Today is a day I will always know as Fasnacht Day! And how do I celebrate it? With deep-fried Pennsylvania Dutch Fasnacht Doughnuts, of course! These flavorful fasnacht doughnuts are deep-fried to a golden brown and covered with sugar, cinnamon sugar, and powdered sugar. To be a little fancier, I even filled some of them with this perfect vanilla pastry cream!

House-made Pennsylvania dutch fasnacht doughnuts filled with pastry cream | © Sovuh

About the Recipe

For this method, I made the fasnachts using active dry yeast and cut them out with a circle cutter with no center hole. I covered them in sugar, cinnamon sugar, and powdered sugar. I also filled half of the fasnacht doughnuts with vanilla pastry cream.

The parts of this doughnut recipe that come together quickly are making and frying the dough. It takes a little more time to wait for the dough to rise. The first rise takes 1 – 1.5 hours. The second rise time (after you've cut the shapes out) takes about an hour. Give yourself some extra time to coat them in the different sugars and fill them with the vanilla pastry cream.

Single row of pennsylvania dutch fasnacht doughnuts filled with vanilla pastry cream wrapped in parchment paper in a loaf pan | © Sovuh

When is Fasnacht Day?

Fasnacht Day (or Fastnacht Day), also known as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday is a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch celebration that is held the last Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

What Does the Word Fasnacht Mean?

The word fasnacht or fastnacht is a German word meaning “the night before fast.” Tradition shows us that on this day, Pennsylvania Dutch households make as many recipes to use up all the sugar and fat (such as lard ) in the house before Lent and fasting begins. More commonly now, you'll see people give up one tempting food item during Lent.

What is a Fastnacht and How Are They Typically Made?

A fasnacht is a square or triangular-shaped, somewhat heavier doughnut that does not have holes in the center. Fasnachts are traditionally deep-fried in lard, then sliced open and eaten with butter, molasses, or syrup.

There are many different fasnacht doughnut recipes out there, and they're made into many shapes besides the traditional kind. Some are made using yeast, potato flour, or baking powder and are shaped round, square, or as donut holes (like my neighbor Evie down the street used to make them).

You can make fasnachts plain, glazed, or covered in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, or regular sugar. The possibilities are pretty much endless! One thing is certain: they are a very big deal around here, and for good reason—they taste memorable!

Fasnacht doughnuts on a parchment paper lined baking sheet | © Sovuh

3 Tips for Making the Perfect Fasnacht Doughnuts

Tip No. 1. There are several fasnacht (or fastnacht) doughnut recipes out there, and just about all of them call for scalded, then-cooled milk. Before you start anything else, Try doing this step to give the milk time to cool.
Tip No. 2. If you've never scalded milk before, you'll want to bring it to almost a near boil, then allow it to cool. The purpose of scalding the milk is to help make any of your recipes with yeast fluffier.
Tip No. 3. If you plan to add the vanilla pastry cream to the inside of some of the doughnuts, Use a butter knife to make the hole. I inserted the knife and gently turned it back and forth a little to create the opening.

Close up of house-made pennsylvania dutch fasnacht doughnuts filled with vanilla pastry cream wrapped in parchment paper in a loaf pan | © Sovuh

Rows of pennsylvania dutch fasnacht doughnuts in a parchment paper lined baking tray filled with pastry cream | © Sovuh

Recommended Donut-Making Tools

I used a 2.5″ circle cutter from this Ateco circle cutter, which gave me about 32 fasnacht doughnuts.
If you have a different size circle cutter or one of these standard donut cutters they will work just as well. If you don't have a circle or donut cutter, using the top of a drinking glass will do in a pinch!
I used big ziplock bags to coat the doughnuts with different sugars, except for the powdered sugar. I placed 2-3 donuts in the bag and tossed them around until covered.
I used a sifter for the powdered sugar and sifted the sugar over the top of the doughnuts while on a plate.
For filling the fasnacht doughnuts, I used a large piping bag and a 1M piping tip. You can choose to use a smaller tip if you'd like!

