Lifelong county resident families, Smiths and Strohls, have been handmaking doughnuts since the early 1900s.

Every year they work to create traditional Pennsylvania Dutch fasnachts.Fasnacht Day takes place the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, otherwise known as "Fat Tuesday" or "Mardi Gras" to Catholics and Protestants.Led by family patriarch Amandus Smith, the family formed an assembly line this weekend in Lower Towamensing Township to make eight batches of 24 handmade pastries from scratch.Smith's son Carl has the method memorized."It's been the same recipe every year. My grandmother on my mother's side handed it down."Their 100-year-old recipe includes yeast and potato water, leaving the treat more savory than sweet.It's Smith's baking know-how that is the heart of the process, knowledge he gained from his own mother at a young age."My mother's arm didn't work. So she would take me in the kitchen and tell me what to do," he said.He was 15 when she passed away. Along with his siblings, he had to leave school to work on neighboring farms to survive."I wanted to be a dentist," he said with a laugh.As an adult he turned back to his baking roots during a recession."While I was laid off from the railroad I decided to start baking. We baked 4,000 doughnuts in one day. We sold them for $1 a dozen."Smith said he and his crew would have four coal stoves going at once to keep up with the demand."The last person out of bed on doughnut day was called a fasnacht," said Susan Strohl, twin sister of Carl's wife, Anna.They still use old-fashioned lard to fry the doughnuts."It's not that good for you, but look at him. He is 93," Strohl said about Smith.According to Strohl, using lard helps the powdered sugar stick to the fried creation better.The dough is prepared the night before, so it has time to rest and rise."You have to punch it down, and then let it rise again," Carl said."One year we didn't let it rise and just fried them right away," Anna said. "It's been a learning process."After cutting the dough, the newly formed circles and holes are set in front of the family's fireplace for a chance to rise one more time before being tossed into the hot oil.Younger family members took over the bulk of the process a few years ago."We like to keep the tradition going with him," Carl said.Carl's mother, Joyce, was the first one to taste the freshly fried and sugared doughnut holes."My mother's the sampler. She will let you know," said Carl. Joyce approved of this year's batch.The handmade confections will be divvied among family and friends."The girls at the office always ask me to bring them in," said Strohl's daughter Melissa Leaser.