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Dessert

May Friedl

A yeast dough pastry filled with fruit or sweet fillings, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

May Friedl

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Break one yeast cake in a little warm cream, add a teaspoon of sugar, and set in a warm place to rise.

  2. Beat the yolks of four eggs until creamy; add four tablespoons melted butter, two teaspoons of sugar, and beat well.

  3. Add one cup of warm cream, half a teaspoon of salt, two tablespoons of brandy or rum, raised yeast, and enough flour to make a soft dough, about three-quarters of a pound.

  4. Set the dough in a warm place to rise; then turn it out onto a floured board, pat it out to one-half inch thick, cut into small squares, and place a teaspoon of filling on each square.

Fill and fry

  1. Fold each square over, pinch the edges together tightly, cover, and allow the doughnuts to rise until light.

  2. Drop the doughnuts into hot lard and fry until brown, being careful they are cooked through.

Make the fillings

  1. For prune filling: stew prunes with a few slices of lemon; when tender, strain and remove stones, chop finely, sweeten, and add cinnamon to flavor.

  2. For pineapple filling: strain a can of shredded pineapple; boil the pulp with enough sugar to sweeten until thick; set aside to cool.

  3. For poppy seed filling: grind poppy seed finely and add grape jelly to make a paste, or boil the ground poppy seed in milk, sugar, a little syrup, and a pinch of salt; when cool, thin with cream.

  4. For apricot filling: stew apricots until tender; strain, press through a coarse sieve, and sweeten to taste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

692Calories
20 gProtein
23 gFat
98 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Brandynot in our table0
Cakenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Brandy + cinnamontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  5. Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Yeast cake
Makes the dough rise and become light and airy.
Eggs
Add richness and structure to the soft dough.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the dough.
Flour (in the method)
Forms the gluten structure that holds the soft dough together.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor to the dough.

The step that matters

Frying the doughnuts. Fry in hot lard until brown and cooked through. If the fat is too cool, the dough absorbs oil and turns greasy; if the heat is too high, the outside browns before the centre cooks.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, brandy, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonthe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, brandy, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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