LEWISTOWN - Down through the kitchen in assembly-line fashion, the Hoffman family passes lumps of dough - cutting, molding, frying and dusting them into their neighborhood-famous doughnuts.
More than the sweet confections, the family also passes along a tradition that stretches back four generations.
To mark Faschnacht Day, or Shrove Tuesday, members of the Lewistown family gather to make more than 50 dozen doughnuts to give away to family and friends, said Cheryl Hoffman.
Hoffman said she began to make the faschnachts as a newlywed using a recipe and doughnut cutters from her grandmother. Thirty years later, Hoffman's tradition has grown to include her daughter Jenna Moyer and her husband, Matt.
Jenna Moyer said she remembers making the faschnachts every year since she was a child.
"She came out of the womb shaking doughnuts," her mother joked. "And she continued all through high school."
In middle school, Moyer said her friend Ashley Britt also got involved in the process.
During college, the two friends "took a hiatus" from faschnacht making, but returned to the family tradition after graduation.
The family considers the celebration of Faschnacht Day as much in the making of faschnachts as in the holiday itself.
"It's a process," Hoffman said.
On the Sunday before Faschnacht Day, Hoffman begins making the doughnut dough from an old family recipe, she said.
"I know the secret ingredient," Moyer said. "But (we joke that) I can't have the recipe until mom is dead."
"We do a lot of laughing on doughnut day," her mother added.
Hoffman said the recipe is for "real faschnachts," which are cake rather than raised doughnuts.
Even Jenna's husband Matt is involved. The couple, who live in Lancaster, took off work to make the doughnuts, Jenna said.
Every family member has a role to play in the assembly line: Rollers smooth out and cut the dough into that typical "O" shape, the fryer cooks them in the hot oil while monitoring the temperature, and the shakers wait for them to cool then toss them in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar.
After they are packaged in brown paper bags, the family takes Monday evening to drive around handing out the bags to neighbors and friends, Hoffman said.
"People expect them. It's such a tradition," Moyer said.
Hoffman added, "People from my husband's work call us weeks before about doughnuts."
However, the family does not sell their popular treats.
"We just drive around and give them to neighbors and friends," Hoffman said.
Moyer added, "It's a reason to visit and time to catch up."
The only downside to the family tradition is "the house will smell like grease for the next two weeks," Hoffman said, laughing.
Faschnacht Day is a German tradition that marks the day before Lent by using up fats and sugars, which were typically forbidden during the pre-Easter season.
Source : http://lewistownsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/512105.html?nav=5010
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