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Homemade Doughnuts - a timeless classic

homemade doughnut

I am a huge time travel geek. One of my favorite books of all time is The Time Travelers Wife and I adore it because it combines two of my loves, time travel and libraries. I bet you had absolutely no idea how really, incredibly geeky I am…but that’s me the uber-geek. When I was a kid I played library, you know like how some kids play house, I even had check-out cards for all my books and I was really into the Dewey Decimal System. Oh those were good times.

When I made these doughnuts I couldn’t stop thinking about time travel and it’s actually all because of Homer Simpson. In a Treehouse of Horror episode Homer attempts to repair a toaster and ends up traveling through time to prehistoric time. He thoughtfully remembers not to touch or alter anything in order not to screw up time but of course he does and when he’s transported back to his home on Springfield Terrace he finds it changed in weird and disturbing ways. At one point he returns and his hateful sisters-in law are both dead, he has a fabulous house, a luxury automobile, and Bart and Lisa are well behaved, but when he asks if there are doughnuts Marge says “Doughnut? What’s a doughnut?” and Homer angrily goes back to prehistoric times as the scene shows doughnuts falling from the sky at Springfield Terrace and Marge says “Look, it’s raining again”.

homemade doughnut

Now my association of these almost cartoon looking doughnuts and time travel makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? These are classic cake style doughnuts that are so easy to make and taste so unbelievably good that you’ll kick yourself for not having made them sooner. My neighbors granny use to make these for her when she was a kid and now she makes them for her family. Give them a try, they are really easy and if you have a thermometer so you can monitor the temp of the oil you’ll have no problems making these fresh little babies.

Doughnuts
Printer-friendly recipe

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ a whole nutmeg grated fine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons plain yogurt

Doughnut topping
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Canola oil for deep frying

Sift the first six ingredients together into your mixer bowl. In another bowl combine the yogurt and milk and mix. Add the 1 cup of sugar and the 2 eggs, stir to combine. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix on medium until the two parts are well combined.

Dump the dough out onto a well floured counter and roll the dough out to a ½ inch thickness. The dough is going to be very sticky so just use as much flour as you need to prevent it from sticking to the counter. Cut out the donughnuts with a doughnut cutter or a drinking glass then cut out the center hole with something that will cut a teeny-tiny circle. I used some odd piece out of my junk drawer.

Transfer the doughnuts to a floured baking sheet. Combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping and lay out a couple of baking racks over some baking sheets lined with paper towels.

Put a heavy dutch oven on a burner with a medium flame and add the canola oil. I think I added about 1 ¾ quarts of oil. Heat it to 350°F and then carefully drop the doughnuts into the oil. I’m able to fit in about 6 at a time. Check your oil temp and if it has dropped below 340°F you’ll want to turn up the heat until the temperature returns to 350°F. Don’t let the temperature go over 355°F because then you’ll burn the doughnuts.

Gently flip the doughnut when it is a rich brown on one side. When the other side has browned you should carefully remove it from the oil and place it on the first rack. Wait a few minutes so you don’t burn your fingers then roll it in the sugar/cinnamon and place it on the other rack. Continue cooking the doughnuts until they are all done. Serve while they are still warm.

August 11, 2008 | Filed Under breakfast, doughnuts, food, recipe 

comments

15 Responses to “Homemade Doughnuts - a timeless classic”

  1. holler on August 11th, 2008

    Gorgeous, gorgeous, grogeous! Throw one this way will you Vanessa. And by the way, I like the way your mind works :)

  2. _ts of [eatingclub] vancouver on August 11th, 2008

    I just wanted to say: Yeah! _Time Traveler’s Wife_! So good.

    I remember when I started reading it, I couldn’t stop. I picked reading over watching a movie before bed because I thought that I would fall asleep faster if reading. This was at about midnight. But, I lept reading and saying to myself: “…but I only have a little left to go”… until it was about 5:30am and finally, good sense won over and I went to sleep. =) I was about halfway at that point.

  3. JEP on August 11th, 2008

    MMmmm…these look exactly like my favorite doughnuts :)

  4. gayle on August 12th, 2008

    Oh, yum! It’s been way too long since I made doughnuts…
    I made one batch that was particularly well-received - I couldn’t find the small center-hole cutter for my doughnut cutter, so I used a small star-shaped cookie cutter. The doughnuts were very pretty, and the “holes” fried up to perfect little puffy stars.
    Now I’m craving doughnuts…

  5. tara on August 12th, 2008

    These look absolutely perfect and delicious. My father-in-law has asked me to make doughnuts on a few occassions - I haven’t attempted them as of yet as I was looking for the perfect recipe. Looks like I found it! Thanks for posting.

  6. [eatingclub] vancouver || js on August 12th, 2008

    I hemmed and hawed about this. You’ve give me a lot of things to think about, namely, should I bookmark this recipe? I’m afraid, I’m very afraid. These doughnuts look so freaking amazing.

  7. Zita on August 12th, 2008

    Saw it on RM, looks delicious, been wanting to make those baby to eat with ice cream ;)

  8. lin on August 12th, 2008

    yum those look wonderful! I’ve always wanted to make a decent donut! thanks for the recipe!!!

  9. Deborah on August 12th, 2008

    We used to have make believe video stores, but it hasn’t seemed to translate into anything I love today. A Library would have been much more fun!!

    These doughnuts look amazing!

  10. Jerry on August 12th, 2008

    HOLY DONUT! They sound great!

  11. lo (Burp! Where Food Happens) on August 13th, 2008

    I love the incorporation of uber geek chic and donuts.
    Expertly crafted, my dear Vanessa! And delicious too.

    We always talk about making donuts at our house (though we’ve never done it)… I have fond memories of my mother making them on cool autumn weekends to serve with steaming hot mugs of apple cider.

  12. leslie on August 15th, 2008

    I have never attempted to try to make doughnuts..but they do really seem simple! Beautiful photo!

  13. Natasha on August 21st, 2008

    My sister and I used to play library as well. Even today, sometimes, at my parents’ house, if I pick up a book a check-out card will fall out :)
    My mom and I are making some doughnuts tomorrow. Maybe we’ll try out your recipe.

  14. Kayte on August 21st, 2008

    Okay so I’ve been silently stalking your blog for awhile, but this entry that ties in pretty much all of my loves in life (Time traveler’s wife, simpsons, childhood library nostalgia) just made me realize that we’re probably long lost sisters or something…

    Love your blog, your narratioin & your recipes - please, keep them coming!

    - Sistah Geek

  15. Sarah on August 29th, 2008

    Thank you so much for this easy recipe,,I followed your directions precisely and they turned out perfect,, everyone loved it and now it’s the family best doughnuts’ recipe :D

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