italian desserts

I am so happy to share another guest poster on BigFatBaker. Today I have the lovely Manuela from Manu’s Menu. I have had the pleasure of talking to Manu through Twitter and other social networking sites over the past couple of months. She is very talented in the kitchen and a terrific photographer. Today she is sharing a lovely italian dessert, krapfen.

When Erin asked me to write a guest post for her, I looked into my archive and saw that I had the perfect recipe for her! I had made these a little while ago for a tea party at my daughter’s pre-school and have not had a chance to blog about them yet.

When I write a post for someone else, I always try to offer something that represents me and my site… you know, like a “business card” kind of thing. So I usually write about an Italian dish and/or something I grew up with.

This dish falls under both categories: it is an Italian sweet that I grew up eating it! I know what you are thinking: krapfen… Italian? With that name? So, I think I owe you a little explanation…

Krapfen is a sweet doughnut originally from Austria and Germany where is often referred to as “Berliner”, thus the name. It is common throughout central Europe, especially in the countries that were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and some parts of North-Eastern Italy are among these areas. South Tyrol/Alto Adige is a region of Italy that borders with Austria where the majority of people speak a language that is very close to Austrian German. This is the area from which krapfen have spread to the rest of Italy.

I love these doughnuts and I used to often buy them from our local bakery as a child. They can be filled with a variety of sweet fillings (including a thick custard), but the most classic filling of all for Italian krapfen is apricot jam. I hope you enjoy them! And thanks Erin for giving me the opportunity to be a guest over at your beautiful site!

Krapfen

Ingredients:

500+150 gms flour
1 pinch salt
7 gms dry yeast
100 gms melted butter
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 egg yolks + 1 full egg
5 tbsp (75 gms) sugar + 1 tbsp (15 gms)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp rum
Zest of 1 lemon, grated
1 glass of lukewarm milk (250 ml)

Put the 500 gms of flour and salt in a mixer with a dough hook. Make a well and add 1 tbsp of sugar and the yeast. Mix together and add ½ glass of lukewarm milk (125 ml) diluted with 2 tbsp of water. Mix and let the foam form.

Now add the 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, egg yolks and egg, lemon zest, rum, vanilla extract, sugar, melted butter and lukewarm milk to the frothy mixture. Put the mixer on and mix with the hook attachment until you get a smooth dough (you may require to add up to 150 gms extra flour while kneading, the final dough has to be soft, but not sticky). Let the dough rise for 2 hours in a warm place.

After the dough has risen, roll it into a ½ cm thick sheet. Cut out circles of 8 cm in diameter (you can also make smaller ones of 6 cm each, if you want to make smaller krapfen). Put 1 tsp of apricot jam on half of the circles and cover them with the remaining circles. Close by using a little water and pressing well with your fingers. Let them rest for about one hour (this step is optional, I usually prepare all the krapfen and them start frying them from the first one I made working backwards. That is enough time for the dough to rest).

Deep fry the krapfen in warm vegetable oil (I use sunflower oil). Make sure the oil is not too hot or the krapfen will get burnt and remain raw on the inside. When golden brown, remove them with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate covered with kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.

When cooled down sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy!