Day 46 - Baked Doughnuts

     My son goes nuts for doughnuts, so when I saw this recipe in one of my books I knew I had to try it.  No, they're not Dunkin' Donuts (my fave), or Krispy Kreme, but they'll do and of course, for all intents and purposes, the doughnuts have to be baked.  I used the Fannie Farmer Cookbook Thirteenth Edition for this, p. 531-532; author, Marion Cunningham; publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, division of Random House; ISBN 0-394-56788-9.
    





     Baked Doughnuts

     2 packages dry yeast
     1/3 cup warm water
     1½ cups milk
     1/3 cup vegetable shortening
     ¼ cup sugar
     2 teaspoons salt
     2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
     2 eggs, lightly beaten
     4½ cups all-purpose flour, approximately
     ½ cup melted butter
     1 cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

     Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a small bowl and let it dissolve for 5 minutes.  Put the milk and shortening in a saucepan and heat until the shortening is melted.  Cool to lukewarm.  Pour the yeast mixture into large mixing bowl and add the milk mixture.  Stir in the ¼ cup sugar, salt, nutmeg, eggs, and 2 cups flour.  Beat briskly until well blended.  Add the remaining 2½ cups flour and beat until smooth.

 Cover the bowl and let double in bulk, about 1 hour.  Dust a board generously with flour and turn the dough mass onto it.  The dough is soft and needs enough flour on the board to prevent sticking, but is easy to handle.  Pat the dough into a round about ½ inch thick.  Use a 3-inch doughnut cutter to cut out the doughnuts, placing them (and the doughnut holes) on greased baking sheets, 1 inch apart.  These don't spread much; they rise.

Preheat the oven to 450ºF.  Let the doughnuts rest and rise for 20 minutes, uncovered.  Bake about 10 minutes, or a little longer, until they have a touch of golden brown.  Remove them from the oven. 

Have ready the melted butter and a brush.  On a sheet of waxed paper spread the cinnamon sugar.  Brush each doughnut and doughnut hole with butter and roll in the cinnamon sugar.  Serve hot.

     Everyone really liked these and decided they should be given a rolling pin rating of 3.  The rating system is from 1-4 with a 4 being one of the absolute most delicious things I have ever made.  I liked them, too, but was really wanting the Dunkin' Donut Old Fashioned taste, so was disappointed.  I have high expectations, what can I say?  You can see that I also buttered a couple and rolled them in some powdered sugar, but they tasted much better with the cinnamon sugar.  The part that took the most work was brushing them with butter and rolling them in the sugar.  By the time I was done with that there was no WAY that they were going to be served hot as the recipe suggests (although there were two large mouths and four quick hands very close to me as I placed the finished doughnuts on a cookie sheet, so those were warm - they've become vultures now when I'm taking something out of the oven).

     Happy baking!