Fast Nacht Kuchen

 

I'm getting ready for Shrove Tuesday on Tuesday. When I first became part of Himself's family, his mother taught me to make faz naught kigglies, the family name for Fast Nacht Kuchen. She was an Irish girl who married a German boy. My father-in-law's mother taught her to make this German dish that was made on Shrove Tuesday. I'd never had one before I met Himself...and those years without seems like wasted time. 

It turns out there's some debate about the shape of the donuts. For me there's no question...triangles. My MIL made them that way, so for me, that's the proper way. But because I try to be an accepting human being who welcomes other opinions, I am open to trying other shapes. I mean, it would be a trial, but hey, I'll manage. So if you make circles or squares and want a taste tester, let me know.

There's also a debate on what to call them. For me, they'll always be faz naught kigglies because of my husbands family. I don't think anyone will mind what you call them as long as you call them when they're ready. 

I'm going to post this on Monday in case you've never made fast nacht kuchen and want to try them. Pretty much any not too sweet dough will work.

My MIL never gave me a specific bread recipe. But I bought this really cute Pennsylvania Dutch recipe book in Cook Forest and have used this recipe for decades. (Our family always called it Cooks Forest, but since I've started my State Park hiking, I know it's Cook Forest.)

So here's my version of this recipe. I used to double it when the kids were young and they took in trays for their classes, but these days I half it. That's ample for Minions.

1 TB honey
3 1/4 C milk
8 C flour

1 TB dry yeast

1/2  C butter

2 eggs

I make the dough Monday evening and let it rise overnight. 

In the morning, I punch it down and roll out sections, cutting them in to triangles. I use pretty much every cookie sheet and cutting board I have to let them rise a second time for at least an hour.

I heat up a couple inches of oil in my big cast iron frying pan (it doesn't have to be very deep...these are thin) and when it's sizzley (I have no temperature for you...I just drop a piece of dough in to check that it bubbles). I do a half dozen fast nachts at a time. (Don't crowd the pan...it will lower the temp of the oil and make them sort of greasy.) When they're lightly browned on both sides, I drop them into a bag of cinnamon sugar and shake them so they're coated. REPEAT until all the dough's been fried.
These are best served immediately or quickly. They're not super sweet, which means it's easy to eat a lot of them. I mean, I do have to test them...I wouldn't want to serve an inferior fast nacht. And because I'm up early working on these, I need a lot of coffee and these are perfect with coffee.

I've found a lot of Mennonite branches in my family tree. Most came from Lancaster. So there's a really good chance, my family made these and my mother-in-law reintroduced me to a part of my personal history without either of us knowing it. I like thinking of that. My mother-in-law was an amazing woman. We lost her twenty years ago (I wrote a fictionalized version of her in Briar Hill Road) and I still can't believe she's been gone that long. We bought her house and, though over the years, things have changed, there's so much of her and my father-in-law in it. I'll be thinking of both of them on Tuesday when I get up in the wee hours and make some fast nacht kigglies for the Minions and I'll know that before I even joined the family, she would have been up early in the kitchen making them as well. I love the continuity of that. When my kids were little, I'd send down their classes a tray of fast nachts each Shrove Tuesday. I won't make quite that many this year, but I will make enough for Minions and Himself's colleagues. 

Traditions. 

There's something about carrying on family traditions and passing them on to the next generation. Do you have any Shrove Tuesday traditions?

Holly

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