Weekend Breakfast: Donuts!

Making donuts has been on my really-want-to-do list for months.  The time involved had been prohibitive until this weekend.  So our halloween treat was homemade donuts for breakfast.

But these were the treat that almost wasn't.  For us, there was quite the learning curve involved with donuts.  First with the dough, then with the cutting, and again with how long to fry... little tricks that we needed to learn make our treats!

Since the recipe that I wanted to use had a second period of chilling the dough that could go overnight, I mixed them up on late Saturday afternoon. The batter was of course sticky. But was suppose to be firm enough for cutting after 30 minutes in the freezer, spread out between two sheets of waxed paper.  I left them in there for an hour before coming back to cut out the donuts.  Um, holy wow was it a sticky mess.  And sticky mess might not be a strong enough description.  These cake donuts were really just wanting to be cake. 

After trying to remove the waxed paper and work with the dough it was so frustratingly sticky that I threw it away.  It was just too much and pretty gross.  I really hate to throw things away like that as it is such a waste but in mind at that moment there was no where else for that dough to go.  For a second it crossed my mind that was the one attempt.  Then I thought about yeast donuts as the batter sounds easier to work with.  But then I was at the computer searching for a new recipe to try.

Determined to make donuts this weekend, I found a recipe that seemed a little less fussy.  It is a recipe that a blogger posted that their mom has been making forever.  Sold.  There is something about the simple recipe that has been working for a family for ages.  And this one seemed to have the lowest prep/waiting time involved compared to the others I was considering. 

So Sunday morning I stirred up the batter. The recipe was the type to have the flour as a range; I added until the consistency was similar to a puffy sugar cookie dough.  Chilled it in the freezer for an hour; I borrowed the idea of layering the dough between waxed paper from the other recipe but this time I sprinked the waxed paper with flour.  And success! This dough was firm enough to be cut.

When cutting them, my smallest circle cutter seemed like it would leave way to big of a center so I just used a rounded end spoon so make the holes.  The dough puffs up so much that I definitely could have used the 1" circle cutter.  Lesson learned for next time!

With only 800-some square feet, frying is not something we do often.  So it took us a batch or two to get the timing down.  We ended up needing to leave them in for just over 4 minutes.  While Dan took the task of frying, I took the job of dipping them in the icing.  Both of us tried (unsuccessfully) to sneak donut holes without being spotted.

We will definitely be making donuts again.  They were really freaking good.  But I want to try a yeast donut next time. 

Buttermilk Donuts

recipe adapted from Eating Out Loud

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 and 3/4 tablespoons butter
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1-2 cups all purpose flour

Beat the egg and sugar.  Mix in the butter.  Once fully incorporated add in the baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Mix the baking soda with the buttermilk.  Alternating buttermilk and flour, mix in three additions; fully incorporating before adding the next.  Then for the last cup of flour add just as much as is needed to make dough workable (it will still be sticky).

Put a piece of waxed paper on a large baking sheet, sprinkle with flour, add dough and stretch it out to about 3/4 inch thick.  Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Lay another sheet of waxed paper over the top.  Put in the freezer and chill for 30 to 60 minutes until it is firm enough to cut and hold its shape.

Cut the donuts; a 2.5" round cookie cutter with a 1" cookie cutter for the center.  Put on a floured surface as they will start to get a little sticky waiting their turn to be fried.

Prepare glaze: stir together 2 cups powered sugar with 1/4 cup hot water and 1 tsp vanilla.

Fry at 375F for between 3.5 to 4.5 minutes.  Use a slotted spoon to remove to a towel lined plate.  Immediately dip in glaze and then sit on a wire rack (with a baking sheet beneath) to cool.

Best enjoyed the day made.

Makes a bakers dozen with donut holes.

Enjoy!