Doughnut Worry…

Easier said than done right?

We are officially into week three of our social distancing in B.C and I have a feeling this is what life may look like for quite some time. I’d be lying if I said I was doing great. Home from work, kids home from school, hubby working from home and I miss people!

This morning as my husband was getting ready to go to work (from his desk in the living room) he said “why don’t you get the old betcha can’t eat just one up and running again!” Seeing that I have a lot of time on my hands and friends asking for the recipes on my social media posts it seems like an appropriate time so here it goes!

Happy to have you join me!

Now on to the important stuff…. Doughnuts!  I have posted this recipe in the past but I have since tweaked it!

Here’s what you’ll need:

For Doughnuts

• 2.5 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1 tsp vanilla
•  1/2 tsp salt
•  2.5 cups of flour (you may require more flour than this)
• cooking oil for frying 
• deep fry thermometre 

For the Chocolate Glaze (recipe from Alton Brown)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 tbsp light corn syrup (if you only have dark that will work )
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (lets get real, there’s a pandemic.  Just use chocolate chips if you that’s what you have!)
• 2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

Begin by adding the warm water, sugar and yeast to your mixing bowl and give it a little bit of a whisk to mix.  Next add the beaten egg, vanilla and the cooled butter.   Add half of the flour along with the nutmeg and salt and mix to form a dough. If you are using a kitchen aid mixer, use the dough hook attachment and mix on low speed.    Continue to add flour until the dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl and forms a ball.   The dough should be soft and slightly tacky but not sticky.   If you are kneading by hand, the same rule applies, you want the dough to be soft but not sticky.

Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover with a tea towel.  Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

After the dough has risen, gently deflate the dough and roll out on lightly floured surface 3/4″-1″ thick.   Using a doughnut cutter, or a circle cutter, cut doughnuts and place on parchment paper.  You can also set the doughnut holes aside to rise.

Cover the doughnuts with a clean tea towel and allow to rise again for about 45 minutes.  

 While the doughnuts rise, fill a heavy bottom large pot with about 3″ of cooking oil and heat over medium high until the oil reads between 325-375 degrees F.

  I have found that this takes some experimentation to figure out.  If your oil is not hot enough, your dough will absorb the oil and be greasy and gross.  If too hot, your dough will brown too quickly and leave you with uncooked dough in the middle.  Don’t get discouraged if this happens.  Once my oil is up to temperature, I have to turn the stove element down and back up occasionally to keep the oil at the right cooking temp.  

 This is where your doughnut holes and scraps of dough come in handy!  Use them to test your oil before you commit with your doughnuts!

Once risen, place a few doughnuts carefully into the hot oil and cook for about a minute and a half each side.  

Remove doughnuts to a cooling rack that’s been placed on a cookie sheet lined with paper towel to catch the oil drips.  Continue with remaining doughnuts and holes until all have been fried.

We shook our doughnut holes in a paper bag with cinnamon and sugar . 

While your doughnuts cool, snack on doughnut holes and prepare chocolate glaze!

To make the Glaze

Combine the butter, milk, corn syrup and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk together until butter is melted and then whisk in chocolate until smooth.  Add in the sifted powdered sugar and whisk until smooth and glossy.  

Dip your doughnuts right away and sprinkles, nuts, coconut or whatever your heart desires then give the glaze 30 minutes to set. 

I had some Bavarian cream in the pantry so I made some Boston Cream doughnuts as well.  Use a knife to pierce the side of the doughnut and using a pastry bag, fill with cream. 

Enjoy!