To see more helpful tips and what recommended tools you can use for making house-made fasnacht doughnuts (or donuts), check out my Easy House-made Donuts from the pantry recipe!

Ingredients

Pennsylvania dutch fasnacht doughnuts

2 cups Milk, scalded and then cooled

4 1/2 tsp 2 packages Active Dry Yeast

1/2 cup Warm Water

1/4 cup Unsalted Butter, melted

2 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Granulated Sugar

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

2 Large Eggs

7 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour

3-4 cups Canola Oil, for frying the Fasnachts

Additional Sugars for Coating the Fasnachts - Granulated Sugar, Powdered Sugar, Cinnamon Sugar)

vanilla pastry cream (for doughnut filling, optional)

3.4 oz Vanilla Pie Filling and Instant Pudding Mix (1 box)

1 cup Milk

1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Method

pennsylvania dutch fasnacht doughnuts

Using a small saucepan, scald the milk and allow to cool.

Combine the 2 packets of active dry yeast and the warm water in the mixing bowl of the stand mixer that's fitted with the dough hook attachment. Let the yeast proof (or sit) for 10 minutes.

Add in the melted butter, cooled milk, salt, granulated sugar, nutmeg, and eggs. Then set the mixer speed to low and add in the flour one cup at a time, until the dough begins to form. There will be a lot of dough and it will be sticky, but it should pull away from the sides of the bowl easily. If you find that the dough is just way too sticky, you can add 1 tbsp. of flour until the dough is slightly tacky.

Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly floured surface and knead it for about 5-8 minutes until smooth.

Then place in a lightly greased, medium size bowl, flipping it over once to coat the entire ball of dough. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap (do NOT use aluminum foil) and also place a clean, dry kitchen towel over top, and place in a warm, draft free spot for about 1 - 1.5 hours or until it's almost doubled in size. That last part is very important!

Gently punch the dough down in the center, then turn it out on to a clean and lightly floured surface and, using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about a 1/2" thickness. Coat your circle cutter (mine was 2.5" dia in size) with some flour and then cut out the fasnacht doughnuts, placing them onto a parchment lined baking sheet (space them out about 1" a part, they will get bigger). With any leftover dough you may have, you can roll some into balls to make donut holes.

Cover the fasnacht doughnuts with a clean tea or dish towel and allow to rest for 1 hour or until they've almost doubled in size.

Meanwhile, line a large baking sheet with about 2-3 layers of paper towels with a cooling rack placed over top. Hold to the side. Note, the cooling rack part is optional.

When ready to fry the fasnacht doughnuts, place the canola oil into a deep heavy skillet or stock pot and heat until it reaches 365ºF. Two important notes here: 1. Add in the oil BEFORE you turn on the heat to heat up the oil. 2. Do not guess at what you think the temperature might be — use a candy/deep fryer thermometer.

Place 2-3 doughnuts in at a time for approx. 45 seconds to 1 minute on each side, turning them over with either tongs or a slotted spoon. You want the donuts to be a nice medium golden brown in color. At the correct temperature, they will fry quickly, so please pay attention while you're doing this part! If you're new to making house-made doughnuts, I would recommend only frying one at a time until you get the hang of it.

When the doughnuts are ready, carefully remove them from the oil and place them onto the cooling rack or paper towels to let any excess oil drain off of it. Allow them to cool slightly before adding the opening for the filling (optional).

When doughnuts are still warm and ready for coating, place 2-3 in a large ziplock bag with either the sugar or cinnamon sugar, and toss around until covered. Place them onto a parchment lined baking sheet or just begin to eat them.

The doughnuts should be cooled before adding the vanilla pastry cream filling.

<strong>vanilla pastry cream</strong> (<em>for doughnut filling, optional step</em>)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the vanilla pudding mix and milk until it thickens.

Using your hand-mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream on high speed for several minutes until medium peaks form.

Fold the whipped cream into the vanilla pudding mix with a spatula until completely blended.

Take a large piping bag fitted with a piping tip of your choice (I used the Wilton 1M tip) and fill with the vanilla pastry cream. Pipe into the doughnuts until filled.