I don’t make donuts often, but when I do I prefer to fry them. (Hey, I sound like that beer commercial!) That statement was true until about two months ago. Then, I decided to develop a recipe for fried gingerbread cake donuts. Most recipes I’ve seen were for baked gingerbread donuts, which didn’t sound exciting. I figured, if you’re going to make donuts, “go big or go home.”
I had to go through a few batches of dough to get the consistency right. During this time, we went through a series of “Sunday Morning Donuts.” This was tons of fun, and I shared donuts with lots of friends and neighbors. SMD has gone on hiatus during December Cookie Baking, but will make a return after the holidays.
adapted from allrecipes.com
Gingerbread Donuts
Ingredients
2 ⅔ c flour
½ c brown sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 Tbs ground ginger
1 Tbs cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
¼ tsp white pepper
¾ c milk
3 Tbs molasses
1 egg
4 Tbs butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
Oil for frying
Glaze
1 Tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¾ c powdered sugar
Sugar Coating
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and white pepper. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, molasses, egg, butter, and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Heat oil in a deep heavy skillet or deep-fryer to 375°F (185°C). On a floured board, pat the chilled dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out doughnuts with a 3-inch cutter. Use a smaller cutter to cut holes from center.
- Fry doughnuts in hot oil until golden brown, turning once (about 1 minute per side.) Remove from oil to drain on a rack set over newspaper.
- For the glaze: combine glaze ingredients in a bowl and dip the donuts in them to coat. For the sugar coating: combine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and roll donuts to coat on all sides.
