Swiss Fastnachtschüecheli

I found some kind of baked good today in a city nearby, where Fastnacht/Carnival/Fasching is a very import part of the year and many of the people there are involved. So sometimes a shop is selling something that is a tradition in other area of the world during this period of festivities.

Eating it reminded me a bit of Indian Poppadoms. But a sweet variety. So I started some research.

The dough is mainly eggs, cream and flour and has the consistency of a soft yeasty dough. A ping pong ball size piece of dough then is rolled out in a circle and now comes the special way of doing it:
cover your knee with a kitchen towel and give the dough a good flattening to make it wider and paper thin. In a big pot heat oil to 170 C and stuff the dough piece in, it will be wider then the pot and you have to push it back in, so it makes these waves. Turn it and let it crisp up. Drain it on kitchen paper and the put lots of powdered sugar on top. Stored in an airtight container it will last.

These things are sometimes called shards, because they break into shard pieces. And when something breaks into shards you get good luck.

I found a recipe on a Swiss site. You don´t have to use your knee but you can make just rectangles and fry them, they break the same way.

recipe:
210 g flour
2 egg yolks
1 egg
2 tbsp sour cream
40 g sugar
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla sugar

oil for the fryer
lots of powdered sugar

Prepare the dough and let it rest for 1 hour. Roll it into thin rectangles and fry them 4-5 minutes, turning them half way. Drain and heap the sugar on top.