Random Review- Installment 2, Doughnut Day
There are some traditions very much worth the keeping, and Doughnut Day would be one of them!
This particular Tuesday- the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins- goes by many names and is celebrated in many ways, but I grew up calling it Doughnut Day and that name still conjures up the very images and smells that came alive in my kitchen today!
Doughnut Day at home was always a special day and a homeschooler's delight since you could mix, stir and fry doughnuts instead of doing math and still count it as a day of school!
Oh, yes, and a lot of taste-testing was required, too, which is a job with a lot of joy attached, as you can see in the picture below of me at six years old.
It had been about 7 years since I was last involved with making homemade doughnuts, and for some reason, this winter I kept thinking about wanting to make them again! I even figured out early on when Doughnut Day was this year so I could keep track of it and I penciled it in Elasa's log book.
I guess you could say it was another thing on my mental list of things I wanted to do!
Some of the inspiration may have come from a book I plucked off the shelf of new books at the library. Even though I didn't end up making any of the recipes out of Doughnuts! 100 Dough-licious Recipes, by Carol Beckerman & Dawn Otwell, the recipes & pictures had me licking my lips.
My mom was actually the one who helped make my ambitions a reality by offering to make doughnuts with me and by bringing her expertise into the bargain!
The morning of Doughnut Day dawned bright and cold, with sunshine turning the freshly-fallen snow into a sea of diamonds. It was the perfect atmosphere for working in the kitchen with Mom and my sister, Kara, and I couldn't have asked for better company in my quest for carrying on a fun tradition!
I figured the best way to tell you about our day of doughnuts was to show you a progression through pictures...
A glaze was mixed up for some of the fried doughnuts and we found that it is best to roll the doughnuts in that while they are still warm. The handiest way let them drip & dry is to hang them on a dowel rod over a container. And a dishpan with wax paper on the bottom works pretty well for a container!
I sent a tray of fresh doughnuts back to the shop with Wesley after lunch.
When he came home, he stuck his head in the door and said, "Here's your tray!"
"Is it empty?" I asked from around the corner where I couldn't see it.
Indeed, it was empty of doughnuts, but full of some special Valentine treats,
which I considered to be a very fair trade!!!
And possibly even a new tradition...
4 pkg. yeast or 4 T.
1 C. warm water
2 C. milk
1/2 C. sugar
2 tsp. salt
3/4 C. Crisco
8 C. flour
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Scald milk, and add sugar, salt, and Crisco. Cool to lukewarm and add yeast mixture, stirring well. Add flour. Put in greased bowl, let rise for 30 minutes. Cut. Let rise 5-30 minutes. Fry.
Yield: About 2 dozen doughnuts & 2 dozen holes
Glaze (make before frying doughnuts)
4 1/4 cups powdered sugar
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. melted butter
2 T. vanilla
4 T. milk
hot water
Mix everything together but the water. Stir (it will be thick.) Add hot water a few teaspoons at a time until desired consistency- like gravy. Keep glaze warm. Dip hot doughnuts and hang on dowel rod over pan to catch drips.
Doughnut Day at home was always a special day and a homeschooler's delight since you could mix, stir and fry doughnuts instead of doing math and still count it as a day of school!
Oh, yes, and a lot of taste-testing was required, too, which is a job with a lot of joy attached, as you can see in the picture below of me at six years old.
It had been about 7 years since I was last involved with making homemade doughnuts, and for some reason, this winter I kept thinking about wanting to make them again! I even figured out early on when Doughnut Day was this year so I could keep track of it and I penciled it in Elasa's log book.
I guess you could say it was another thing on my mental list of things I wanted to do!
Some of the inspiration may have come from a book I plucked off the shelf of new books at the library. Even though I didn't end up making any of the recipes out of Doughnuts! 100 Dough-licious Recipes, by Carol Beckerman & Dawn Otwell, the recipes & pictures had me licking my lips.
My mom was actually the one who helped make my ambitions a reality by offering to make doughnuts with me and by bringing her expertise into the bargain!
The morning of Doughnut Day dawned bright and cold, with sunshine turning the freshly-fallen snow into a sea of diamonds. It was the perfect atmosphere for working in the kitchen with Mom and my sister, Kara, and I couldn't have asked for better company in my quest for carrying on a fun tradition!
