How to Krapfen – sweet vs. sour

It is a well-known fact that opposites attract each other and that's how it works in my kitchen. I like to mix sour dishes with fruity-sweet fruit or to think about how I can refine sweet dishes with sour components and make them more exciting. But in pre-fasting overindulgence there's a clear division here! Well, at least within the individual courses. Here I will tell you how you can conjure up delicious donuts with a lot of patience, love, curses and delicious regional ingredients.

Starter

You can forget it again, because what follows now is enough to overstretch any gastric band!

Main course – Meat donuts

Looked for on many menus, but rarely found. This delicacy from the old days is traditionally served (at least in our house) at carnival time, before forty days of deprivation follow.

So every house has its own recipe, but they certainly taste good everywhere! 😉

Ingredients

Filling:
► 0.5 kg roasted and cooled pork chop
► 0.5 kg roasted and cooled pork belly
► 1 kg of boiled beef
► ¾ piece smoke roller
► Salt, pepper, marjoram, parsley, chives and about 4-5 cloves of garlic

Preparation:
Finely mince the meat, or buy it already finely minced. Then mix in a large bowl with the marjoram, salt, pepper, garlic, parsley and chives and leave in a cool place overnight.

Dough:
► 500g flour
► ½ liter milk + 40 dag butter
► 3 eggs
► Salt

Preparation:
Heat milk + butter. Mix eggs + flour. Then add the milk-butter mixture and the salt & mix until a soft dough is formed. Then let this dough rest.

Tip: If you feel the same way about making dough as I do about cooking pasta and you have far too much, then simply roll out the remaining dough and cut into oblong squares. Whether big or small, just as you like it. Then simply fry in fat and serve either as a "bunny ear" with sauerkraut, or sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy with a sour jam such as cranberry, currant or raspberry for dessert!

Merge

Bring the oil up to temperature.
Tip: If you have a portable hotplate, I highly recommend that you do the frying on the patio or balcony, otherwise the whole house will smell of grease. If not, then turn on the extractor hood.

Roll out the dough and cut into squares. Make sure the dough has no cracks or is too thin, as the filling could leak out later. Then put the filling on the oblong half (as much as possible) and then fold it shut. Press the edge of the pastry firmly so that the filling does not escape when baking. Put the finished meat donuts in the hot fat and slowly fry it, pouring hot oil over them (using a spoon) from time to time. You need about 5-10 minutes of cooking time for each donut. It's best if there are three of you – one makes the dough, the second fills, the third bakes the meat donuts.

Dessert – Carnival donuts

For approx. 20 pcs.

Here applies: The smaller and finer, the better. And be careful with the temperature!

Credit applies here to backenmitchristina.at, who provides us with the perfect carnival donut recipe, which I refine here with my personal experiences (mistakes) that I made the first time:

Ingredients

DOUGH
► 250 g of lukewarm milk
► 2 yolks
► 1 whole egg
► 500 grams of wheat flour
► 50 grams of sugar
► 1 pc yeast (40 g)
► 20 grams of rum
► 6g of salt
► 60g softened butter

OTHERS
► 1 liter of clarified butter for baking
► 250g fine apricot jam (do not skimp on quality here!)
► Icing sugar for sprinkling

Preparation

Prepare a soft yeast dough from the given ingredients. The rule is: from liquid to solid. Put the liquid ingredients in the bowl first, then the dry ones. Finally crumble the yeast over it and mix everything together at low speed. Then cover the dough and let it rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Then divide the dough into 50g pieces and form small balls. Dust them with a little flour and let them rest for about 10 minutes covered with a tea towel. Then you take a board and flatten the fine balls until they are only 1cm high.

Let the flat carnival donuts rest for about 20 minutes and meanwhile heat the clarified butter to about 150 degrees. Attention: Maintain the temperature and don't let it get colder or warmer! I work here with a thermometer, which I really use to check the temperature every few minutes, or even leave it in the oil. But check beforehand whether it can withstand it. Temperature is the key here!

While the donuts are resting, it's best to start preparing the apricot jam: Heat it up in a saucepan or in the microwave (I always add a little dash of rum) and then fill it into a piping bag with a small, elongated spout. When the pieces of dough have finished rising, place them upside down (they are slightly dried and may have fine cracks, but this is not a problem) in the hot fat and cover and bake for about 3 minutes. And by approx. I mean exactly 3 minutes and then checking whether they are a nice golden yellow. Don't be surprised if it doesn't hiss and splash. The oil doesn't make a sound when you put the donuts in and that's how it should be, otherwise it would be way too hot! Then cook the other side again for 3 minutes with the lid covered. If you are professionals, then the small donuts get a light ring in the middle – that would be perfect!

Take it out of the pan and let it drip off on kitchen roll. Then fill the still warm donuts with the lukewarm jam, sprinkle with icing sugar and off to your stomach!