Hi all! Happy Mardi Gras! This past Sunday my sister suggested to me that we make something I had never heard of before: fasnachts. These are German donuts that are made and enjoyed every Fat Tuesday and are apparently delicious. We didn’t have time to make traditional fasnachts but decided to try a couple of cheat donuts: fried biscuit dough and fried puff pastry. Both options were delightful and both are definitely worth making! Here are the recipes:

Biscuit Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar (optional)

Puff Donut Ingredient:

• 1 sheet premade puff pastry, thawed

Other Miscellaneous Things:

• Canola or vegetable oil, for frying
• Cinnamon and granulated sugar for rolling (if desired)

Fill a large stockpot or saute pan with oil and put it over medium-high heat until it’s approximately 350F. While the oil is heating, get the biscuit dough going.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar (if using) in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. A note about the optional sugar: we tried the dough with and without the sugar and they were both yummy. The dough without the sugar was great when rolled in sugar, and the dough with the sugar already added didn’t really need anything else- it was good plain!

Add the milk and mix until fully incorporated.

Roll out the dough to about 1/2″ thick. Using any round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out your donuts. You can definitely reroll your dough scraps, but we just fried the scraps- they all tasted equally delicious!

Fry the dough balls for about 45 seconds per side, or until the dough is dark golden brown. Drain on a paper towel-lined cooling rack or plate.

If desired, roll your donuts in granulated sugar.

And that’s it for the biscuit dough ones! The puff pastry ones are even easier:

Flatten out your puff pastry sheet. Using your biscuit cutter, cut out donut shapes. Again, feel free to just fry the scraps- they end up coming together like funnel cake.

Fry the pastry for approximately 30-45 seconds per side. These didn’t really color further than a light golden brown, so just fry them until they’re crispy.

Drain on the paper towel-lined rack or plate and, if desired, toss in cinnamon and/or sugar. These ones tasted a lot like churros or Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Delicious!

Both of these recipes were super yummy- bonus, they didn’t really take that much time. Highly recommend these- and not just for Mardi Gras! Happy baking!