Karneval Berliner – Filled with Jam AFTER Frying

Why are Berliner / Pfannekuchen / Krapfen for Karneval? Karneval is a time of exuberance before the austerity of Lent… and one of those things we give up for Lent? Fried foods. SO…. eat all the Berliner you can BEFORE midnight on Karneval Dienstag! (Shrove Tuesday).

Berliner are filled with tasty fillings like Rose Hip jam (Hagebutte) or Himbeer jam (Raspberry)… Pflaumenmuß (plum butter)… or even Pudding. But as a joke (because Karneval is all about FUN) sometimes a Berliner will be filled with MUSTARD! (bleh!!)

On the website I have two Berliner recipes; one filled before frying, and in this one you fill the Berliner after frying them. Which method you use is a matter of personal preference.

Berliner can be filled before or after Frying both work well, it’s just a matter of preference.

Pro to filling after frying.
– There won’t be a blow out while frying
– You can see what’s inside (if you make different flavors)
Con:
-Pastry bags can be messy
– There’s no hiding the mustard

If you prefer to fill your Berliner BEFORE Frying, click HERE–> Berliner Recipe

These delicious treats are a bit denser than the average American Jelly Donut, but oh so good!

Karneval Berliner - Filled AFTER Frying

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Servings 8 -10

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 cup Butter 1 stick unsalted
• 1 1/4 cup Milk
• 2 1/4 tsp Dried Yeast
• 4 Tablespoons Sugar
• 4 cups / 500 gr. All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 2 Eggs plus 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 tsp salt
• Neutral oil like Canola for Frying
• Granulated or Powdered Sugar for Coating
• Your Favorite Seedless Jam or Pflaumenmuß for Filling

Instructions

 

• Melt butter in a pan (or in a pyrex cup in the microwave) and add to milk. Check the temperature... it should be around 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit (hotter will kill the yeast, colder won't activate it)
• Stir in the Sugar
• Stir in the dried yeast.
• Let sit for 10 minutes until it begins to bubble so you know the yeast is active.
• Sift flour into a mixing bowl.
• Pour in the milk/butter/yeast mixture. Add the vanilla, salt and eggs. Mix to combine into a sticky dough.
• Then Knead (by hand or with a dough hook) for 10 minutes.
• Put the kneaded dough into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise. It will take about an hour, and will double in size.
• When dough is doubled...Lightly flour the counter, then take the dough out of the bowl, and knead it a few times. (Just pat it down, and give it a few kneads to wake it back up)
• Roll the dough about 1/2 inch thick
• Here is where you make a choice... I didn't have a smaller round cutter, so I cut mine with a glass. The glass was closer to 4 inches across, so I had BIG Berliner. Not really tragic, it just made fewer, and I had to cook them a few seconds longer.
• Cut out your rounds of dough, and place them on a cookie sheet.
• Re-roll the scraps and cut rounds out of the last bits (no waste!). These ones might look funny, so they are great for double checking cooking time!
• Cover the dough circles with a towel, and leave to rise for 30 minutes.

Get your frying and sugar coating station set up!:

• Heat oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit ... either in a deep fryer or a frying pan.
• If you use a pan, make sure that the the oil is at least 2 inches deep, and use a THERMOMETER. If oil is too hot, it burns, if it's not hot enough, you get greasy food.
• I used a cookie sheet covered with Paper Towels to catch the Berliner as they came out of the oil... that went next to the fryer.
• Next to that cookie sheet I put a bowl with sugar for coating... 1 1/2 cups is more than enough.
• Finally, I put a cooling rack onto another cookie sheet to rest and cool the sugar coated Berliner.

