Doughnuts The Old Fashioned Way

As a child I remember my father would bring home a package of cake doughnuts, just plain old cake doughnuts with no powdered sugar, no chocolate, no cinnamon on them.  It was just a package of a dozen plain cake doughnuts.

You can still buy the packaged brands of these doughnuts or you can go to the supermarket and buy some from the bakery section.

There is Bella Christi Bakery in Aspinwall where they make a smaller version of these doughnuts right in their sales room as patrons are coming in to purchase baked goods.

It is very easy to make these simple doughnuts.  I prefer to use my deep fryer to make these but you can do it in a cast iron frying pan filled with 2-4 inches of oil with the flame set on high.

Mix 1-1/2 cups of flour with 1 c. sugar, 3 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 2 tbsp. soft shortening, 2 eggs and 3/4 c. milk.  Blend on slow speed in your mixer and then stir in 2 additional cups of flour.

Put dough on well floured surface. Roll around lightly to coat with flour. Roll dough 3/8 inch thick. Cut with floured doughnut cutter.

Slide doughnuts into hot oil using a slotted spoon, turning them when they rise to the surface with a slotted spoon.  Don't use a fork to turn the doughnuts so that they don't get saturated with oil. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown on both sides. Remove carefully from oil with your slotted spoon. Drain the doughnuts on brown paper.  I use the paper bags from the grocery store for this.  Paper towels work just as well but are more expensive to use.

Serve plain, sugared, or frosted. When you are done with your doughnuts, you can make a batch of doughnut holes to use up all of your batter.

The best way to eat cake donuts is using them in a Hot Fudge Sundae such as the ones we used to get at Sweet William Restaurant.  Cake donut on the  bottom with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry on top.

Enjoy our version of old fashioned doughnuts.