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This easy and delicious German jelly donut recipe, aka Berliner Pfannkuchen or Krapfen (among many other names!) is made with a simple yeast dough.
Filled with jam, deep-fried, and dusted with powdered sugar, these homemade doughnuts can be enjoyed all year round, but they are especially traditional served on New Year’s Eve where they are eaten at midnight for a sweet start to the New Year.
This sweet jelly-filled fluffy donut is also very popular during Germany’s Karneval Season, also known as Fasching or Fastnacht.
Regardless of the time of year, plan to make these the same day you want to eat them. They taste best fresh, when they are still warm. Wunderbar!
A jelly doughnut, or jam donut, is a doughnut with a fruit preserve filling. Varieties include the Polish pączki, the German Berliner, the Israeli sufganiyot, the Southern European krafne and the Italian bombolone.
What is a jelly donut called in Germany?
Jelly doughnuts go by various names throughout Germany:
- In Berlin, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Brandenburg, they are just called Pfannkuchen, which translates as pancakes. (Pancakes in these areas are called Eierkuchen, literally egg cakes.)
- In Northern and Western Germany, they are called Berliner Ballen or just Berliner.
- In Southern and Central Germany, including Bavaria, these are called Krapfen, Fastnachtskrapfen or Faschingskrapfen.
- In Hesse, they are Kräppel or Kreppel.
- In Palatinate, they are Kreppel or Fastnachtsküchelchen.
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Fun Facts about Berliner Pfannkuchen
- A strange German practical joke is to secretly fill one Berliner Pfannkuchen with mustard instead of jam and serve it with the regular jelly-filled doughnuts without telling anyone. This is usually done during the Karneval season.
- John F. Kennedy’s words “Ich bin ein Berliner” are standard German for “I am a Berliner.” An urban legend has it that due to his use of the indefinite article ein, Berliner is translated as “jelly doughnut” and that the population of Berlin was amused by the supposed mistake. However, Kennedy used the indefinite article correctly to emphasize his relation to Berlin, and since the word Berliner is not used in Berlin to refer to the Berliner Pfannkuchen since they are simply called Pfannkuchen there, no Berliner would mistake Berliner for a doughnut.
- These were also shown as one of the traditional Equator treats on the popular German TV show, Verrückt nach Meer, as the ocean cruise liner crossed the Equator.
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FAQ
What are jelly filled Doughnuts called?
What is the nickname for a jelly donut?
Why are jelly donuts called Bismarck?
What is the difference between paczki and jelly filled donuts?
What is a jelly doughnut called?
In Britain, they became jam doughnuts. And in general American parlance, they are jelly doughnuts. Poles named jelly doughnuts paczki (flower buds). Polish Jews fried these doughnuts in schmaltz or oil instead of lard and called them ponchiks. In certain areas of Poland, they became the favorite Hanukkah dessert.
What do you call a doughnut without a filling?
And in general American parlance, they are jelly doughnuts. Poles named jelly doughnuts paczki (flower buds). Polish Jews fried these doughnuts in schmaltz or oil instead of lard and called them ponchiks. In certain areas of Poland, they became the favorite Hanukkah dessert. A doughnut without a filling in Yiddish is a donat.
What is a jelly doughnut without a filling in Yiddish?
A doughnut without a filling in Yiddish is a donat. Some Australian Jews, many of whom emigrated from Poland, still refer to jelly doughnuts as ponchiks. Polish immigrants brought ponchiks to Israel, along with the custom of eating them on Hanukkah.
What are jelly donuts called in Poland?
By 1600, jelly donuts, called paczki, were beloved throught Poland on Christmas, Hanukkah and other special occasions. In Yiddish, they were called ponchiks, and fried in schmaltz, goose fat, or oil. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the tradition of jelly donuts traveled with Polish Jews wherever they immigrated.