Recipe for Crullers: A Traditional Holiday Food

Chocolate Cruller

We celebrate the doughnut every November 5th, on Doughnut Appreciation Day! This post is a cruller doughnut recipe continued from the article crullers-or-twisters. Read about who eats this as a celebration food.

A cruller is a type of doughnut. It is often covered in or topped with icing, which may be chocolate. It is often twisted (rather than round) in shape and unraised. The word comes from early 19th century Dutch kruller, from krullen "to curl." Found in many countries including the United States. wikipedia definition

Ingredients (twisted crullers)

• 1/4 cup (60ml) butter
• 1 cup (240ml) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 4 cups (950ml) sifted all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (240ml) milk
• Fat for deep frying
• Confectioners' sugar

 

Procedure

1. Cream butter and sugar; add eggs.
2. Sift flour with baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Add alternately with milk. Chill dough.
3. Roll out 1/4 inch (0.75cm) thick. Cut dough into strips 1 x 8 inches (2.5cm x 20cm).
4. Fold each strip in half lengthwise; twist several times and pinch ends together.
5. Deep fry and flip over in hot fat 380 °F (200c) on a frying thermometer until brown.
6. Drain on absorbent paper and cool. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

 

Ingredients (round crullers)

• 1/4 cup (60ml) granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (60ml) shortening
• 1 cup (240ml) boiling water
• 1 cup (240ml) sifted all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Fat for deep frying
• Confectioners' sugar frosting

 

Procedure

1. Combine sugar, salt, shortening, and boiling water in a saucepan.
2. Mix and bring to a rapid boil.
3. Add flour all at once and mix and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.
4. Remove from heat. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla.
5. Force mixture through pastry tube onto greased paper, forming circles.
6. Heat fat to 375 °F (195c) on frying thermometer.
7. Carefully turn paper upside down so crullers will drop into fat. Deep fry and flip over until golden brown.
8. Spread with thin confectioners' sugar frosting. Makes about 1 dozen.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Crullers or Twisters in honor of Doughnut Appreciation Day

Chocolate Cruller Doughnut

November 5 is Doughnut Appreciation Day so I felt I couldn't let this day pass without talking about crullers; one of the most popular holiday donuts/doughnuts known world wide. This doughnut is popular topped in chocolate but I for one love the French crullers without chocolate but dipped in a sugar glaze coating. I will include a recipe in the next post ok.

A cruller, or twister, is a twisted and usually ring-shaped fried pastry. It is traditionally made of dough somewhat like that of a cake doughnut, often topped with plain powdered sugar; powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon; or icing. A French cruller is a fluted, ring-shaped doughnut made from choux pastry with a light airy texture.

Celebration Food: The name comes from early 19th century Dutch kruller, from krullen "to curl". Crullers are traditionally eaten in Germany and some other European countries on Shrove Tuesday, to use up fat before Lent. In Danish they are knowns as "Klejner" and in Swedish as "Klenäter", both names deriving from Low German. In Scandinavia crullers are common at Christmas.

Crullers are most commonly found in Canada, New England and the Mid-Atlantic and North Central states of the USA, but are also common in California. The German origin is probably why traditional crullers can be found more easily in the Midwest, where many German immigrants settled. Some family-owned bakeries still call them "krullers." In other parts of the U.S., crullers may be called "dunking sticks" or simply "sticks."

In 2003, the Dunkin' Donuts chain of doughnut shops stopped carrying traditional crullers, claiming that the hand-shaped treats were too labor-intensive, and couldn't be simulated with new machines for mixing doughnut batter. They still sell "French Crullers." Tim Hortons, Honey Dew Donuts, and Krispy Kreme still sell the Cruller. (wikipedia links)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

• Recipe for Cruller

National Doughnut Day!

krispy kreme doughnuts Originally uploaded by Jana Mills

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! This great picture is by Jana Mills / on flickr.com November 5th is National Doughnut Day each and every year! What a great sweet treat. A doughnut, or donut, is a sweet, deep-fried piece of dough or batter. The two most common types are the torus-shaped ring doughnut and the filled doughnut, a flattened sphere injected with jam/jelly, cream, custard, or another sweet filling. A small spherical piece of dough, originally made from the middle of a ring doughnut, may be cooked as a doughnut hole. Possible origins Doughnuts have a disputed history. One theory suggests that they were introduced into North America by Dutch settlers, who were responsible for popularizing other American desserts, including cookies, cream pie, and cobbler. This theory is bolstered by the fact that in the mid-19th Century doughnuts were called by the Dutch name "olykoeks," literally translated, "oily cakes." However, there is also archaeological evidence that the pastries were prepared by prehistoric Native Americans in southwestern USA.... Hanson Crockett Gregory, an American, claimed to have invented the ring-shaped doughnut in 1847 aboard a lime-trading ship when he was only sixteen years old.... Find more information about doughnuts on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnuts Well guys..... theres a krispy kreme doughnut shop just right down the road from me so I think I'm going to make my way there this morning and have doughnuts and coffee for breakfast! Ohhh yeah!