Today in Food on Fridays it’s the latest in our quest to find the perfect Berliner.

Well, I now call it a quest, even though I didn’t used to. But it sounds much better than just saying we’ve been buying lots of doughnuts to try, don’t you think?

Anyway, Chris and I have been sampling a variety of the new styles of flavors of Berliners that have appeared in the local bakeries this Berliner season. I actually remembered to take some photos of either the actual doughnuts or of the containers, so I thought I’d give you the current rundown.

Not quite Paradise

The German on the side of the box says Paradiesisch gefüllt, which loosely translated would be “paradise-like filled”:

The checkbox-like labels on the end of the box read:

• Erdbeere (strawberry)
• Vanilla geschmack (Vanilla flavor)
• Apfel (Apple)

Only 2 Berliners came in each box, so when I saw the 3 flavors listed on the package, I asked the clerk which kind they were. The woman replied that they were Erdbeere, Vanilla geschmack und Apfel — i.e. that they were all 3 flavors mixed together in a single doughnut.

I thought that sounded odd, but of course that only made me more determined to buy them for our research. 😉

When we tried them, though, we discovered that inside both doughnuts was exactly the same: a bright red jelly. Chris and I concurred that it seemed like this red jelly really just an overly sweet version of the red jelly that usually comes a regular Berliner.  And at the  time we thought it was only strawberry.

As I have previously mentioned on the blog, basic Berliners come filled with a red jelly. But this paradise jelly was different, and not in a good way, IMHO. It was so sweet I only ate a couple of bites. The texture of these Berliners was not that great. They were kind of stale and crunchy, even though they were freshly made. Apparently the stale and crunchy was an extra feature of paradise.

Now, I did wonder if I misunderstood the woman about the flavors – I mean, the box looks like the 3 flavors should indicate that it’s either/or, not and. So the next time I went to that bakery I asked again about those doughnuts, carefully phrasing my question to ask what was in the specific doughnuts in the box I was pointed to. And she repeated what she’d said the previous time: the doughnuts were Erdbeere, Vanilla geschmack AND Apfel [emphasis mine]. Hmm. Well, perhaps it’s the apple and vanilla mix with the strawberry that make that red stuff so sweet in these? Since I didn’t like them, I declined to buy another box;  we may never know the secret of paradise, I guess.

Irish Cream and Marshmallow

Well, those two flavors were not lumped together in one doughnut, but rather they were the two new flavors of the week at the bakery where I get the best pretzels in town, and also where I get other carnival-season fried dough confections.

The Irish cream Berliner came with a coffee bean on the top, invoking thoughts of the American-creation Irish Coffee. The marshmallow Berliner came with a marshmallow on top, although marshmallow does not factor into any other dessert here in Germany that I can remember seeing.

Oh yes, we needed to taste these. Before I cut them in half, we speculated as to what the filling would be in each one. The photos below show what the filling looked liked, sort of. In real life, the filling was not nearly as visible as it is in the photos – must have been a trick of the light when I took the photo. In person, you could barely see the cream fillings.

Taste-wise, the Irish cream filling turned out to be a custard-cream that was flavored ever-so-vaguely like Baileys Irish Cream liquor. I guess that makes sense in some odd way, since a very common Berliner flavor here is a custard flavored with an egg-based cream liquor. Both are an acquired taste for a doughnut, IMHO. However, we really didn’t understand the coffee bean on top of the Irish cream Berliner, since the American Irish coffee drink is made with whiskey and cream, not Baileys.

As for the marshmallow one, I’m amazed that you can actually see a white marshmallow filling in the photo; it was not nearly as white when viewed in our kitchen in person. But it was indeed a marshmallow-flavored filling, although you could barely taste it.

Not horrible, but neither were my favorite Berliner.

The Mighty Mini

Our final treat today is the mini Berliner, a version that neither Chris nor I knew was ever made. The Quarkie mini doughnut-like balls that are fairly ubiquitous this time of year are made with a different kind of dough than the Berliners, and are typically not filled, although some bakeries do now offer ones with a flavored custard-cream fillings.

However one bakery in town now also offers Mini Berliners, 12 to a box.

We got some yesterday for the first time. As you can see from the photo below, which shows one cut in half next to its uncut sibling, they are indeed miniature versions of the standard red jelly-filled Berliner:

And guess what — they are great! I think it’s about the best doughnut-item we’ve had here in Tübingen, bar none. They are tiny, but pack a lot of tasty goodness into each little bit-sized morsel.

It just goes to show you that the adage “good things come in small packages” applies equal-well to Berliners.

But who knows, perhaps an even better Berliner awaits us somewhere. After all, Berliner season doesn’t end here until Mardi Gras ends in March. So the quest for true Berliner Paradise marches on…