D is for Doughnut

As of bedtime last night, I still had not come up with a Pinterest project for today's "D" post. I tossed around a few ideas, including doughnuts and dandelion paintings, but nothing struck me. 

"Make doughnuts! Make doughnuts!" my husband said, but that seemed like a major undertaking.

I woke up several times in the night, and when my mind wasn't racing to thoughts of preschool projects, appointments I needed to make, grocery lists, song lyrics, blog post ideas (brilliant ideas, all of which I promptly forgot when I woke up), the laundry status, what I should wear the next day (contingent upon the laundry status), and the like, I was wondering what in the hell I was going to do for my "D" post. Then I remembered seeing a pin for deviled eggs where the whites had been dyed lovely pastel shades. As we were going to be attending a family Easter dinner later in the afternoon, I thought that would be a perfect thing to try for my post. When I announced my plan this morning, my husband adamantly vetoed it.

"No one in our family likes deviled eggs," he pointed out, dashing my spirits.

"But they were going to be PRETTY deviled eggs," I said.

"I thought you were going to make doughnuts! I was looking forward to them!" he replied.

So at 8:30 a.m., I went to the kitchen to try to make doughnuts.

Here is the pin:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/homemade-glazed-doughnuts

Let me go on record as saying Ree Drummond's instructions for making these doughnuts were FLAWLESS. Her step by step instructions are practically idiot proof. 

Unless you're an idiot and don't read the recipe before beginning.

Guess who was an idiot?

By not doing ANY pre-planning and only giving the recipe a glance the night before, noting that I actually had all (most) of the needed ingredients, I neglected to note the little part that said to make the dough and then refrigerate it for several hours, preferably overnight.

Oops.

I read this part shortly after I finished the dough and was ready to move on to the next step, which I THOUGHT would be rolling it out and cutting out doughnut shapes. Instead, I put the dough in the refrigerator for about an hour, then checked it. Cool, but not cold. So I stuck it in the freezer for another hour, and around 10:30, I was able to roll it out and cut out my doughnuts.

Since I've never made doughnuts before, I never had a need for a doughnut cutter. Ree Drummond doesn't have one, either; she makes due with a biscuit cutter and a little flower shaped cutter for the hole. Okay, I don't have a biscuit cutter, either. I use a glass for that, which is what I used today. The next hurdle was to find something to make the hole. I searched every drawer in my kitchen and found NOTHING to make a 1" doughnut hole, so as a last resort, I used a little 1" baby chicky cookie cutter. 

"Hey, instead of doughnut holes, we could call them chick holes!" I said to my husband, who had wandered into the kitchen to check on the progress of the doughnuts (the first of many disappointing visits to the kitchen by him to get a fresh doughnut).

"Uh, no," he said. "That's just wrong."

The dough handled beautifully when I rolled it out. I put the doughnuts and chick holes (still calling them that) on pans to rise and set them on top of the stove. And they laid there and did relatively nothing for thirty minutes. I turned on the oven to get some warmth to them, and slowly, slowly, slooowly, they began to rise (I had time to take a shower, wash my hair, shave my legs, dry my hair, STRAIGHTEN my hair, put on make up and get dressed first). Finally, it was time to fry them. It was 12:30

Unique doughnut holes. Or chick holes.

FINALLY, the dough rose.

My husband and son had plates out in eager anticipation. I was really hoping they wouldn't be disappointed.

It took A LOT of canola oil to fry them. (Have I mentioned that, not only have I never made doughnuts before, I have never deep fried ANYTHING before?) I lowered the first doughnut into the oil.

And it browned on one side, just like it was supposed to do. And 45 seconds later, I flipped it over, and the other side browned, just like it was supposed to do. I fished it out with a slotted spoon, set it on paper towels to drain, then dipped them in the glaze I had already prepared (I read ahead this time). 

Look! You can see the chick hole!

Draining on paper towels.

My son snagged it immediately. Took the first, hesitant bite. Then downed it in a gulp.

The second doughnut went to my husband. 

And they elbowed each other out of the way for every one of them after that. I barely got a chance to eat one (or three).

The chick holes were THE BEST, although many of them didn't want to flip over in the oil as they cooked. In spite of that, they turned out just fine.

Without a doubt, this was a PINTEREST WIN!

Aren't they GORGEOUS?!

My final thoughts:

Now I know why doughnut makers start making the doughnuts at 3:30 in the morning.

I will never complain about the cost of a store-bought doughnut again. They are labor intensive.

I only got burned by hot oil once, but that was enough. I have high hopes my fingerprints will grow back some day.