Friday, June 6, 2014

It's National Doughnut Day!



 My Mom's tried, tattered and true recipe. I remember coming home from school to the smell of doughnuts frying. It was always a surprise.  And finally....it was a good day after all!  

I'm re-posting my Mom's doughnut recipe for National Doughnut Day.  Yum!

 I've had to laugh at some of the comments from my recipe posts.  Everyone wonders how I stay so thin.  Well, maybe I'm not thin!  How do you know?  To some of you I'm just a virtual artist.  But I say everything in moderation.  Except exercise.  I'm not going to lie.   That you have to do mega-moderately.  Bummer.  But it really helps to get through 1/2 hour on the stairmaster if I can imagine how delicious a cosmopolitan will taste with dinner.  Or if I'm doing a morning walk around one of our chain of lakes.  Hmmm.  What carrot can I dangle at the end of a stick in front of me?  A delicious chocolate covered doughnut perhaps?   Now it's time to make the old fashioned doughnuts.... 
  
Pre- mix the dry ingredients:

4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt 
1 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Now in another bowl mix:

2 beaten eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp melted butter


Then add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Mix just until the consistency of this photo.  Chill for 1 hour.


 Roll out the dough on a floured surface (about 1/2 inch thick) and dust with more flour on top of dough.  


Besides a rolling pin you'll need a doughnut cutter and a hole puncher.  I roll my dough thin because I like crisper doughnuts.
Don't worry about mis-shapen doughnuts.  They will all taste the same in the end. Re-roll all remaining dough pieces and cut more doughnuts. 
I use my tried and true cast iron skillet. (but a deeper pan might be safer) I fill it 1/2 way full with peanut oil and use a good quality thermometer.  Bring it up to 375 degrees.  And be careful.  I always wait till after lunch to fry my doughnuts. That is when the cats are napping!  Don't over fill the skillet with dough or your oil will reduce in temperature.  
Fry them all and put them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. I put the holes in cinnamon sugar.
 Here I frosted them with a chocolate ganache.  Heat 1/3 cup 1/2 and 1/2 just until the edge of the milk starts to simmer.  No longer. Then take it off the heat and stir in 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips. I'm not apologizing for the doughnut's crunchy and mis-shapen appearance.  Those are my favorite ones! These don't taste greasy.  Just earthy, crunchy and fabulous. And they freeze beautifully.  I put them in my freezer on the cookie sheet until firm.  Then I take them out and put them in a zip loc bag.    
 Here's my portion.  It is an indulgence.  But life is too short not to enjoy yourself.  You could deny yourself of the good things in life and then get hit by a bus the next day. Yikes.  My husband takes the bus.  But everything in moderation.  And my age and weight will continue to remain a mystery! Please pass on this fabulous recipe.  Or make it with your Mom today.

Happy Doughnut day!

13 comments:

Christina Rodriguez said...

Those cats are keeping you in shape!

I gotta get you and Dean out here. We could go on a culinary adventure. Thinking about saying farewell to Slender Christina and fully embracing my inner Gourmand; it's just so hard to deny it here in PVD!

Wanda..... said...

I'm eating a piece of Hawaiian banana bread that I baked yesterday, but I wish it was one of your warm chocolate covered donuts, Sharon. Thanks for the recipe!

Rita said...

Wow, those look amazing! I have never tried to make donuts before but this might make me try. You should laminate that old recipe card. What a treasure.

Deb Barnes - Zee and Zoey said...

Mmm... lots of work, but I love real, homemade doughnuts!! Homemade bagels are so yummy too!!

DJan said...

I looked at these but then decided to avert my eyes before I do something rash... like try to EAT A DOUGHNUT!

Elizabeth Rose Stanton said...

I just read in the NYTimes about a high-end store in Manhattan that is selling BAKED donuts. Hmmm...maybe a little less exercise after eating one of those?

Tweedles -- that's me said...

Those donuts look sooo good, but I have tears in my eyes- because my mom- who is no longer living used to make those for us (home made donuts).
Thank you for the recipe- and I also wanted to thank you for the kind words you left on my blog about Payton- and your friend who wrote a book.
thank you
love
tweedles

DJan said...

These look fabulous. All I can say is that I'm glad you don't live nearby. :-)

Cat and DOG Chat With Caren said...

OMG I AM DYING HERE!! These look fabulous! I would LOVE that they are "crunchy" (Probably just crunchy on top?) Hehehe I have SEEN photos of you and you are SLIM and I am fairly certain younger than me!

Anonymous said...

these look delicious...I will have to try this recipe

Pat Tillett said...

Oh yeah! I LOVE donuts! Any size, shape or flavor...

Pat Tillett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
A Colorful World said...

They look fantastic! Oh, yum! I wish I had some!:-) What a wonderful heritage from your Mom!