Mom's Home Made Donuts!

When I was a little girl, nearly every fall, Mom would make donuts (though she spells it doughnuts and I'm too lazy to type that much lol ).  She makes THE . BEST . DONUTS. EVER!  It was quite a production, making several dozen in a day.  I loved seeing the rows and rows of glazed donuts sitting on the table.  Every time I think of that I remember a book I read in about 3rd grade, Homer Price and the Donut Machine... when I read that, I could nearly TASTE those donuts. LOL    Lucky girl that I am, using her recipe, and after having watched and then helped at home, I make pretty darn good donuts too. :)

If you've never had a home made donut, you're missing out!  They are so much more light and tender than store bought.  They nearly melt in your mouth.... and Mom puts this light maple glaze on hers... Mmmmm!   Mom says she got her recipe from Melba.  Melba lives just down the road from me, she's in her 90's now and has the most beautiful white hair I've ever seen.  Wonderful lady.  She has a reputation for making the best bread, rolls, and donuts ever.  I trust Melba's recipes. 

Usually I do at least a double or triple batch.   We like to share with friends and neighbors.  Our record, however, was last December when we made donuts for the Young Men and Women from church when they went caroling.  Dave helped me and we made over 10 dozen donuts.  It was an amazing feat.  LOL  

Okay, I'd better quit chattering and get on with the recipe....

Mom's (and Melba's) Donuts

2 T. yeast

1 C. water

Mix well and add:

1 C. scalded milk, cooled to 110 or less

3 C. flour

Mix well and let double.  (this is called a yeast sponge)

In separate bowl, mix the following together:

1/2 C. butter or margarine melted
2/3 C. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 C. mashed potatoes (can be made from instant flakes)
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Add this to your yeast sponge.

Add 4 C. of flour to that to make a soft dough.  Turn into a large, greased bowl and  let raise until double.

Roll dough out on floured surface to 1/3 inch thick and cut.  Place on greased cookie sheets and let raise until double.   Deep fry at 375 degree oil.  Drain on paper sacks or paper  towels and glaze or roll in sugar while still hot.

Joy's Glaze:

3-4 C. powdered sugar

1 tsp. maple flavoring

dash of salt

1/2 C. cold water

Mix all together until smooth.  Should be a little thick.  To glaze each donut, drop in glaze while donut is hot, turn over to be sure it's all coated.  Stick a round handled wooden spoon through the hole & let it drip.  When it's hardened, set on a cooling rack.

This recipe makes about 2 dozen "big" donuts and an equal amount of donut holes. (Imagine that!) 

Joy's Notes:  Mom said to use a 29 oz can (empty of course) for your cutter rather than a biscuit/donut cutter.  Makes a nice big donut and they stay a little more moist the next day than the smaller ones.  Use the "hole" cutter from the donut cutter though.   Mom's glaze recipe is the same except it adds a packet of plain gelatin dissolved in the water.  I find it works as well or better without the gelatin.   Sometimes I re roll the donut hole dough from the first bunch of dough cut out, and make a few more big donuts.  If I have lots of little kids to share with, I'll fry all the donut holes.  Most of the time, I roll those in sugar rather than glaze them.  You really don't want these rolled thicker than 1/3 inch or they'll be doughy.  I know, part of the batch I made tonight were too thick... I made a strong mental note to be more careful next time.

I mixed this in my Kitchen Aid mixer.  Bosch type mixers work well too.  If you don't have a heavy duty mixer like that, remember that it's doubtful that Melba had a mixer like that when she started making these either. :)  Mixing it up by hand isn't hard at all - and honestly, by hand they turn out even more tender.