Sorry for the image quality, my camera's batteries finally died and I haven't replaced them yet...so these photos were taken with my PSVita. There were more than this, but fam ate most of them before I took any pics.
My fourth and final attempt making donuts before Thanksgiving. :) These probably turned out better than what I did for Thanksgiving personally.
Can see the 2nd attempt on the next page of this post.
We finally got some eggs so I was able to do a recipe that wasn't vegan so I didn't have to substitute many ingredients this time which probably helped alot. So this is the recipe I used here, but I'm going to paste it on this post and add some notes and things.
:Crispy and Creamy Doughnuts:
Note: The original recipe is to make 18 donuts, but I cut it in half so I'll post half.
Ingredients
-1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast
-2 tablespoons warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
-3/4 cup lukewarm milk
-1/4 cup white sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 eggs
-2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons shortening
-2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-2 cups vegetable oil for frying
Ingredients Replacement: If you look at the original recipe they have 4 extra things listed last. That is for the glaze, but I didn't follow the recipe for their glaze, I'll explain that a bit later down the line, but if you want to know the ingredients I used: Original Glaze: confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and milk. Chocolate Glaze: cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar, and milk (of course you all might find a better recipe or way to make the glaze. I was just using what we had at home)
Instructions
1. Slight Change From the Original: I heated up the water in the microwave then sprinkled about a pinch of sugar in the water. I stirred it till it dissolved and let it sit till the water got lukewarm. You don't want the water too hot or it'll kill the yeast. And don't want the water cold/cool or the yeast won't activate. So make sure the water is warm. That's when to sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy. (I let it stand after 10 minutes) If the mixture isn't foamy that means the mixture is no good so you'll have to throw it out and start over. Make sure the yeast you're using isn't out of date.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 1 cup of the flour. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double (this takes about 30 minutes or I personally let it sit to rise for an hour or a bit after an hour). Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains. (since I half the recipe I did 1 cup of flour first then added the remaining flour slowly and a bit at a time.)
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. (I don't have a doughnut cutter so what I did was use a glass and it's round top rim to get the outer circular shape and used a small top I found and was cleaned to get the middle circle. :D) Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth. Again this took about another hour or so also I kept the center of the doughnuts and let them rise too. Can make little doughnut balls. X)
4. In the original recipe this step is for the glaze, but I didn't follow the original recipe for the glaze. I actually did it rather...I cut corners. What I did was I got a bowl and put the confectioners' sugar in it. Then I added a little vanilla very little (I put too much one time, lesson learned) and added little milk. Stirred it up and set it in the microwave till it was liquid-fied, but not too thin or running. That all depends on how much milk you added. I did this the same way with the cocoa powder except. I added in the cocoa powder to the confectioners' sugar and stirred them till the powder was mixed well into it. Then I added little milk, stirred, then microwave till it was smoother and whatnot. Uh hope that made sense. Of course can probably find other ways to do the glaze or maybe you already have a way to do it. :)
5. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess. Keep a cookie sheet or tray under racks for easier clean up. I don't have a wire rack so I just set napkins on a plate and place the doughnuts on the napkins and drained it that way. I'm sure there are better ways to drain oil so let me know in the comments!
Result
They were very good. This attempt was much better than my previous ones. :) My fam loved them. The other family members during Thanksgiving love them too. Haha though I was slightly upset with myself that I didn't make more original glaze because they kept eating that than the chocolate and this peppermint one I did from peppermint icing mom got. So yeah, but right now I'm tired out of doughnuts. <.<; They want me to make more on Christmas, but...uh...yeaaaaah, though I think I got myself out of it because of something else I baked which is way more tedious and I'll post about that soon sometime. XD
What are your favorite kind of donuts?
Have a nice day. :)
