Whether it’s called Mardis Gras, Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, this special Tuesday is made even more special every year when Principal David Kehne brings in a delicious treat for Linganore’s staff.

Principal Kehne has been either baking or delivering kinklings, a German variation of doughnuts, for faculty members for five years.

“It was a particularly cold winter, and we had had a lot of 2-hour delays and such,” Kehne said of the kinklings’ beginnings.  “Our staff had been working extra hard, so I wanted to find a way to thank them.”

As it turns out, everyone loved Kehne’s gesture so much that he has delivered or made the German kinklings every Shrove Tuesday since.

Kehne has been enjoying kinklings as part of a Shrove Tuesday tradition since his childhood when he would eat them at his grandmother’s house.

“My grandma would make them, and we would have school, since it was a Tuesday, but after school, all my cousins would come over to her house and all our parents would come once they got off work,” explained Kehne.

“We would all sit down and have dinner together and eat the kinklings after.”

Kehne, like many others from Frederick, Maryland, is of German descent, which is how his family got in the habit of making kinklings every year.

Kinklings originated in Germany as a Shrove Tuesday tradition.  Christians would get rid of all “forbidden” or unhealthy foods in their house before Lent began the next day, on Ash Wednesday.  Many Germans would combine these foods together, like sugar and butter, to make what they called fasnacht.

Fasnachts are still made in parts of Pennsylvania that have a strong German heritage and in Frederick, where they are regionally called kinklings.

This year, the principal delivered these German pastries a day earlier than usual, to the delight of the faculty.

Kehne drove to Jefferson Pastry Shoppe at 6 a.m. to keep the kinkling tradition alive.

“Some years I’ve made the kinklings, but this year I bought them from a bakery,” explained Kehne.  “I had to find a place that would have them ready early enough for me to have at the start of the school day.”

The Jefferson Pastry Shoppe is a favorite among other local kinkling consumers and must begin preparations for Shrove Tuesday weeks in advance in order to meet the demands of Kehne’s fellow Frederick County customers.

The members of Linganore’s staff joined in the kinkling craze on February 8 and showed their appreciation for their principal’s efforts with big smiles and full stomachs.

Try making your own kinklings on Shrove Tuesday, or any day of the year, with this delicious recipe.