I figured the best way to tell you about our day of doughnuts was to show you a progression through pictures...
Mom & I decided that we would each choose a recipe for doughnuts to make and I decided on Baked Doughnuts for something a little different and because they come from one of my favorite recipe sources, Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I didn't mind the fact that the recipe incorporated the BOSCH and the lazy woman's style of kneading!
My Mom chose a tried & true recipe of hers (which you will find at the end of the post) and mixed up two batches. The children were delighted to help with the mixing, pouring and scooping!
Mom loves putting puzzles together and Elasa and Gavin were eager to have her help with the ongoing Popcorn Puzzle Project while waiting for the dough to rise!
I liked seeing the two bowls of dough sitting side by side and working their quiet magic!
Mom's dough is on the left and mine is on the right, and yes, Mom's batch is larger than mine!
We each made two batches of dough, but only mixed up one batch at a time, so this is half of the dough from our day.
Elasa got the honors or punching down Grandma's dough- hence the sticky fingers!- once it was ready for the rolling & cutting stage! She sure enjoyed her hands-on day of school!
The doughnut cutter is quite a handy little device! The stage of rolling the dough, cutting the doughnuts out and placing them on trays for a second rising is when you really feel like you're getting somewhere in the process.
The process of frying the doughnuts in oil is really where my memories of yore kicked in and I was transported right back to the kitchen of my childhood on Doughnut Day with the smell of oil and the paper bags. You always have to drain your hot doughnuts on paper bags!
It really is quite a lot of fun to plop the dough rings into the hot oil, turn them once the underside is golden and remove them once the second side matches the first...and there you have it: a hot crispy doughnut at the very peak of it's existence!!!
I was very interested to see how a baked doughnut would turn out and I would say I was pretty impressed! All of the baked ones were dipped in melted butter hot from the oven and then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. The consistency was much more dense than the fried ones, and the flavor was different because they weren't fried in oil, but I was pleased with them and found the experiment a success!
A glaze was mixed up for some of the fried doughnuts and we found that it is best to roll the doughnuts in that while they are still warm. The handiest way let them drip & dry is to hang them on a dowel rod over a container. And a dishpan with wax paper on the bottom works pretty well for a container!
One of my favorite doughnuts is one rolled in cinnamon and sugar, so we did some of the fried ones that way, too, for variety.
Taste-testing at last...and oh, were they ever good!!!
Elasa, Gavin & Parker don't remember ever having homemade doughnuts before, and Elasa asked me if they would be as good as Giant's doughnuts- which we occasionally get! Eventually I heard her saying that our doughnuts were the best in the world, so I guess she found out for herself!
The holes were the perfect size for Parker's hands and he took advantage of that fact a few times!
As for me, when I tasted my first doughnut hole all fresh & crispy from the fryer, I realized that some things in life stay the same after all!
One of those things is the delights of a warm homemade doughnut.
As for me, when I tasted my first doughnut hole all fresh & crispy from the fryer, I realized that some things in life stay the same after all!
One of those things is the delights of a warm homemade doughnut.
I sent a tray of fresh doughnuts back to the shop with Wesley after lunch.
When he came home, he stuck his head in the door and said, "Here's your tray!"
"Is it empty?" I asked from around the corner where I couldn't see it.
Indeed, it was empty of doughnuts, but full of some special Valentine treats,
which I considered to be a very fair trade!!!
And possibly even a new tradition...
Ready to make your own homemade doughnuts? If so, here is a good place to begin...with my mom's recipe:
4 pkg. yeast or 4 T.
1 C. warm water
2 C. milk
1/2 C. sugar
2 tsp. salt
3/4 C. Crisco
8 C. flour
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Scald milk, and add sugar, salt, and Crisco. Cool to lukewarm and add yeast mixture, stirring well. Add flour. Put in greased bowl, let rise for 30 minutes. Cut. Let rise 5-30 minutes. Fry.
Yield: About 2 dozen doughnuts & 2 dozen holes
4 1/4 cups powdered sugar
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. melted butter
2 T. vanilla
4 T. milk
hot water
Mix everything together but the water. Stir (it will be thick.) Add hot water a few teaspoons at a time until desired consistency- like gravy. Keep glaze warm. Dip hot doughnuts and hang on dowel rod over pan to catch drips.
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