Berliner

Pfannkuchen for Fasching

It’s Berliner season!

Bunny and I made a trio of varieties this year, starting with a Milano Cortina 2026 fusion flavor that was filled with cannoli filling in honor of the host country of the Olympics:

We also made plum butter Berliner, filled with homemade Pflaumenmus, which was sehr lecker!

And our final variety was filled with our favorite Guinness mousse and topped with a chocolate glaze:

It was a tasty trio!

As long as I was already frying donuts, I also made German Mutzen from the Rhineland, which turned out very much like beignets:

And here’s a bonus look at our Mardi Gras dinner of “Bayou Queen Punch” and “Tiana’s Famous Gumbo” from Entertaining with Disney:

We had a nice day of feasting, and now we’re ready for Lent!

Tasty Tuesday–New Berliner Flavors for Fastnacht

Now that I’ve been making Berliner for a few years, I feel pretty comfortable with the process of frying and filling them, so this year, I decided to focus on creating new flavor combinations! First I made a Black Forest variety, filled with the cherry topping from my Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte and topped with a chocolate glaze. Next up was s’mores, filled with marshmallow fluff and topped with the same chocolate glaze plus crushed graham crackers. Finally, I made Lebkuchen-inspired Berliner, filled with a gingerbread mousse and topped with a white chocolate glaze and crushed spice cookies.

I also made some traditional jelly filled donuts with blackberry jam:

I’m looking forward to coming up with more flavors in the future!

Tasty Tuesday–A Trio of Berliner for Fasching

Making donuts during the Karneval season is no longer a surprise around here (I started by trying my hand at Pączki in 2021, and then moved on to Berliner, which I’ve been making ever since), but I’ve never made three varieties at once before! This year, I decided to make a double batch of Zitronen Berliner (lemon donuts), and since I had 24 of them to work with, I thought we should try some different fillings. I started with homemade lemon pudding, and dusted the donuts with powdered sugar:

Next I made a homemade vanilla custard filing, and also a chocolate glaze for the top:

And finally, an old classic, filled with plum jam and sprinkled with granulated sugar:

They were all delicious, and honestly, I’m not even sure which ones I liked best, but I’m always thinking of even more tasty fillings!

Mardi Gras 2023

As hard as it is to believe (since it seems like we just celebrated Christmas), Lent is upon us already. But first, let’s take a look at Mardi Gras 2023 in the Markel house!

As I did last year, I made plum Berliner instead of pączki. I’m not saving myself any work by doing so, but I like the Berliner a little more.

I don’t understand why the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Festivale event is on Monday and not either the weekend or Tuesday, but I had a fun time hanging out with Pavé!

For dinner, I turned back to two of our favorite recipes from the Entertaining with Disney cookbook…Tiana’s Famous Gumbo and Bayou Queen Punch:

For dessert I made a King cake. I couldn’t find quite the shade of green sugar I wanted, but it was still pretty and tasted great!

Now that the celebration is over, I guess it’s time to really buckle down for Lent.

Tasty Tuesday-Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras! I decided to do something a little different this year, so instead of buying or making Pączki, I made Berliner. They’re practically the same donut (I think the main difference is that the Berliner dough is made with less eggs), and they reflect our family’s ethnic heritage, plus they’re super delicious! I filled them with homemade custard, and made a chocolate glaze to go on top:

For dinner, I made cajun stuffed peppers with a side of hush puppies:

I baked a King Cake for dessert…it’s been many years since I attempted this, and I don’t remember being impressed with it the last time, but this year, it was a huge hit!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!