You already know how much we love taste tests in this house. Here's another one for you. This time... doughnuts!
Every chance I get, I ask my grandmother about her family recipes and the memories that go along with those particular foods. Its a funny thing how just a hint in the wind of an iron skillet heating up can take you back a decade or two. One of Grammer's favorites was her mother's doughnut recipe using leftover mashed potatoes.
So, last fall when we were in Texas, Oma (my mother) got brave and opened her kitchen up to her five little grand children...all under the age of 6...to try out Grammer's leftover mashed potato doughnut recipe. Here it is...
Mashed Potato Doughnut Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 c. sugar
- 3 c. mashed potatoes
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 c. vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 c. milk
- 8 c flour
- 5 T. baking powder
Directions:
- Mix sugar and mashed potatoes until consistency of paste.
- Add eggs and beat.
- Add vegetable oil, milk, flour and baking powder.
- Add flour after that if necessary.
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll to 1/2-inch thickness.
- Cut out with floured doughnut cutter. A jar ring works too.
- In an iron skillet, heat oil to about 350°.
- Drop doughnuts, 2 or 3 at a time, into the hot fat being careful not to splash the oil.
- Fry, turning once, for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
- Drain doughnuts on paper towels.
This recipe makes doughnuts similar to what we would call cake doughnuts. It makes A LOT of doughnuts, so you could half the recipe for enough doughnuts for one sitting. Once we got the heat of the oil down pat, they were perfectly brown on the outside and moist and cakey on the inside. Yummy!
We covered half the batch in icing and some with powdered sugar. Im not sure if we even declared a winner, they were all gone so fast. But this was a great recipe and I am so happy to have it from my Grammer.
Well, my boys have not forgotten making doughnuts with their Oma and how much fun it was. They have decided, that although the mashed potato doughnuts were extremely tasty, there might be some room for improvement.
*Sorry Grammer, these little men are perfectionists when it comes to their cooking.*
On Wednesday, after the boys got off the bus I had everything laid out to try another doughnut recipe. They couldn't get their sight word sorts done fast enough and get their aprons on.
Sour Cream Doughnuts
Ingredients:
-
1 c. granulated sugar
- 3/4 c. thick sour cream
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1 t. baking powder
- 1 c. sour milk
- 3 eggs
- flour (enough to make soft dough)
Directions:
- Cream the sugar and sour cream together.
- Beat the eggs with a fork in a small bowl and add to the cream and sugar.
- Sift dry ingredients and add a small part at a time with the sour milk.
- Sift in three cups of flour and then add about one cup or the amount necessary to make a soft dough. (This dough is more easily handled if chilled a little.)
- Roll the dough out on a floured board and cut with floured cutter.
- Do not handle the dough more than necessary or it will become tough. Fry in shortening or oil at 350 degrees F.
- Drain on paper towels and roll in sugar or shake in a bag of sugar.
Oh, these were good! The boys ate their weight in doughnuts and even shared with the neighbors on the front porch. And for mamas, these doughnuts are just about perfect dipped in coffee.
The results...
Sour Cream Doughnuts ****(four stars)
Grammer's Mashed Potato Doughnuts *****(five stars)
Even though the second recipe was tasty, it still doesn't stand a chance next to Grammer's.
The nostalgia factor weighs heavily in this house.
Looking for a fun weekend cooking activity...make doughnuts!
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Here are some good hints on making doughnuts.
And here is a great site I found with lots of tips and recipe variations on doughnuts.