In North America, it is typically a form of cake doughnut made in a small loaf or simple stick shape or, in the case of the "French cruller", extruded in a ring from choux pastry.

They are traditionally baked on New Year's Eve as a family project, with the children doing the labor-intensive shaping and the grown-ups handling the deep frying.

In the United States, crullers were introduced in the late 18th and early 19th centuries by Pennsylvania Dutch settlers, and became popular in regions with large German populations.

[1][4] The term cruller is also associated with the mahua (Chinese: 麻花),[5] a type of twisted fried dough much denser and sweeter than youtiao.

[8] The name likely refers to the use of the French choux dough, with the actual origin of the pastry being German or Dutch, and was popularized in the United States by Dunkin' Donuts.

[14] As of 2003, the company still sold "French crullers",[15] which can be formed by a kind of extruding nozzle[16] similar to the way choux pastry is piped.