by Michele Mylan

Created on: January 16, 2009   Last Updated: December 15, 2011

If homemade doughnuts sound good, they are even better when you bite into them. Doughnuts are made from yeast dough which has risen several times to make them light and fluffy. They can be iced with chocolate, vanilla, or honey glaze, they can be rolled into a sugar-cinnamon mixture, or they can be simply sprinkled with powdered syugar. The options are endless, and the choices are yours.

Here is the basic recipe to make Homemade Doughnuts:

1/4 cup warm water

1 package of active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm milk (between 105-110 degrees F)

1/3 cup butter (softened)

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Vegetable oil, for greasing bowl and for frying

In a bowl, add yeast to warm water (105-110 degrees F). Let it sit for about 5 minutes, then add milk, butter, sugar and salt, then stir. Mix eggs into milk and yeast mixture, then add 1 cup of flour and nutmeg then stir again. Continue adding flour 1/2 cup at a time until you reach a dough that is firm enough to turn onto a floured surface, and knead for 5 minutes, adding small bits of additional flour, only enough to form a soft, smooth dough. Gather dough into a large ball.

Grease a large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough ball inside, then turn dough to coat and cover with plastic wrap. Put in a warm draft-free place and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. (You can use an unheated oven, there are no drafts, so it is a good place to use to help dough rise).

When dough has risen, put ball of dough on to a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to a 1/4 inch think. Cut into circles, and then cut out middles. I use a soda cap for the middles, and a large canning jar for the large donut circles. (Be sure to flour well if you use these items to cut out the doughnuts). Place cut out donuts on a lightly greased cookie sheet and let rise again for 35 to 45 minutes. You will probably get about 15 - 20 donuts form this dough depending on the sizes you cut.

Now, add vegetable oil, to fill about halfway up the side of a deep frying pan, or heat a deep fryer containing oil and fry each side until golden brown, about 3 minutes each side. Drain well on paper towel. When cool, see toppings below.

Toppings:

For Chocolate Glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon light corn syrup, 1 tablespoon water, 3 tablespoons melted chocolate chips. Mix all ingredients in bowl, and stir well.

Vanilla Glaze or Color glaze of your choice: Use above recipe for Chocolate glaze, omitting chocolate chips, and instead adding 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and food color of choice, or no food color for vanilla glaze.

For Cinnamon Sugar: Mix 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

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