Krapfen all over the place!

There are a lot of words for the round doughnuts with various fillings showing up around the city in full force this time of year. Krapfen and berliner are the two most common. There are different varieties of doughnuts here as well - schmalznudeln and ausgezogene are two others, which are flatter versions of the round doughnut.

I don't even really like doughnuts that much, but I am tempted to sample a few. The doughnut tradition for Fasching (the German Carnival) was a way for people who are going to fast for Lent to gorge themselves ahead of time. I don't know how many still fast for Lent, but the festivities leading up to it sure are fun!

Krapfen display at a train station bakery

Back to the krapfen... I was inspired to write this post because of the tiramisu-flavored one that recently caught my eye. In the past, I've seen vanilla, marmelade, chocolate, egg-liquor (no idea what that one's all about; sounds disgusting to me), Caipirinha-flavored, coconut-creme, one with red-liquid-filled plastic syringe on top (??!??!), gummi bears and worms covering another, and the list could go on and on. It's the only time I've really seen the Germans go wild with their desserts!

Doughnut snowmen/clowns for Fasching