Saturday Morning Donuts!!!
Donuts are one of the things I absolutely love to bake and love to eat! I grew up going to bakeries almost every Saturday morning as a child to get donuts with my mom. I remember the smell of the freshly baked donuts as soon as I walked into the bakery. It was heavenly and delicious! Looking at all the different varieties and flavors in the cases is something I’ll never forget. When I got older I moved to a different state and there aren’t as many bakeries here…especially bakeries with fresh donuts. So it was time to experiment and learn to make my own! The kids really enjoy making these donuts with me. They love getting their little hands in the flour and being little bakers for the day. I hope you and your loved ones all enjoy one of our favorite recipes to make together as a family! Enjoy!
Recipe:
Dough:
2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
6 tbsp. granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¾ cup buttermilk or milk (I use buttermilk)
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
Oil for frying (I use vegetable or canola)
Glaze:
*Each glaze recipe is enough to cover the whole batch of donuts. You can halve the recipe to cover less.
Chocolate Glaze-
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp. oil (I use vegetable)
*You can add a little powder sugar to sweeten the glaze and thicken it up.
Vanilla Glaze-
3 Cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk or water (I use milk. You can use ½ cup milk or water for thinner glaze)
4 tsp vanilla
*You can add food coloring to make the glaze different colors. This is what I did with the pink donuts!
Maple Glaze-
4 tbsp. butter
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
8 tbsp. pure maple syrup
Instructions:
1) Add the dough ingredients into a standing mixer with a dough hook and knead for 15 minutes. Once kneaded, allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes. Once risen, punch down the dough and allow it to rise for a second time for another 45 minutes.
*If the weather is warm, I sit my dough outside to speed up the process.
2) Place your dough on a floured surface and roll it to ¼ inch thick.
3) Cut the donuts with a donut cutter or the rim of a drinking glass. I use a frosting piping tip to cut the center. If you don’t have a piping tip you can use a bottle cap.
4) Place your donuts on a floured cookie sheet, careful not to let them touch, allow them to rise for another 45 minutes.
5) Heat your cooking oil to 350 degrees. I use either a deep fryer to cook them or a cast iron skillet. I usually drop one of the donut holes into the oil to make sure it’s hot enough.
6) Once the oil is heated, fry the donuts for about 30-45 seconds on each side. Frying them too long will result in dry, overcooked donuts.
7) Place the donuts on a cooling rack or cookie sheet for a few minutes and prepare your glaze.
8) Place your donuts in the glaze, flip the donut to cover both sides if preferred and then place them back on the cooling rack to dry.
**Donuts can be stored in an air tight container or plastic wrap for a day or two. I find that they taste better if eaten the same day or day after.
To make glaze:
Vanilla Glaze- Mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together in a bowl until smooth.
Chocolate Glaze- Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave (10-15 second increments, stirring each time), mix melted chocolate with oil until smooth.
Maple Glaze- Melt the butter and mix it with the maple syrup, add powdered sugar to the mixture and mix until smooth.
