| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 5 min |
| Prep: | 45 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
Ingredients
- 8 cups vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons melted shortening
- 2 cups sifted flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Dash of cinnamon
- Dash of nutmeg
- Dash of salt
- Coatings: Confectioners’ sugar or granulated sugar mixed with cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large, deep heavy pot or an electric fryer heat the oil to 375 degrees.
- In a large bowl, beat together the egg and sugar. Stir in the milk and the shortening. Sift together all of the dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and stir to combine. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, flatten the dough to 1/2 inch thickness with your fingertips or a rolling pin. Cut out the doughnuts using a doughnut cutter or two sizes of round cookie cutters. Transfer doughnuts to wax paper and allow to dry for 10 minutes. Using a spatula dipped in the hot oil, carefully transfer the doughnuts to the hot oil. Cook 2 – 3 doughnuts at a time, flipping them when they brown on a side. Remove to paper towels to drain. Dust with confectioners’ sugar or cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm.
- Doughnut holes: Add dough to hot oil by the spoonful and fry until golden.
- Variations: Chocolate doughnuts: Combine the melted shortening with 1 ounce of melted chocolate before adding to batter.
- Glazed doughnuts: Combine 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar with 2 teaspoons hot milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Drizzle over cooled doughnuts.
- Jelly doughnuts: Stir 1/2 cup jelly of choice until smooth. Transfer jelly to a plastic baggie and snip off one corner to squeeze out jelly. Poke doughnut round with a chopstick And squirt in jelly.
Reviews
It lives up to its name as basic donut that defintly what it is
Too sweet and dense. This recipie makes very dense and extremely sweet doughnuts. They are sweet to the point I got sick after only eating a quarter of a doughnut half the size they make. The dough is also so dense you need to roll it out super thin in order to make sure it cooks on the inside before it burns on the outside. All in all this recipie is a huge miss.
In case you’re wondering, this recipe resembles a cake donut. Refrigerating the dough beforehand is a must in order to roll it out. I thought the dough was easy to work with, but the final product was far too dense. Less cakey and more doughy. I wouldn’t make it again.
I had no problems with this recipe. I am a baker not a fryer – I think the key is to chill the dough like the recipe says. I ALWAYS follow the recipe the first time, then take short cuts. When I mixed up the dough I thought “this is never going work” Then I started to read the reviews. “Oh, no,” I thought, but after 30 min in the fridge the batter had become dough and with a little flour they rolled and cut just fine. I fried them in my electric skillet and they were golden brown and cooked all the way through. Something I will change next time is I will not let them rest on the counter again – the last few started sticking to the waxed paper and ended up being big blobs that didn’t cook very well. I also warmed some canned frosting, dipping some of them in it – long story short my family gobbled them up! They liked the chocolate dipped and the plain.
The whole family is glad we found this : It was tasty.. we loved it.. it was so simple and fast.. we glad we made them :
DO NOT TRY… I COOK EVERYDAY AND BAKE EVERY WEEK.. SO ITS NOT THE COOK… I WONDER DOW SOME PPL LIKED IT .
THE DOUGH WAS STICKY AND MESSY ADDIN MORE FLOUR MAES THE TASTE NOT WORTH THE TIME AND INGREDIENTS..
THE DOUGH WAS STICKY AND MESSY ADDIN MORE FLOUR MAES THE TASTE NOT WORTH THE TIME AND INGREDIENTS..
NOT EVEN MY 5 YR OLD TWINS WANTED IT.
I loved how easy this recipe is. Easy ingredients that you already have in your kitchen. I didn’t have either cinnamon or nutmeg so I used a bit of mixed essence and as I didn’t have cinnamon I used icing sugar on mine. They are soft and fluffy on the inside with a nice bit of crunch on the outside. I don’t get how this didn’t work out for some people but I will say this in any recipe it’s better to make as directed and AFTER you’ve tasted it like that, then you can make adjustments of your choice. I will be making this again, next time with the cinnamon and nutmeg though.
There are always people here that have terrible results…it’s usually the cook, not the recipe.
Baking is a skill. Give a novice the same recipe and it will be a disaster. Recipes don’t always include the fundamentals of baking. With donuts, cake or yeast, it takes a few tries to get the knack of it, unless you have good experience.
I followed the directions and the dough was so “doughy” it was a mess to work with – now, I know it could be the chef and not the recipe since everyone here says it is so great – but I really followed the directions.
Also, heads up – the Neely’s Mint Tea has a typo; it should read ‘8 cups of water’ and not 8 ounces
I have been cooking and baking every since I could walk and now being a mother of four at the age of 33 , I need to find quick and easy recipes that suits my cooking habits . I tweaked this recipe by changing only 1 thing , I substituted a can of sweetened condensed milk when I doubled this recipe . I got rave reviews from all the kids and my husband , whom are all picky eaters . This is recommended by me especially if your on a budget cooking for a large family .