Fried Miniature Assorted Doughnuts

Would you like to wake up every morning to have doughnuts? Or would you like to walk into the kitchen and just have a doughnut sitting there, ready to be eaten? Or have you just every craved a doughnut and then realized you can't go get one because the whole world is on lock down?

Well, good news for you, we are going to be making miniature doughnuts today!

Doughnuts have always been intimidating to me, but to be honest, they are actually absurdly easy and so so amazing! So, don't be scared, just take the plunge and do it, I'll be here to walk you through each step and the whole process.

Makes About: 48-60 Miniature Doughnuts

Takes About: 2 Hours

Difficulty: 2 out of 5 (because of the yeast)

Prep:

No preparation at this time.

Ingredients:

- Dough

2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast

2 tablespoons water (between 105 -110 degrees F)

1 small pinch of granulated sugar

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk - at room temperature

2 tablespoons unsalted butter - room temperature

1 large egg - room temperature

Canola Oil for frying - Should fill a heavy bottom pot about 2 inches

- Powdered Sugar Topping

1 cup powdered sugar

- Cinnamon and Sugar Topping

1 cup granulated sugar

3-4 tablespoons cinnamon

- Pink Glaze Topping

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoons milk (depending on how think you want the glaze)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 drops food coloring

Sprinkles (optional)

Instructions:

- Step 1 - Bloom the Yeast

In a small bowl, combine the 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast, the 2 tablespoons of water between 105-110 degrees F, and 1 small pinch of sugar. Mix until the yeast is all wet

Make sure you use the correct temperature of water, because if it is too cold or too hot, it will not work.

Set aside until needed.

- Step 2 - Grab Yourself a Large Bowl

In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 cup of milk (make sure it is room temperature), 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter (also, must be at room temperature and soft), and the 1 large egg (also, confirm it is at room temperature).

Before mixing, check to see if your yeast mixture has foamed. If so, add the yeast to the flour mixture and start to mix using a spatula until it becomes a crumbly mass.

If your yeast is not foamy, it may have died and you should start your yeast mixture over again.

- Step 3 - Start to Knead

Using a little flour from the reserved 1/4 cup, sprinkle a little flour over the counter and dump the dough onto the counter.

Knead the dough for about 5-7 minutes, until mostly smooth.

If the dough seems sticky, add a little more flour from the reserved 1/4 cup of flour.

Once completely kneaded, lightly oil a large boil and place the dough into the middle of the bowl. Oil the top of the dough slightly, cover with cling warm, and place in room temperature room with no draft for about 1 hours or until doubled in size.

- Step 4 - Forming the Doughnuts

Once the hour is done, sprinkle a little flour onto a cleaned counter and carefully dump the dough onto the counter.

Also, at this time, grab a large baking sheet and place a piece or parchment paper on it. Sprinkle flour over the surface and set aside.

Once the baking sheet is prepped, start to press the dough out until it is about 1 inch thick. You can also use a rolling pin to complete this.

Now that the dough has rolled out, using a small round cutter (I used a large shot glass to cut mine out), dip your cutter in flour to make it a little easier to cut through the dough, and cut small circles out of the dough.

You should end up with something like this.

- Step 5 - Make the Hole

Using a small knife, cut a little hole in the middle of the circles.

Using your fingers, make the hole slightly bigger by pulling on the dough lightly.

Make sure you don't pull too hard, we just want to stretch it out slightly.

Also, make sure you don't press the dough too hard because you won't want to press all the air out of the doughnuts.

I used my thumb to make the hole the right size.

Once you doughnuts have been formed, place them on the floured baking sheet.

If you have leftover dough, you can press the leftover dough together and roll out more doughnuts. These doughnuts won't be as fluffy, but they will still be delicious.

- Step 6 - Let them Rest

Once all the doughnuts are all cut, place a towel over them and set them aside to rest for about 20-30 minutes. This will let the gluten relax before we fry them.

- Step 7 - Heat the Oil and Determine Which Toppings you Want

In a heavy bottom pot, I used a cast iron pan, heat up two inches of canola oil until it reaches the temperature of about 375 degrees F (about 190 degrees C).

While your oil is hating up, make your toppings if you are using the powdered sugar or the cinnamon and sugar toppings. Just add the ingredients to a bowl where you can drop 2-3 doughnuts in at a time.

You want to prep your dried toppings because you will be adding the donuts to the toppings shortly after the have fired.

If you want to do the glaze, this can prepared later.

- Step 8 - Set up Your Stations

There are 4 stations to this frying process that you should set up.

Station 1, you will drop the doughnuts into the oil and let them fry, so you will want the raw doughnuts somewhat close to your frying pan.

Station 2, you will move the donuts from the oil onto a cooling rack. With this cooling crack, lay a few pieces of paper towels underneath it, where the hot oil can drip if there is any leftover oil.

Station 3, this should be where your toppings are.

Station 4, this is another cooling rack where the doughnuts can cool completely after they have been topped.

Tip: I used large cooking tweezers to flip my donuts and move them about. If you don't have these, you can use anything that can be used in hot oil that wont smush the doughnuts.

- Step 8 - Start Your Frying

Once your oil is up to the correct temperature, add 1 doughnut to the oil.

We are just doing 1 at first to get a feel for how long each side has to fry. Mine fried for about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Follow the steps below (which I did for a full batch, for your 1 doughnut and when it feels comfortable, you can add about 6, depending on how large your pan is. They should not be crowded.

Let the doughnut fry on one side for about 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.

If they flout together, just push them away from each other.

Once it is golden brown, flip the doughnut to the other side to fry for another 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.

Once the doughnuts are golden brown on both sides, transfer them to the cooling rack (station 2) to let the excess oil fall off.

While they are cooling slightly, add a few more donuts to the oil.

Once they are in the oil, transfer the doughnuts in station 2 to the toppings and toss them around until completely coated.

Don't wait to do this process, if your donuts are cooled and cold, the toppings will not stick. Do this between batches of frying.

Once they are coated, transfer them to the last cooling rack to rest.

Fry and coat the remaining doughnuts, repeating this process until you have fried all of the doughnuts.

- Using the Glaze as a Topping

If you were interested in the glaze as a topping, the doughnuts will have to be completely cooled.

Once the doughnuts are cooled, in a medium bowl, add the 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 2-3 tablespoons of milk (add more milk if you want it thinner or more powdered sugar if you want it thicker), 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract , and 1-2 drops of food coloring mixing until well incorporated.

Once made, immediately dip the tops of the doughnuts into the glaze and set on a drying rack.

If you desire to have sprinkles, add them before the glaze dries, which takes about 30 seconds.

- Step 9 - Enjoy!

Once all of your doughnuts have been fried, coated or glazed, you can enjoy!

These are best eaten the same day they are fried.