FRYING BERLINER:

• Carefully lower 2 or 3 dough blobs into the oil at a time. Don't crowd them!
• For my 4 inchers, I went 3 minutes on the first side, and 2 1/2 minutes on the second side. Use a timer.
• If you have smaller ones, try 2 minutes on each side.
• They will be golden brown.
• Remove with a slotted spoon to the paper towels. After a minutes, roll the warm Berliner in the sugar to coat completely.
• Move to the rack to cool enough for filling
• (I suggest you put one of the ugly ones in first... make note of how long you left it in. Then cut it open to see if it's DONE. It shouldn't be mushy inside, the dough will be done. If it's mushy, adjust your timing 30 seconds or a minute more or less when you fry the the pretty ones. )
• (BTW. kids don't care what they look like... after you've got your timing right, you can fill the ugly ones with jam, and hand them to the kids who are hovering at your elbow waiting for a taste)
• Use a pastry bag (Or Ziplock Bag) with a piping tip. Fill it with jam or jelly or cream filling.
• Poke into the mostly cooled off Berliner on one side, and carefully squeeze to get the filling inside. You might have to move the tip of the bag around a bit.
• If you are like me, and like LOTS of filling... repeat on the other side of the Berliner.
• If you are using a few different fillings, you can put a blob on top of the Berliner.
• (Although, honestly, I tend to overfill my Berliner, so I can see what kind they are by what is oozing out.)
• Eat them FRESH

Step By Step Photos for This Easy Berliner Recipe

Bring all the ingredients together to a sticky dough

Knead the Dough for 10 Minutes in A Mixer with a Dough Hook
or by hand on a counter…( It’s good exercise!)

Then Put the Dough into a Bowl, Cover with Plastic Wrap and Leave to Rise Until Doubled.
Should take 1 hour

And it will go from this ^ to  this

Turn out dough onto a floured counter, and Knead a few times

Then use a Rolling Pin to roll out to 1/4 inch thick if you are filling before frying

Use a round cutter to cut out your Berliner. 3 inch is about perfect.
(With the 4 inch, I was able to make 12… 3 inch would have made 20?)

Lay the rounds on a cookie sheet, cover with a floured Tea Towel,
and let rise somewhere warm for 30 minutes.

Get Ready for Frying

Heat up the fryer, set out a place with paper towels to catch the Berliner,
set out a bowl with Sugar, and a rack to cool them on.

Risen, and ready to fry

Put two or three dough rounds CAREFULLY into the Oil,
you don’t want to crowd them, or knock the air out of them!

When the bottom is GOLDEN BROWN, carefully flip them over.
I found that with the 4 inch ones, 3 minutes on the first side, then 2 1/2 on the second side was perfect.
Smaller Berliner will probably need a little less time. Try 2 – 2 1/2 minutes per side.

Mrs. Anderson’s Baking 42137 Anderson’s Cookie and Fondant Cutters, Stainless Steel, 3-Piece Graduated Round Set with Handles, Set of 3Presto 05442 CoolDaddy Cool-touch Deep Fryer – BlackTaylor Precision Products Candy/Deep Fry Stainless Steel Thermometer

Let the Browned Berliner sit on Paper Towel for a Minute
This will soak up any drippy oil

While the Berliner is STILL WARM, coat it in Sugar

Let it finish cooling on a rack

Filling your Berliner

Use a pastry bag with a larger tip for filling your Berliner. You CAN use a Zipper Bag… but make sure you have a big enough tip, and you take it slow. Small tips and flimsy bags lead to blown out bags, and a big mess. Plus you really want to make sure that you get loads of filling into the Berliner (not on your counter).

Fill a pastry bag with a tip, or a plastic zipper bag and a tip with the jelly or filling of your choice.
Around the edge of the Berliner is a lighter band… poke the tip into this part and move it around a bit while squeezing the filling into the Berliner.

Classic.Simple.Good. Cupcake/Cake Decorating Kit, Easy Cake Decorating Tip Set, X-Large Stainless Steel Tips and Pastry Icing Bags, Extra Bonus Large TipPastry Bag -50 Pack-16-Inch Extra Thick Large Cake/Cupcake Decorating Bags-Disposable Icing Piping Bags Set

You can (and I do) repeat on the opposite side, to insure maximum filling distribution.

I had Red Current Jelly, and a bit of Lemon Curd in my refrigerator, so I made both kinds.

I don’t think the Filling is supposed to ooze out the way mine does,
but I was kind of generous with the filling.

You can put a dab of filling on top, so you know which is which

Eat the day you make them!

Filled with Yumminess!!