Fourth of July is a week away! If your family is anything like mine, this is a full-blown, go all out, eat till you look like Violet Beauregarde hanging out at the lake waiting your turn to have a near death experience, tubing, while my mother drives the boat towards the biggest waves she can find and laughing maniacally.
I love this holiday!!
The Chef and I, as you know, are big into “DIY”ing our food choices. While we might not be the “cleanest” of eaters (since we have at least 4 lbs of butter at all times in our freezer, and a half a gallon of organic heavy cream in the fridge) we both know that eating everything in moderation is ok. What’s not ok, is eating a majority of your food that is completely filled with chemicals and preservatives. So we feel a wee bit better on the ‘ol calorie counter. Not only is this better for you, health wise, but it’s also lighter on your wallet.
I honestly haven’t been on grocery shopping in months. Mostly just the staples and veggies.
Here at the Everyday Chef and Wife and our hectic little life, the more we can plan out the better. I figured it would be good to start planning out what we could make and take up for our vacay north with the Mumsie and fam, and I figured I should share some of the awesome recipes and ideas so you can plan ahead and make them as well! Lets take some stress off so we can enjoy more sunshine and festivities, eh?
(I am a Northern Michigander, yes, and proud of it)
So first recipe of feast week. The great thing about this doughnut recipe is that you can make the dough before, ball it up and fridge it until baking day (technically fry day….and the fourth is on a Friday! Ha! Destiny…). Just pull it a wee bit early to warm the dough up a tad before rolling it and cutting it. Aaand no rising time. Score!
It took me all of an hour to make all of em. Not too shabby honestly. Unlike yeast doughnuts, they’re quick, and prepare much like cookie dough except sticky. Way sticker. I thought I was doing something wrong.
But I was doing something oh so right.
Grab your aprons boys and gals and SUIT UP!
For the doughnuts (icing is down further and it’s a keeper) you’ll need:
2 Tbsp butter (warm her up to room temp or 20 seconds in the micro, quarter rotating every 5 seconds– Thanks to the big M. Stewart for that little tip because I rarely remember to pull butter out before hand. And by rarely I mean hardly ever…)
heh.
1 Cup of sugar
1 Egg
3/4 Cup of buttermilk (or 3/4 cup of regular milk with a 3/4 Tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar- let sit for 5 min, OR your buttermilk that you just made from your homemade butter. You know you want to make it)
Using the dough hook attachment (or a spoon if you’re a tough guy) and beat the butter, egg and the sugar together, set the buttermilk aside for a hot second and get the dry stuff ready.
3 Cups of flour
1 Tbsp baking POWDER
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
And oil for frying.
Sift (anytime you’re working with baking powder and baking soda, but especially baking powder, it’s a good idea to always sift. You will prevent those little bugger clumps gettin in and making little dern pockets that make your mouth wonder what’s up) the dry ingredients together. Alternate adding the dry mix and the buttermilk to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. “Knead”/ mix the dough for a few more quick minutes.
Ok so real talk. My dough looked super sticky and I was certain I wasn’t going to be able to roll it out without getting dern right mad at the rolling pin vs. dough, so I added 1/4 cup of flour. The end result was technically fine, but I honestly think I would’ve been fine without it, if I covered the dough properly with the right amount of flour while rolling, because I had nooo problems at all. I felt like the doughnut was just a tad on the dry side. I’m going to leave this decision up to you. But yes, I did add more flour. Would I do it again? Probably not but it didn’t make the doughnuts suck.
Real talk done. Did I just confuse the heck out of you?
In summery, if you feel like the dough is just out of control sticky, add flour. They’ll still be great no matter what. It’s a doughnut.
SO, after that war of a decision, either bag the dough into a ziplock, and refrigerate it until baking day, or if it is that glorious day, roll out yer dough! Let’s make it about 1/4 inch thick. They’re going to puff up when you fry.
Using a dough cutter…Cut out the dough. Save those doughnut holes. They fry up too! Re roll as many times as needed to get as many doughnuts as you possibly can. My little family of three ate every last crumb.
Wait! Do you have your fryer or your oil in a good pot with a couple inches of oil at 375˚? Get your candy thermometer out and check it if your fryer/ pot doesn’t have one. You don’t want the oil too cool or it’ll make the doughnuts greasy. The dough starts to absorb the oil instead of searing the outside.
*Serious side note: Please be careful where you put the hot oil. Keep an eye on it at all times if there are little hands around. It can also splatter a little too when you’re frying the doughnuts. Lets avoid the ER this holiday shall we? Or how about avoiding it just in general. K thanks for the momma worry moment. I just had to get that out.
I let mine cook for about 20 seconds per side or until a nice golden brown.Put only a couple in at a time depending on the size of your fryer/pot. You want to be able to maneuver them/flip them over. Scoop up and place on a paper towel covered something. Let ’em cool a wee bit.
OK now for the icing.
2 Tbsp of butter
About 2 cups of powdered sugar (I honestly didn’t measure, I just kept adding until it was at a good thickness–enough to drip a little off the doughnut, but almost give it a frosting look)
A couple dashes of milk (^””^)
1/8-1/4 tsp of cinnamon
When the doughnuts are cool enough to handle but still have a bit of warmth, dip one side into the delicious bowl of icing. I used a chopstick to dip and scoop back up. Put onto a cooling rack. But lets have one right away to make sure it’s amazing.
It’s pretty amazing isn’t it?
You can also make up some cinnamon sugar…By combining cinnamon and sugar…
I promise you, if you make this for the family get together that’s happening this Independence day, they’ll be saluting you as well, soldier. Well done.
Ok now go make that dough, put it in your fridge and get ready for the weekend! You just got one meal completed.
Come back for more prepare food ideas for the weekend!
-The Wife
eatprayjade says
this looks unreal!