Wort
Förtchen (also Pförtchen , Förte , Pförte ; Low German : Futjes , Futtjes , Futtjens , Pfütten ) are a traditional pastry in parts of northern Germany, especially in Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony , which is baked especially at Christmas and New Year's Eve . Farts are fried in fat in a special pan with spherical recesses on the stove. As soon as the outer shell has turned golden brown, they are turned over. This ideally creates a spherical shape.
Fillings
Different fillings are used for warts from region to region. There are versions with applesauce , plum jam, pitted prunes or with apple pieces filled as well as unfilled wortlets or those with chopped almonds and raisins to refine. The filling is usually brought in before baking by applying the filling spoon by spoon to one half of a rolled out yeast dough, then covering it with the other half of the rolled out dough, and then cutting it out with a glass or another round shape.
Förtchenpfanne
Originally the pans were made of earthenware or copper, later made of iron with a white enamel top. These were adapted for the open fire, the oven or the round holes in the stove top. With today's electric stoves, these historical devices can often only be used to a limited extent or not at all.
history
In earlier times, the Förtchen were often served late at Christmas as the last treat, which was popularly known as Vullbuksabend ("full belly evening"). In many families there were and still are special recipes that are passed on from generation to generation. As early as the end of the 18th century, the Förtchen also conquered their place on the New Year's Eve and replaced other dishes there, such as New Year's cake made from flour, honey and spices in a waffle iron. When the Rummelpottlauf , sometimes still widespread today and mostly held on the evening of the old year, disguised children went from house to house to sing sweets, e.g. B. the popular Förtchen to beg.
Förtchen variants, mostly without filling, are said to have existed as early as the 16th century, just as the different shapes of donuts were generally known in the Middle Ages and even in the Roman Empire .
