Fastnacht Potato Cakes or Doughnuts

(Shared recipe submitted by Sandy Lampe.)

Makes 2 cakes

Sandy writes: "I finally came across a recipe for the Fastnacht Potato Cakes my Dad made. This recipe came from a friend. I think my Dad used this recipe for making doughnuts, also. When Dad made these into doughnuts, he rolled the dough out on our kitchen table, sprinkled with flour, and used a water glass to cut out the doughnuts. He then asked us kids to help with the bags of cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar, or white sugar. We would drop the fried doughnuts into a bag of choice and shake the bags with all our might to make sure they were coated a lot. It was a treat to eat them hot!"

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup hot mashed potatoes
• 1-1/2 cups potato cooking water
• 1/2 cup butter or shortening
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 7 to 7-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• Melted butter or shortening for brushing

Put mashed potatoes into a bowl. Beat in the butter or shortening, then the egg, and a mixture of sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Beat until fluffy. Soften the yeast in the warm water; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Beat yeast into potato mixture. Alternately add the flour and potato water to the yeast mixture, beating well after each addition. If necessary, add more flour to make a soft dough. On a floured surface, knead dough until smooth and satiny. Put into a greased bowl and grease top of dough. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours. Punch down dough and divide into two portions. Fit each portion into a greased 8x8x2-inch pan. Brush with melted butter or shortening. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes.

Disclaimer: This recipe was submitted by a contributor and has not been tested by TerisKitchen.com.