Back in January, we marked the beginning of carnival season/Epiphany/Three Kings with Three Kings cake, which is really more of an arrangement of raisin and almond buns than it is a cake. At the time, I compared it to king cake, which is ubiquitous in New Orleans before Mardi Gras. Unlike Dreikönigskuchen, which is reserved for Three Kings Day on January 6, king cake gets consumed for weeks. Now I realize that the better equivalent is Fasnachtschüechli, or little Fasnacht cakes.
Like the Three Kings cake, Fasnachtschüechli aren’t what I would consider cake. They are thin, crispy, round fritters covered in powdered sugar. They show up in the grocery stores around January 4. I find it difficult not to eat all six in the package in a day, the same way I find it difficult not to eat all the tortilla chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant, totally filling up before the main course. And like bits of chips or confetti at a Fasnacht parade, the Fasnachtschüechli powdered sugar gets all over the place.
In French, these carnival cakes are called merveilles de carnival (carnival marvels or treasures, which is really overhyping the treat). The Italian fritelle di carnivale is much more accurate: carnival fritter. If there’s a common name in Switzerland’s fourth official language, Romansch, the stores aren’t printing them on their packages.
Of course, we also have the regional Swiss German differences in the name, like Chneublätz, which Wikipedia translates to Knielappen, which I’m translating to “knee cloth.” This name came from Fasnachtschüechli’s original preparation, which involved stretching the dough paper-thin over one’s dish towel-covered knee. I watched this 2011 video of an 86-year-old woman making them, and she used what looks like a pasta roller to flatten her dough. I wonder if anyone’s still using the knee method.
While Fasnachtschüechli are a Basel Fasnacht treat, they are “in season” throughout Switzerland at different times. Apparently they are typical treats at Kirchweih or Kirchweihfest, which is a celebration of a church’s consecration. This is not a festival I’ve been invited to, and I’m not sure a Fasncachtschüechli would be enough of a draw.
The Pennsylvania Dutch also make a fritter called “Fasnacht,” which vaguely resembles the Swiss one in the photos in this Wikepedia article, In other searches and recipes online, it just looks like a doughnut. Apparently these are known as “Kinklings” in Maryland. Maryland friends, discuss – have you ever encountered these?
The other Basel Fasnacht foods are flour soup and onion pie, but I’ll save those for next year’s Fasnacht newsletters.
Our village’s Fasnacht celebrations started yesterday; the main parade is Sunday. I look forward to finding confetti in every corner of our home for the next six months.
I am from Maryland and have NEVER heard of kinklings. Very interesting!
Never heard of kinklings! There’s a Pennsylvania Dutch market around the corner with a bakery and a pretzel stand so I’ll look next time we go!