Making donuts makes me happy
Posted by Arwen Mosher
in Food
on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 3:04 PM
I made donuts this weekend.
Actually, I made donuts twice this weekend, which is certainly a record for me.
Last year my sister and I started a tradition of making homemade cake donuts and caramel apples to honor the coming of fall.
It’s not quite fall yet, but we’re anticipating the season, so we did it on Saturday. The caramel apples turned out okay, but the donuts were kind of a flop. I mean, they were still good enough that the men-folk and the toddler-folk devoured them, but I ate maybe three donut-hole-sized pieces, and didn’t enjoy them.
Also, as always, making cake donuts - the kind of donuts that most people consider de rigeur for fall, because they’re what apple orchards make and sell - always makes me long for the donuts which I prefer: yeast donuts.
Then I realized I had the perfect excuse to make them: yesterday was Sunday, and today would be the feast of the Nativity of Mary. Two feast days in a row, and definitely worth a celebration!
The only yeast donuts I’ve made before are my mom’s faschnats, which are a hybrid of a yeast-donut recipe and a buttermilk-potato cake-donut recipe. I did them for Fat Tuesday this year, and they turned out okay. Other than that, I’ve never tried yeast donuts. I can, however, make excellent bread and cinnamon rolls, and I’m not afraid of yeast dough.
So I found the Joy of Cooking’s basic yeast donut recipe. I mixed it up, let it rise for hours and refrigerate for even more hours, and fried some of it up last night. (It’s no good making donuts in very large batches, since they get yucky within a few hours of frying.) I did some more of the dough this morning when my sister stopped by, and sent some donuts home with her.
I think that for me - lover of baking and yeast-donut fanatic that I am - making donuts was the perfect way to celebrate Mary’s birthday. Being ambitiously domestic always makes me feel closer to Mary, whose household was her primary vocation. All the rising and chilling time the donuts needed gave me plenty of a chance to anticipate their excellence… and to remember what I was celebrating by making them! Then, the actual donuts themselves - slightly crispy outside, light and chewy inside, sweetly coated with powdered sugar - were beyond delicious.
I could have made a birthday cake to celebrate Mary’s birthday, but I think that for me, donuts worked even better!
(For those of you who’ve never tried making donuts, don’t be afraid! Although it’s time-consuming, it’s not at all complicated. I’d highly recommend the Joy of Cooking’s recipe for being beautiful in its simplicity, but if you don’t have the cookbook, both of these two recipes look promising. Good luck!)
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Filed under celebration, cooking, donuts, food
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Comments
1. Posted by ashley
[website] on Tuesday, Sep 9, 2008 3:59 PM (EST):
There’s no food I love more in the world that the Joy of Cooking’s donuts.
I can smell the oil frying and the powder sugar now. 
Mmm.
I grew up with my grandma who’d wake up at 5 on special days (any day she deemed us lucky enough), and get the batch started. We’d take turns shaking the donuts in the big bag o’powdered sugar.
My sister and I still carry on the tradition in all its deliciousness!
2. Posted by Deacon Tom
[website] on Tuesday, Sep 9, 2008 4:49 PM (EST):
Arwen—in case you are looking for someone to come in, bless the house, especially the kitchen… it is part of my regular ministry. Remember to have hot coffee and fresh donuts. (Something chocolate will ensure special prayers for all in the family!) Blessings. dt
3. Posted by Arwen Mosher on Tuesday, Sep 9, 2008 5:50 PM (EST):
Deacon Tom, if you didn’t live on the other side of the country, I would definitely take you up on that!
4. Posted by Kansas Mom
[website] on Tuesday, Sep 9, 2008 9:09 PM (EST):
I’ve often wanted to make cake dough donuts, which I find truly delicious and adding them to my usual fall tradition of caramel apples (with homemade caramel of course) sounds fabulous.
I’ve always been a little trepidatious about frying things, though. Perhaps I should give it a try...sometime when Kansas Dad is around to keep an eye on the kids.
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