Spritzkuchen Recipes

SPRITZKUCHEN: GERMAN VANILLA GLAZED CRULLERS

Steps:

• Put the water and butter in a small pot. Heat until the butter melts and mixture comes to a boil. Take pot off the heat.
• Immediately add the flour and cornflour and vigorously stir until they come together into a smooth ball of dough. Put back on the heat and cook for a minute, stirring all the time.
• Transfer the dough into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir in the sugar and vanilla extract.
• Gradually add the beaten eggs into the dough while mixing. The dough will separate initially but then come together again. It is ready when shiny and hanging in a long strip from the beater.
• Stir in the baking powder once the dough has cooled a little and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
• Grease a large piece of baking parchment with a little butter and then pipe the crullers, spaced slightly apart, on it. Cut the paper so each cruller sits on a little square.
• Fill a deep pot about halfway with oil. Bring the oil to 180C (350F) - check with a digital thermometer.
• Carefully drop the crullers into the oil, pulling out the parchement paper (they will slide off).
• Cook them one or two at a time until puffed and golden on both sides - please note cooking time is a guide only. The crullers will feel very light when properly cooked - uncooked dough is heavier. Drain on kitchen towels.
• Mix all the ingredients for the glaze together until it is thick but pourable. Brush the glaze on the crullers while still a bit warm. Serve immediately.

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.