So many folks have contacted me about how their mother or grandma made some variety of a fried
donut that has many names ....No matter
Krapfen
Krepple
Fastnacht
Mutzen
Berliners
Pfankuchen
Bismarcks
Cruller
NO Matter what you call a Fasching donut it tastes just as crispy, sweet and good!
Why is a Donut called a Krapfen ???????
No offense but Krepple, Krapfen, Faschingkrapfen
to those in America that may not sound so appetizng.
I think it is fun to investigate where a word comes from.
You know words get modified all the time.
Hundreds of years from now I wonder if they will be asking
why spicy sauced chicken wing is called a Buffalo Wing.
The word Krapfen seems to come from words that mean "hook".
Now maybe when the monks and Hausfrau's wanted to get
rid of all their eggs, milk and flour for lent made lots of these
nice fried pastries and they were a bit crooked or hook shaped.
The word Cruller, comes a Dutch word Krullen meaning to curl
and probably that comes
as so many of our words do from old latin word
crispus
which means to curl, or frizzle, something like that.
and that is where the french word crepe comes from.
Krepple sounds awfully close to Crepe
On with some donuts!!!
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Frist though ...If you haven't seen what a Fasching Festival is like in Germany .....
This was in Mainz, Germany and my friend there Fredrich Piper
told me that he feels it is the best festival in Germany for Fasching.
The people are shouting ....Helau
and I am not sure what that means...?
They look like Berliner Sliders....with different fillings.
Dagmar Barnekow made these for Carnival Friday last year.
(Carnival Friday) the kids of the elementary school came to visit the residents of the retirement home, as usual.
They were wearing costumes and masks, singing carnival songs, shouting "Alaaf!" and "Helau!"
and were waiting for "Kamelle" (candy) and "Mini Berliner" to be thrown
Dagmar fills these with all kinds of interesting fillings from chocolate creme, egg nog custard she calls Eierliqour,
Rose Hip jam and Champagne cream. I will have to try some of these this year.
Here is another picture of her frosted Berliners and her daughters Quarkballchen ( a pastry with quark in the dough)
To make the Mini Berliners follow this recipe for Berliners ......
My second Favorite is one called Knieküchle
or Ausgezogene
or in America they are called Knee Patches
because they shape them over your knee.
(You wash your knee first)
They look so cool with the ridge around them and the thin center.
You get a contrast of texture and flavor.
These donuts are a bit different. They come out of the Pennsylvania Dutch area of
the United States,
and use a potato dough. This gives them a very flavorful dough
and also a nice texture.
This is a bit more challenging but hey, if it doesn't come out perfect it is still so
much fun to make.
These come from a city called Rothenburg, Germany.
Mutzen seems to be a term from the Rhineland area of Germany
It was 1314 in Cologne. The first fools or “jecken” in German celebrated a parade through the city. How? We don’t know exactly the details, just the date.
200 years later a noble man named Weinsberg wrote about carnival. He describes that there were no differences between the people, everyone was equal. And this is until today the case, no classifications. It was the time of eating, drinking, dancing and celebrating for 6 days before the six week duration of fasting in the mainly catholic Rhineland, would begin.
Even in the convents it was more casual than throughout the year. The oldest carnival song was written by a nun named Anna around 1500.
And in 1728 another nun wrote about a special supper which lasted until two in the morning and included gourmet tea, coffee and even chocolate. They had cinnamon waffles which were baked with a scissor-like iron over the open fire. The recipe came from a Flemish convent. And from there all the popular carnival pastries called “Mutzen” and “Mutzenmandeln”, baked with rum and rose water, are deriving.
Every other weekend we traveled up to my German grandma, Emma to stay the weekend.
There would always be fresh Bismarks and Maple Bars, Berliners, and regular donuts because she had worked in a donut shop in Portland, Oregon.
I had no idea then of what my grandma had gone through to get to America, and no idea of how she grew up in Germany and that she had 13 brothers and sisters.
I am thankful for the documents and pictures my parents saved and thankful to ancestry.com to find all kinds of things about her life and the Streib family that goes back to the 1600's in Steinsfurt, Germany.
My grandma boarded the SS Hamburg Sept 14, 1904
and Arrived Sept 23, 1904
at Ellis Island
I found the ship my grandma got on, and the ship manifest showing her name
and
all these documents on Ancestry.com
A big thanks to Ancestry.com where I found the manifest, which told me the name of the ship she came over
on and with one of her brothers and one of her sisters.
Records for US Census, and Ship Manifests, Telephone directories, Draft cards, and an amazing amount of documents are in the data base you can search for at Ancestry.
I found my grandpa's grave from
records at Ancestry, Found out he was in WW 1
Does about 6 servings,
Versitale basket for steaming, blanching and deep frying.
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Our German Cookbook
A recipe book and short biography of my Grandmother Emma Block. Her recipes, culture and cooking styles that were brought over from Germany. How they evolved when she came to America in the early 1900s and settled in Portland, Oregon on the west coast of the United States. Over 100 recipes
Biography of my grandma
Emma Block From Germany with Love tells the story of my grandma, Emma Block, growing up in a little town in Baden/ Würtemberg, Germany near Heidelberg named Steinsfurt. Then at the age of 15 immigrating to the United States, taking a train with one of her sisters and brothers to Hamburg and sailing the Atlantic with other hope filled Germans wanting to make a life in the "New World". It was not easy but with good values learned in her German upbringing made a full life, had a wonderful family with lots of fun and celebration including the great German meals.
Karin Elliot born and raised in Germany
is a chef and wonderful friend giving me encouragement through the years here and donated her recipes for our newsletter. She also does wonderful volunteer work like providing meals for school children in need in Tuscon, Arizona.
Many German-Americans and German immigrants are interested in Native American items from books and movies to jewelry and arts and craft supplies. Karin will take care of you personally with her online store Native Rainbows
German Music
Through modern technology we can enjoy music from Germany at the touch of your computer, there are many venues now, Pandora, Amazon music, and Youtube is free.
I love my noise canceling headphones that are completely wireless and give incredible sound!
This is the newsletter you are reading now, called the German Goodies Recipe Newsletter. I have been publishing this for 20 years now and we have had a lot of fun doing it.
If you enjoy the history I talk about in this newsletter you will also love the history of other dishes and foods I like to do in my
Food History Newsletter
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