German Cruller Recipes

CRULLERS

Steps:

• Make the Crullers: Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Immediately remove from the heat, add all the flour at once, and stir hard with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated, about 30 to 60 seconds. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, to evaporate some of the moisture, about 2 minutes.
• Scrape the mixture into a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer or mix by hand), and mix at medium speed. With the mixer running, and adding 1 egg at a time, add 3 of the eggs, stopping after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add another egg and mix until completely incorporated.
• Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip (use a large size, like #12), pipe the dough onto the sheet pan in rows of 2 1/2-inch rings. Freeze them for 30 minutes to make them easier to pick up.
• Meanwhile, make the Glaze: Stir together the powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl.
• Pour the vegetable oil into a large pot to a depth of 2 inches and heat to 325 degrees F. Working in batches, lift the dough circles off the sheet pan and carefully slip them into the oil. Fry, turning once, until lightly browned. Drain the crullers on a brown paper bag; then dip them completely in the glaze. Let the crullers cool and set before serving.

GERMAN SOUR CREAM CRULLERS RECIPE - (4.2/5)

Steps:

• Mix sugar and shortening together, add egg yolks and sour cream and mix until blended. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg to the sour cream mixture, until blended. Cover dough in bowl and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Roll or pat dough out on a floured surface and cut with doughnut cutter. Heat oil to 325 in large pan, add doughnuts a few at a time and fry for a couple minutes on one side and turn and fry a few minutes more. Place on paper towels to drain the oil. Dip warm doughnuts in a vanilla glaze and place on a cooling rack to set the glaze.

FRENCH CRULLERS

Steps:

• 1. Place the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed pot and bring to a brisk boil over medium high heat. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is completely incorporated. Continue to cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes to steam away as much water as possible. The more moisture you can remove, the more eggs you can add later and the lighter your pastry will be. The mixture is ready when a thin film coats the bottom of the pan.
• 2. Move the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Although you can mix the pâte à choux by hand, this can be rather arduous, so use a mixer if you have one. Stir the mixture for about 1 minute to allow it to cool. Then mix on medium speed and add the first egg. Let it mix in completely and then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining eggs, one at a time, and mix in completely. Add the egg whites, a little at a time, until the paste becomes smooth and glossy and will hold a slight peak when pinched with your fingers. Be careful not to add too much egg white or your crullers will become heavy. Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star piping tip.
• 3. To fry the crullers, heat at least 2 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot until a deep-fat thermometer registers 370°F. While the oil is heating, cut out twelve 3-by-3-inch squares of parchment paper and lightly grease them. Pipe a ring onto each square. When the oil is hot, place one cruller at a time in the oil, paper side up. Remove the paper with tongs. Fry on each side until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel for at least 1 minute. Once cool to the touch, the crullers can be glazed.
• Crullers also bake very well, although they will have slightly firmer crusts than the fried versions. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pipe the crullers onto it, at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F and bake for another 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, open the oven door slightly and let the crullers sit in the cooling oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove, dip in glaze, and cool on a rack until the glaze has set.
• Beignets, the classic New Orleans fried dough treats, use this same batter and are even easier to prepare. Simply drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the batter into the oil. As the dough puffs, the beignets will turn themselves over-but keep an eye on them and flip any that need a little help.

GERMAN CRULLER RECIPE

Steps:

• Pour water in a pot, add vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt and butter cut into small pieces. Heat on medium heat until the butter has melted and the water begins to boil. Remove the pot from the heat and immediately stir in sieved flour with a wooden spoon, so that you won't loose part of the water through evaporation. Bring the pot back to the heat and let cook for 2 minutes. Keep stirring vigorously until the dough separates from the bottom of the pot and the bottom of the pot is slightly coated with whitish staffs from the dough (a thin white film).
• Next transfer the dough to an empty bowl and let cool for about 5 minutes. In the meantime heat oil in a small pot. (We've used a small pot, but you could also use a large pot to speed up the deep frying process.) Cut the parchment paper into rectangles (the rectangles should be smaller than the pot you'll be using). Then grease the whisks and brush parchment paper cut into small rectangle shapes with oil. After 5 minutes crack the eggs in the bowl with cooled dough, one by one while beating with a hand mixer, until you have a smooth dough. Transfer the dough to a pipping bag with big start tip or just a freezer bag with a big star tip at the corner. This is how we did it, because we couldn't find a pipping bag.
• Squeeze a bit of the dough on the parchment paper to form circles (or hearts if you want). Make another circle on top of the exact same circle, so that the crullers will go up nicely while baking. Insert the wooden spoon handle in oil to see if the oil is ready. If bubbles start forming around the spoon, then the oil is ready.
• Put the parchment paper with shaped batter in hot oil upside down (the side with the shaped dough facing down). The dough will release itself from the parchment paper. Now remove the parchment paper from the pot and make the next circle while the crullers are baking. You can put as many crullers as you want in the pot. This just depends on the size of the pot that you're using. Just bear in mind that the crullers will expand while cooking, so make sure to leave enough space between them. Cook until golden brown. It took us about 3 minutes per side.
• Remove the donut crullers from the fat and put them on the cooling rack lined with paper towels to remove excess fat, until you'll be able to touch it with your hands. Then transfer the donut crullers to a platter or roasting dish or something similar and brush or drizzle with icing sugar that you've previously prepared or dust with powdered sugar and enjoy.

GERMAN CRULLERS WITH LEMON FROSTING

Steps:

• For the crullers, bring 1 1/4 cups water and the butter to a boil in a saucepan.
• Remove from the heat. Mix the flour and the cornstarch together and stir into the liquid until to a smooth ball forms.
• Return the pan to the stove and stir over low heat until a white film appears on the bottom of the pan. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl.
• Combine with the sugar, vanilla, eggs, and baking powder, using an electric mixer.
• Cut parchment paper into 3-inch squares. Spread them out on a clean work surface and grease them well.
• Put the dough into a pastry bag with a large serrated spout and squeeze a circle of about 2 inches on each piece of parchment paper.
• Heat the oil to 370F in a deep-fryer or in a large saucepan. The oil needs to be hot enough to sizzle a bread crumb.
• Let the crullers glide into the oil by carefully turning the parchment squares upside down and gently rolling up the two opposite edges. Fry only a few crullers at a time. They should be golden brown and puffy. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels.
• For the frosting, mix the confectioners' sugar with the lemon juice until smooth. Add a few drops of water if necessary.
• Spread the frosting on the warm crullers and allow them to set at room temperature. Serve within a few hours.

FRENCH CRULLER

Steps:

• Combine sugar, salt, shortening, and boiling water in a saucepan.
• Mix and bring to a rapid boil.
• Add flour all at once and mix and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat.
• Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
• Add vanilla.
• Force mixture through pastry tube onto greased paper, forming circles.
• Heat deep fat to 375 degrees F on frying thermometer.
• Carefully turn paper upside down so crullers will drop into fat. Fry and flip over until golden brown.
• Spread with thin Confectioners' Sugar frosting.