Rosie Makes Doughnuts.

Youngest Hawthorne is home this summer

after a stint in summer school

and he's requested doughnuts.

I love a project,

so doughnuts today, it is.

 Ingredients for doughnuts:

2 eggs

2 packages yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 1/2 cups of warm milk

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup shortening

5 cups flour

 oil for frying

Dissolve yeast in warm water.

Add eggs, milk, sugar, shortening, salt, and 2 cups flour.

Beat on low speed for about a minute.

Increase speed to high and beat another 2 minutes.

Stir in remainder of flour.

Cover and allow mixture to rise for about an hour.

Dough is ready when you push it slightly

and the indentation doesn't fill in again.

 Put the dough on a well-floured surface

and roll out to 1/2-inch thickness.

Cut out doughnuts.

Cover and allow to rise again - about an hour.

 Heat oil to 350 degrees

and drop in doughnuts,

frying no more than three at a time.

Fry about 1 minute on each side,

until golden brown.

Drain.

Pour glaze over doughnuts.

Glaze:

5 TB butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

about 3-4 tsp warm water

Melt butter.

Add in sugar and vanilla.

Add in enough water, a teaspoon at a time,

until you get the consistency you want.

 Add yeast to 1/4 cup warm water.

Add in shortening.

 Whenever a recipe calls for milk,

I use what I have,

which is skim milk and heavy cream.

Half of each.

 Eggs in.

 Sugar in.

 And 2 cups of the flour.

 Beat on low for about a minute,

then increase speed to high

and beat two minutes.

 Stir in the rest of the flour.

 It will be a shaggy mess.

 Turn out onto a floured surface ...

 ...  and form into a neat ball.

 Place in a greased bowl and set in a warm place to rise.

 About an hour later.

If you push on the dough and the indentation stays,

it's ready.

 Turn dough out onto floured surface and ...

 ... roll out 1/2 inch thick.

After Mr. Hawthorne improvised with a bottle cap,

I found the still-unwrapped set of 6 biscuit cutters

which would have worked better.

After four doughnuts,

Mr. Hawthorne got bored cutting them out.

So I enlisted Youngest Hawthorne.

He did a better job.

Let the doughnuts rise for about an hour.

If your rising is a bit overzealous,

use a chopstick to open up the center

without deflating the doughnut.

Carefully lift and place into 350 degree oil.

If you haven't already,

get a good thermometer.

I like the digital one

Mr. Hawthorne gave me for Christmas.

If you're intimidated by frying,

or haven't had any luck at frying,

remember - temperature is everything.
Get a thermometer.

When the oil comes to temperature,

add in the doughnuts, one at a time.

Do not overcrowd the pot.

No more than three doughnuts.

One minute on each side should do it.

Remove from oil and let drain.

At this point, Youngest Hawthorne
took control of the frying.

He did a darn good job.

While the doughnuts were rising,

I made the glaze.

5 TB butter, melted

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

3-5 tsp of water

Melt butter, stir in sugar and vanilla,

and add enough water, a teaspoon at a time,

until you get the consistency you want.

Whisk mixture until smooth.

Pour glaze over doughnuts.

Yum nummy!

Nice light bready texture inside.

Sweet vanilla goodness outside.

Youngest Hawthorne was happy with these.