den: İçi reçel dolu minik hamur topları. [...]
lovely :)
Never ever even think about making Krapfen on my own... But seems to be easy!
And you are free with the filling, here you can buy marmelade but I think Pflaumenmus is the right think...
[...] recipe, a recipe for Berliner bollen from my basic Dutch cookbook Het Nieuwe Haagse Kookboek (delicious:days made some real Berliners the other day). When I made the doughnuts in the picture I wasn't as busy [...]
Meine Großtante bäckt die allerbesten Krapfen der Welt, das weiß ich, sobald ich in einen gekauften Krapfen beiße. Sie selbst nachzubacken traue ich mich aber nicht, könnte ja schief gehen und dann wäre der Mythos dahin!
These are so cute!! So tiny & one-bite size, love them!:)
Your Berliners look absolutely cute!
I like them being so small, you can eat a few of them: one more - and another one - then maybe another small one - and one more - and...;-)
Is the filling rose hip jam? My favorite...
[...] Ich bin ein Berliner - Step by step to Mini-Krapfen » Blog Archive » delicious:days (tags: baking bread dough) [...]
I love you for doing this.
I've always wanted to know.
These are just darling! I cannot wait to make them. Your instructions and photos are stellar!
It's amazing to these these lovely creations evolve before my very eyes. Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. Can I order a dozen from you please? :)
They are named Pfannkuchen in Berlin, though. "Berliner" won't yield you a pastry there ;).
Oooh! I'll have to try this! Here in Croatia, they're known as "krof", and are filled with marmalade or chocolate cream. We usually pick up a couple when we venture into town, it's hard to resist!
Oh my...they look absolutely delicious! I'm not very good with metric measurements but I think I have to give these a try.
I live in a somewhat remote/primitive area. No access to fresh yeast. Can I substitute the dry stuff? If so, what is the equivalent? Und wenn's nicht geht, dann geht's nicht. (Hefewitz)
Hi Fredrick, I rarely use dry yeast, therefor I cannot give you actual numbers. Usually the instructions on the yeast packaging tell you for which amount of flour it would be sufficient. Maybe this information can help?
so cute, and the first shot looks like its sticking its tongue out :p