Hi Carol,

Fastnachtskugle go by many different names in Germany, because every region has its own recipe for those little donut-like balls (kugele is a south German dialect word for ball). Sometimes the dough is cut into little squares, so that the fried donuts look like little pillows.
Whatever their form, you usually use baking powder and eggs as raising ingredients, not yeast, and they are always rolled in lots confectioner's sugar while still hot.
Traditionally, 100 years back or so, fastnachtkugele were fried in lard, which was rather expensive then. Therefore they and other similar donuts were only made as special treats for winter holidays. Sometimes they are named after the holiday. This is the case with fastnachtskugele. Fastnacht is the Tuesday six weeks bevor Easter. It is the day bevor Lent (40 day period of fasting, where eating meat was not allowed), when all carnival festivities end.

In Germany you can buy freshly fried fastnachtskugele (more often called Mutzen) at street stalls during the winter months. 10 or 20 of them are sold in triangular paberbags, and you get really warm hands just holding them.

Here is a typical recipe for them from one of my favorite cookbooks, "Backbuch No 1" (never tried as I buy them in the streets).

Fastnachtskugele
makes 80

oil for frying
6 to 10 tbsp confectioner's sugar to dust

3 1/2 oz butter, softened
2 oz sugar
2 eggs (medium size)
a pinch of salt
finely grated peel of 1/2 lemon
3 1/2 oz cornstarch
1/2 pound flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 oz almonds, skinned and ground into meal
1 tbsp dark rum

1. Beat butter with sugar, until creamy. Add one egg at at time as well as salt and lemon peel. Beat until very creamy.

2. In a bowl mix flour, almonds, cornstarch and baking powder.

3. Sieve into the butter mixture in batches, add rum in between. Don't beat too much now, or dough will get though.

4. Heat the oil for frying to 350 F.

5. Now you can either use a teaspoon to form almond shaped "Kugele", or you flour the worktop, roll the dough 3/8 inch thick and cut 1 inch size squares.

7. Fry in batches for 5-8 minutes until light brown.

8. Sieve some of the conf. sugar on a platter. When kugele are done, let them drip on paper towels for a minute, then put on the platter and sieve more conf. sugar on top. Give them a thick white sugar coat. Eat immediately or very fresh.
(You might try using a zip lock bag, shaking kugele and sugar for this step?)

Hope this was helpful,
Inge