German Cruller Recipes

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.

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.

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.