Krapfen – The Sweet Side of Carnival Season

ome people say that each one of us wears not just one mask, but lots of them. What do you think about that? Are you truly yourself in each and every situation, with each and every person, or, like the rest of us, you pretend to be someone else? However, no matter how much you like your mask, there is one powerful ‘weapon’, a sweet force that will make you reveal yourself, because – with your mask on, you simply can’t eat it! It’s round, it’s warm, it smells like heaven, it’s filled with raspberry jam, it’s simply – yummy! So – masks off and enjoy – krapfen!

As we all know, the second most important thing about carnival, after costumes and masks is – food. So, what all of us with a sweet tooth love the most? In France they make crêpes, in Italy castagnole, in Canada candy apples – and in Croatia we eat krapfen! Austro-Hungarian Monarchy that ruled here for more than 50 years, left a huge legacy – numerous beautiful buildings, railways, roads, castles, and – traditional recipes. One of those is a recipe for krapfen.

This deep fried enriched dough is very similar to doughnuts, but – without the hole in the middle! And there is another difference as well – krapfen are always filled after frying, in most cases with a jam, but I can certainly recommend krapfen filled with ganache, vanilla pastry cream or lemon curd. You can use a special piping tip called “Bismarck” that easily makes a hole and fills your krapfen at the same time. Dust them with lots of icing sugar and you are ready to get your sugar mustache!

Krapfen Recipe

by:Tereza Alabanda,The Pastry Maestra

PRINT PDF (EN)

ISPIŠI PDF (HR)

Prep. time : 60 minutes

Cook time : 10 minutes

Ready in 70 minutes

Level : Advanced

Ingredients:

All purpose flour 300g (10.6oz)
Milk 125g (4.4oz)
Fresh yeast 20g (2Tbsp)
Sugar 30g (1oz)
Salt 3g (¹⁄₂Tsp)
Egg yolks 60g (2oz or 3 medium egg yolks)
Butter 50g (1.8oz)
Lemon zest
Rum 10g (1Tbsp)
Frying oil
Raspberry jam as needed
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

Have all your ingredients at room temperature.
Dissolve the yeast in warm milk.
Mix egg yolks with lemon zest and rum.
Place sifted flour, sugar and salt into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with hook attachment and start mixing on low speed.
Add milk with yeast and the egg yolk mixture and continue mixing until you make a smooth dough.
Add softened butter and knead it into your dough.
Cover the dough and leave it to ferment until doubles in size.
Portion the dough into 50g (1.8oz) pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, and place them on a floured surface. Dust them with some flour and flatten them with a tray. Cover with a cloth until proved.
Fill a pan with oil halfway and heat it at 165°C (300°F). You can use a deep fryer if you have one.
Place your krapfen with the upper side down into the oil. Fry until golden, about one minute on the each side.
Take them out and drain the excess oil on a paper towel.
Fill the piping bag fitted with “Bismarck” tip with raspberry jam, fill your krapfen and finally dust them with powdered sugar.

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