Friday, April 27, 2012

Day of Doughnuts

I started yesterday by making these:
Frying them in this:
Cooling them on paper towels:
Shaking them - one at a time - in a sack (I double-bagged it)  of cinnamon and sugar:
Ta-da!
A basketful of doughnuts and doughnut holes:

I ended my day doing this AGAIN:
Lesson learned:  No need to double the recipe!

Oops!  Forgot to give this one a hole:
There!  Much better!
A second basketful:
I finished up by writing some notes in my cookbook.  Do you write comments in your cookbooks?  I highly recommend the practice.  The notes are so useful when you come back to the recipe again.  (The star means this recipe is a keeper.)
The recipe came from this cookbook:
I tried to find a link for it on their website, but there was not an exact match, so here's the recipe (slightly adapted by me), if you are inclined to try it.

Cake Doughnuts (makes around 24 doughnuts)

2 eggs 
1 cup buttermilk (I used plain yogurt)
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp. melted butter
1 cup whole wheat flour 
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Beat the eggs with buttermilk until light.  Add and beat in the sugar and butter.  Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Add to the liquid, beating until just mixed (don't overdo it).

Turn the sticky dough out onto a well-floured board.  With a well-floured rolling pin roll the dough out to between 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  Cut with a doughnut cutter and allow them to rest while you heat either vegetable oil (what I used) or lard or shortening to 365ºF.  The oil should be deep enough so the doughnuts can float (between an inch and two inches).

Add the doughnuts to the hot oil, a few at a time.  Cook a minute or so til the bottom half is golden, then flip them (use a slotted spoon or metal tongs) and brown the other side.  Remove them to a paper towel to drain.

In the meantime, take two paper sacks and put one inside the other.  Put 3/4 cup of sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon in the bag.  Make sure they are mixed well together.  After the doughnuts are cool enough to handle, put them one at a time into the sack and give them a good shake to coat them with the cinnamon and sugar.  Take them out of the bag and put them in a towel-lined basket.  Now they are ready to eat!

5 comments:

  1. How absolutely delicious! I love the look of these! As a result of all the blogging activity this week and trying to juggle work as well no cooking has been done and there is No Cake in the House! Nor any bread! So I do rather wish I could reach into my screen and snaffle one or may be two of your delicious cinnamon-dusted doughnuts to accompany my evening cup of Earl Grey tea! Tomorrow I must replenish the cake tin and bread bin or there will be Complaints from the resident customers!

    I agree about annotating cookbooks - it's a necessity or I can't remember how I tweaked the recipe at the last time of asking! Love your stars system!

    Thank you so much for giving me the low-down on the central vacuum cleaner - no, it was certainly not more info than I was after - i was fascinated and wish we had such things in the UK.

    Thank you for all your lovely encouraging comments this Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - have really appreciated them. Happy Weekend! Elizabeth xx

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  2. Oh Angela, I bet your kitchen smelled so delicious, these doughnuts look yummy, and your tutorial is perfect. I am copying this recipe, I absolutely do make notations in my cookbooks. thanks for sharing , and thank you for visiting me and for taking the time to leave me a sweet comment.
    Sue

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  3. This reminds me of when my mother did doughnuts...I have never done them with my kids....the teenage boys would come and eat them at our house...so many memories....so I know you make memories

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  4. My tummy is rumbling terribly reading this post! Those donuts look amazing. I have had a real giggle seeing the basket of donut holes - I've never seen that before and it's just gorgeous!

    The snake story has completely terrified me though. We don't have snakes in New Zealand and I think I would pass out on the spot if I saw one (let alone two) on the footpath in front of me!

    Have a fabulous week hon,
    Leah
    x

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  5. These look wonderful! I used to always make doughnuts...but try to resist them now! I can't just cook them....I have to EAT them all, too! heehee!

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