Pennsylvania Dutch Tradition

Having grown up in northeastern Pennsylvania, one of my favorite traditions came from a childhood of fastnachts! Pennsylvania Dutch celebrate Fastnacht Day the day before Ash Wednesday to mark the start of Lent. The idea behind it was to use up ingredients like butter, sugar, and lard before the fasting that occurs during Lent. Fastnachts are a type of doughnut, and when you grow up with them, not much else compares. 

Fastnachts don't have a hole, are square-shaped, and are often potato based. My dad told me that my grandmother used to make twelve dozen every year. She had stopped making them before I was born, so I never had the opportunity to taste hers, but there were a few local bakeries that sold them all throughout my childhood, and one still does to this day. 

My mom, not being Pennsylvania Dutch, bought fastnachts, but also called it Doughnut Day. Not sure where this idea came from, but in my house, the last to get up in the morning was labeled the doughnut. Being the youngest, I remember being annoyed year after year when she'd say, "Good morning, Doughnut."

I got my hands on my grandmother's recipe once I started traditions with my family. Because it was for twelve dozen, it seemed impossible to reduce it to a dozen or two. I reached out to that one bakery near my hometown to see if they would ship fastnachts, but no luck. I found a website that did ship, but the cost of shipping alone was over the top. So, over the years, I substituted all kinds of recipes and just kept on calling it Fastnacht Day. A few years ago, we found a market that carried all kinds of ethnic treats. I had high hopes, but only found paczkis, Polish doughnuts. My husband's mother is one hundred percent Polish, so we bought a dozen. 

Every year, after making a yummy version of a doughnut, I always swore I'd attempt that fastnacht recipe the next year. Here I am, years later and I still haven't. Perhaps once my homeschooling years are over and mornings aren't filled with doing lessons, I'll roll up my sleeves and make fastnachts. If it's the twelve-dozen recipe, I suppose I'll just share my Pennsylvania Dutch roots with anyone willing to try one. 

Happy Fastnacht Day!