Donut Worry, Be Happy!

Who doesn't love donuts?? As a kid I grew up in an area that had so many bakeries to choose from. Now, I am a baker who loves to add another recipe to my repertoire. These donuts are so easy to make and not time consuming at all. They will be one of those recipes I pull out on snowy days with my kids.

So in the slightly altered words of Bob Marley...."Donut worry, be happy."

Ingredients List:

3 cups Organic Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons instant yeast or active dry yeast

1 large egg

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 cups peanut oil for frying

Step 1:

To make the dough, add all the ingredients into a bowl. You can either mix by hand or use a stand mixer with a dough hook. If using a stand mixer, mix on speed 1 for about 4-5 minutes. Dough should be soft and smooth. If mixing by hand, it may take a bit longer to knead to achieve the soft and smooth dough. If the dough is a bit too tacky, you can add a little bit more flour. Be careful not to add too much since it will result in a tough, dense donut.

Step 2:

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let it rise in a warm space for 1-2 hours till it has doubled.

Step 3:

Turn dough out on a lightly floured counter. Roll dough till it's about 1/4" thick. Next use a donut cutter to shape the donuts. If you don't have a donut cutter (add it to you list of kitchen gadgets to purchase), then you could use a biscuit cutter. Place donuts onto a silplate mat or a greased cookie sheet. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise for 30- 60 minutes or until they have double in size.

Once your round disks have reached their full potential it's time to let them fry.

Step 4:

Add peanut oil into a cast iron pot and heat to 350°F. Place the donuts into the oil carefully about 3 at time. You want to make sure they don't crowd each other (yes I know 3's a crowd, so maybe 2 instead). Once the donut turns golden brown, flip it over to let the other side cook.

Remove with a slotted spoon and place onto a paper towel. If you are turning them into cinnamon sugar donuts then place the donut directly into a bowl of cinnamon sugar mixture to toss and coat. Once all the donuts are cooked- then you get to let your inner kid (or real kids) go crazy.

There are so many options when it comes to toppings for donuts. I'll give you three basic ones: chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon sugar

Cinnamon Sugar:

1 cup organic sugar

1 tsp Vietnamese Cinnamon (best cinnamon ever)

Mix the two together and place donut directly from cast iron pot into the bowl. The grease from the peanut oil will help the cinnamon sugar stick to the donut.

Vanilla Glaze:

2 tsp melted butter

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp milk or water

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and adjust with more powdered sugar or milk to get the right consistency for frosting

Chocolate Glaze:

1/2 cup melted chocolate chips

2 tsp melted butter

1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix ingredients together to get the right consistency for frosting.

Last step and most important:

Enjoy!