Homemade Donuts !

Tomorrow is Donut Day… this is a post I put out last year so here it is again…

I know…you are wondering why you would make your own donuts at home when you can buy delicious ones everywhere? Well, the answer to that will become evident when you try making these donuts at home!

When I was growing up, once in a while my mom would make these donuts. I have no idea how old the recipe is, or where she got it from. When I got married I sat down with her & wrote down a bunch of her recipes. This was one of them. I have delicious & fond memories of these donuts. I think I tried to make them once before, but I was a busy mom & if we wanted donuts…well we went and bought some at Tim Hortons! But, today, is Donut Day so what better day to pull out this old recipe & give it a try? It did not disappoint! They taste exactly as I remember them. The dough is soft & satisfying to work with. When you fry these up, if your oil is hot enough..but not smoking hot..they do not absorb too much oil, drain them well on paper towels & they are crispy & good! I put some toppings on these, but my mom never did…just good plain & simple. An old-fashioned cake donut.

I had to go get a new donut cutter as I had gotten rid of mine just a few years ago…thinking I would never make them! Ha! I found one at Bulk Barn here in Edmonton, but with the new popularity of donuts I am sure a cutter would be easy to find anywhere

I think that I would make a bunch of holes if I am going to serve them for company…a bit more work since the cutter is for a donut & a hole…I’ll figure it out if I decide to just make the holes.

I over cooked some of the doughnuts, burning about 4 of them. You have to watch them very closely I found out! You want to make sure that the dough is cooked inside but turn them over when the first side is nice & brown, continue frying them until the second side is brown & they are done! These took less than an hour from start to finish! I am not sure how long they stay for…since this is the first time I have made them in forever…. but maybe they will just get eaten up right away!

This recipe calls for milk & butter, but easy to change that & make them parve…non-dairy!

Let me know if you make them & what you think about this recipe!

Donuts  

 (makes 17 doughnuts & 17 holes when the dough is rolled out to 1/2 inch thick)

Ingredients

4 T soft butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk

4 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 t nutmeg

1 tsp salt

oil for frying

 

Method

You need a frying pan with high sides….I used a wok & it worked great

1. In a mixmaster or bowl mix all of the ingredients together. I mixed it in the order given. Butter & sugar first, add the eggs, mix well, add the milk & mix, add the flour, baking powder, nutmeg & salt, mix well
2. Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it briefly to bring it together & form into a large flat ball
3. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick
4. Cut your dough into donut shapes & holes, I cut all of the donuts, then put those onto a parchment lined baking sheet so that they were all ready to be fried & I would not have to move away from the stove once I started cooking them
5. Heat some oil in your frying pan…I had about 3/4 inch of oil..they do not need to be completely submerged in the oil since you can turn them. Test your oil by popping one of the holes in..if the oil bubbles around it then the oil is hot enough…but make sure it isn’t too hot…this would result in the donuts burning & not cooking through.
6. Fry the donuts until they are brown on one side then turn them over to finish cooking them on the other side. I found that a pair of chopsticks made turning the donuts really easy & I took the holes out with a slotted spoon
7. Drain the cooked donuts on both sides really well on some paper towel or a clean brown paper bag works well
8. You can sprinkle them with icing sugar, dip them in cinnamon sugar, plain sugar, make a glaze of icing sugar & water then put some sprinkles on top…or eat them plain which is my preference! If you are going to glaze them, make sure they are cool first…mine were a bit hot so you can see the glaze has disappeared… melted but  it’s still ok because the candy sprinkles are yum!

Enjoy!