German Pastry - Krapfen (Berliner)

In this instructable I'm going to show you how to make a -in Germany- well known pastry, it is called Krapfen (in the south) or Berliner (in the north). Similar things are known all over Europe, just check this list.
When I was a child Krapfen could be bought only in a certain time of the year, during carnival. In my hometown they do a carnival parade and I always had been freezing, because usually there was snow and temperature below 0°C/32°F. Then when the parade was over, my grandmother and me went to the local bakery, bought some Krapfen and at home my grandmother warmed them up and then we ate them in combination with a hot chocolate in my case. It always had been like late Christmas to me. At the moment carnival is around the corner again and I wondered if I could make Krapfen on my own. Krapfen are comparable to doughnuts, except there is no hole in the middle but a filling. Usually they are filled with jam, but today I would like to do something crazy and fill them with blueberries and marshmallow fluff.

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The given amount is sufficient for 8-10 pieces.

The dough:

• 500 g /1.10 lbs./ 4 cups            flour
• 30 g /0.07 lbs./ ???                   yeast
• 250 ml /8.45 fl oz./ 1 cup          milk
• 4 pcs.                                          egg yolk
• 60 g /0.13 lbs./ 1/2 cup            powdered or baking sugar
• 60 g/0.13 lbs./ 1/4 cup             butter
• dash of salt

For the blueberry filling:

• 170 ml /5.75 fl oz./ 3/4 cups      milk
• 3 dashes                                      powdered vanilla
• 15 g /0.03 lbs./ 1/8 cup              starch
• 1 pc.                                               egg yolk
• 30 g/0.07 lbs. /1/8 cup                powdered or baking sugar
• 80 g /0.18 lbs./ 3-4 cups            frozen blueberries

• 2 pots
• Bowls
• Mixer (with egg whip and dough hook)
• Oil
• Dishtowel
• Stirrer
• Syringe like pastry bag attachment, like shown in the picture

First mix the butter, the sugar and the egg yolks to a plain mass. In the meantime heat the milk until it is lukewarm. Add the milk and the yeast to the mixture and mix it again until it is all homogeneous.
Now change for the dough hook and add the flour, then knead the dough until it is plain again.
Cover the bowl with a dry dishtowel and let the dough rest in a warm (ca. 25-30°C/77-86°F) place for about half an hour.
Then form 8-10 equal sized balls from the mass and let them rest again for 20 min. Tip: Scatter some flour on your counter top to prevent the balls from sticking.

Blueberry filling:
Thaw the blueberries.
Then mix the sugar and the eggs until the mass is almost white. Afterwards add the starch and mix it again until you get an evenly plain mass. Heat up the milk until it is boiling. When boiling, take the pot off the hotplate and mix it with the egg-sugar-starch-combination and stir it until it is thickening. Hint: If the isn't thickening, just heat it up again a little bit.
Finally stir in the blueberries.

Twinkie filling:
Follow the instruction steps 5,6 and 7 on this site, then you get a plain, white, quite sticky mass, like shown in the picture.

Heat up a sufficient amount of oil and fry your dough balls until they're finished.
Note: The oil mustn't be too hot, just around 170°C/338°F. Otherwise your Krapfen will be dark brown on the outside but still raw inside.
Let them cool down on a paper towel. Then fill your Krapfen with the help of the pastry bag. To do so, fill in one of your fillings and cut in deep with the tip, like shown in the pictures.
Note: Don't try to get too much of the filling into the Krapfen, otherwise everything will flow out again, or in worst case, the Krapfen brakes.

Finally scatter some powdered sugar over them and they're ready to serve!
Enjoy your meal!

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