Delicious Doughnuts

I mentioned that I made doughnuts the other day, and I was asked a couple of questions on how, so I thought I would share. Making doughnuts is something that brings back childhood memories for me. It was something that my Mom would do every once and a while and that would make that day a special occasion! Her recipe I will share at the bottom of the post but first I will share a new one that I just tried out.

  I thought it would be nice to avoid the grease that comes with normal homemade doughnuts so I found a recipe for No-fry Doughnuts. Here it is:

• 2 Tablespoons (or packages) yeast
• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 4 1/2 cups flour (I used around 4 cups of whole wheat flour)

In mixing bowl mix together 2 cups flour, yeast and sugar. Add the water and milk, stir together. Then stir in salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, eggs and shortening. Beat well for 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double. (50-60 minutes)

Then turn the dough out onto a well floured area and roll it around lightly to coat it with flour. (The dough should be soft to handle.) Roll dough to a 1/2 inch thickness. With a doughnut cutter (or you could use a large glass and some sort of small circle to cut them out as well) cut out doughnuts and using a spatula place them on a greased baking sheet, placing 2 inches apart. Brush them with melted butter and let them rise utnil double in size, for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, bake the doughnuts 8-10 minutes until golden. Immediately brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Yeild: 1 1/2 to 2 dozen doughnuts.

When I made these I was a little in a hurry so I rushed the rising times. I think they would have been better if they had gotten their full time. I also didn't immediately brush them with butter when they got out so the cinnamon and sugar didn't stick real well. Henceforth they were not very sweet. Everybody still liked them so maybe that was a good thing!

Now for our old tried and true, but greasy, recipe.....
                                                           Mom's Doughnuts

• 3 1/3 cups flour (When you are deep fat frying it doesn't work to put in to much whole wheat flour as that seems to attract the grease more.)
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 teaspons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients together and then stir in the wet ones until it is well mixed. Put on floured surface and roll out. Cut out with doughnut cutter and fry in 375 degree oil. You will need to turn them so that both sides get golden and then place on paper towels to drain. Dip in powedered sugar or cinnamon and sugar. They are very yummy for a once in a great while treat!

Homemade doughnuts are a much more frugal way to go then buying them and though not the healthiest thing you can make, homemade ones can at least be made better then the ones you can buy.

So if you want to make a normal day special, why not make a batch of doughnuts? Do you have any tried and true recipes that you would like to share? If would be fun if you would add them in the comments, or leave a link to your blog post where you have the recipe.

For other frugal ideas please visit Life as MOM.