Oma's Jelly Donut Recipe: Berliner Pfannkuchen or Krapfen

➤ by Gerhild Fulson

This easy and delicious German jelly donut recipe, aka Berliner Pfannkuchen or Krapfen (among many other names!) is made with a simple yeast dough.

Filled with jam, deep-fried, and dusted with powdered sugar, these homemade doughnuts can be enjoyed all year round, but they are especially traditional served on New Year’s Eve where they are eaten at midnight for a sweet start to the New Year.

This sweet jelly-filled fluffy donut is also very popular during Germany’s Karneval Season, also known as Fasching or Fastnacht.

Regardless of the time of year, plan to make these the same day you want to eat them. They taste best fresh, when they are still warm. Wunderbar!

What is a jelly donut called in Germany?

Jelly doughnuts go by various names throughout Germany:

• In Berlin, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Brandenburg, they are just called Pfannkuchen, which translates as pancakes. (Pancakes in these areas are called Eierkuchen, literally egg cakes.)
• In Northern and Western Germany, they are called Berliner Ballen or just Berliner.
• In Southern and Central Germany, including Bavaria, these are called Krapfen, Fastnachtskrapfen or Faschingskrapfen.
• In Hesse, they are Kräppel or Kreppel.
• In Palatinate, they are Kreppel or Fastnachtsküchelchen.

How to make homemade jelly donuts

This recipe for homemade donuts is adapted from an old Dr. Oetker cookbook, Baking is Fun, Volume 1. It’s an easy recipe to make, especially if you have a deep fryer, although just having a deep pot and deep-fry thermometer will also work well.

I use my stand mixer with a dough hook attachment to make quick work of kneading the dough. If you don’t have one, use a wooden spoon to mix the dough ingredients together in a large bowl and then knead the sticky dough with your hands until the dough is smooth, soft, and elastic.

Using a bread machine on the dough setting to make the dough through the first rising is also an option.

Once the easy yeast dough is made and has had its first rise, the fun starts! Roll, cut out, fill, stack, and let rise again. Easy breezy!

Above, I've filled these with apricot jam, hubby's favorite. Whatever your favorite jelly or jam is will work great in these.

Following the original recipe cooked the donuts too quickly, so that they didn't cook all the way through. I lowered the oil temperature and fried them a little longer to ensure they were evenly cooked throughout.

When you make this jelly donut recipe for the first time, cook only one donut to start and check that it is properly cooked. That way, you can make any adjustments needed for the rest of the doughnuts.

Cover the Krapfen with confectioner’s sugar by putting the sugar into a sieve and hold over the donuts. Tap the sieve with a spoon. The powdered sugar will fall like snow!

Fun Facts about Berliner Pfannkuchen

• A strange German practical joke is to secretly fill one Berliner Pfannkuchen with mustard instead of jam and serve it with the regular jelly-filled doughnuts without telling anyone. This is usually done during the Karneval season.
• John F. Kennedy’s words “Ich bin ein Berliner” are standard German for “I am a Berliner.” An urban legend has it that due to his use of the indefinite article ein, Berliner is translated as "jelly doughnut" and that the population of Berlin was amused by the supposed mistake. However, Kennedy used the indefinite article correctly to emphasize his relation to Berlin, and since the word Berliner is not used in Berlin to refer to the Berliner Pfannkuchen since they are simply called Pfannkuchen there, no Berliner would mistake Berliner for a doughnut.
• These were also shown as one of the traditional 'Equator treats' on the popular German TV show, Verrückt nach Meer, as the ocean cruise liner crossed the Equator. 

Ready to make these easy and delicious Krapfen?

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