My parents are visiting this weekend and though I have already tried old fashioned donuts, my mom told me that was her favorite. I had to try again. Maybe this time I will get it right.
I scoured the internet for a different recipe. I just couldn't find one that I wanted to try. So I decided to give the same recipe another go, (Old fashioned sour cream doughnuts) but instead of peanut oil that I did in January's adventure, I did canola like I did in February. I also came up with a plan. I would try it rolled, non-rolled, refrigerate first and non-refrigerated. I would try two different glazes (the one that came with the recipe and my family recipe.)
Trial 1: rolled, non-refrigerated: The donuts didn't look right. The glaze recipe that it came with was my mom's favorite. I liked the family version.
Trial 2: not rolled, non-refrigerated: I formed the donut with greased hands instead of rolling. This time the donuts looked right.
Trial 3: Not rolled, refrigerated: They tasted similarly, it was just easier to shape by hand.
Trial 4: Not rolled, refrigerated, higher temp: I was wondering if I upped the temperature from 325 degrees to 350 would help the flavor. It didn't seem to matter.
None of these adjustments seemed to help too much. I didn't like them again. They were a little greasy. However, by the last batch, they looked pretty!
Now Bake That!
I decided that I should only make donuts late at night. Mostly because that is when we have friends over to give their opinion. I am also hoping that it will keep me from gaining a 100 pounds this year. Fried dough. So dangerous...
After being disappointed with peanut oil last time, I decided to actually follow the recipe's suggestion for oil. Also, instead of making full sized donuts, donut holes seemed like a good choice. This way I could try many coatings without getting too full. I chose Saveur's Powdered Sugar Donut Holes! I used canola oil instead of peanut oil. In addition to powder sugar, I was going to also try out a different glaze and cinnamon sugar coating.
I wasn't disappointed this time. They were great! Or hole lotta awesome! (sorry, bad pun)
The glaze I used was from a family recipe.
Betsy's vanilla glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla
Instead of dipping in the glaze (which I think gets too much on it), I use a pastry brush instead. It worked better than the last time. Plus our friends we had over for dinner both voted that the glazed were actually the best of the three.
Now bake that!
