Four generations of family gathered in Kim Goodhile’s kitchen near Country Junction on Saturday to make homemade doughnuts for Fastnacht Day.

This Tuesday is also called Fat Tuesday and Doughnut Day, and it is an annual Pennsylvania Dutch Tradition that falls on the day before Ash Wednesday.

On this day, families splurge on the very best foods before the 40-day Lenten fast.

“My aunt, Olive Hahn, always made cinnamon buns and doughnuts every year for Doughnut Day. I used to help her,” said Marie Beers, the family matriarch.

Beers, the honorary supervisor this weekend, stood alongside her daughter Kim and granddaughter Ashley Goodhile.

“We used to take off work Tuesdays and stay home from school to bake doughnuts together. But it made for a long day, so we moved it to the weekend before,” said Kim Goodhile.

The recipe they use is Hahn’s. The recipe card is stained from years of lying on a counter near the Crisco, eggs, butter, sugar and yeast.

They start by cooking a few potatoes until they are soft enough to mash, then they use a special tool to mash it really good, then add yeast and water.

“Of course, we extracted all the fat and calories,” joked Kim Goodhile. “They are yummy and worth all the back pain I will endure today.”

The women started mixing the ingredients and rolling out the doughnuts at 8 a.m. That process took about three hours.

“We made a double batch to share with family and friends,” she said.

Her table was covered in doughnuts waiting to go into a pan on the stove, where she flipped each one after a couple minutes browning on one side. The pan contained bubbling Crisco to fry the doughnuts.

She also had a window screen resting on two chairs and covered with a sheet. Under it were more doughnuts waiting for their swim in the oil. A window remained open to keep the kitchen somewhat cool, despite the heat from the frying pan.

If the room temperature got too warm, the dough would flop, and the doughnuts would not look as nice.

“Even if some flop, they’re still homemade and that is what matters,” said Ashley Goodhile.

When her mom was done frying the doughnut, Ashley took it to cover with sugar and then put into a cake pan with the other completed doughnuts.

“My older brother, Travis, never helped Mom and I bake doughnuts, but he sure loves to help eat them,” she said.

She and her colleagues at a veterinary office started the new year with healthy eating goals. They have been successful so far.

“Of course, that all goes away this week so we can enjoy the doughnuts,” she said.

Her dad, Mark, and her son, 2-year-old Cole Klemczak, had three important tasks: taste test the delicacies, stay out of the women’s way, and pick up dinner from the Barn Door eatery inside Country Junction.

“Cole says the doughnuts are a hit,” said Mark Goodhile, as he washed off the toddler’s sugary hands.

At one point, Cole climbed into the lap of his great-grandmother - whom they call Mammay - and took a second tasty treat while Beers shared family memories.

“My husband, nicknamed Whip, looked forward to Doughnut Day,” Beers said.

For years, Beers lived with Hahn and made the doughnuts in Hahn’s kitchen. When Beers had her own kitchen and children, the doughnut making continued in her home.

At Christmastime, the women enjoy baking nut tassies and cutout cookies together.

About four years ago, they moved the doughnut production across the yard to Kim’s kitchen.

“We raided mom’s cupboards for pots, pans and supplies,” said Kim Goodhile. “We use the rim of a Mason jar to shape the doughnuts and a thimble to cut out the doughnut holes. We roll the holes into little balls and eat those, too.”

In the old days, people did not have extra money to buy special supplies for baking doughnuts, so they used what they had lying around the house - including the jar and the sewing thimble, she said.

It was about 8 p.m. when they had the 200 doughnuts bagged and could leave the kitchen for the night. They returned Sunday to make about 12 pans of sticky buns.

“It is pretty much the same process, but instead of cutting doughnuts, you roll it out and add butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, roll it and then cut pieces. Place them in pans and let rise. Once risen, bake and (you’re) done,” said Ashley Goodhile.

When their work in the kitchen was done Sunday, they had another homemade treat to share with family, friends and colleagues on Fastnacht Day.

“I really love these doughnuts and these days baking together,” said Beers.