These are a fall favorite with apple cider. Helen found this in the newspaper and deemed it a winner. I use this same mixing method for any yeast bread now – it works well and eliminates the kneading need:)
Mom
Donuts:
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 cup milk, lukewarm
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons butter, very soft
- Oil for frying
Vanilla Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons milk
Place all ingredients in the mixer fitted with a dough hook. Turn on low and mix for 10 minutes, until the dough forms a smooth ball. Remove bowl from stand, add a bit of oil, turn the dough to coat, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll to 1/2″ thickness. Cut out donuts and place on prepared baking sheets. Let rise until doubled, or place in refrigerator overnight. Let come to room temperature before frying (about an hour).
Heat oil in deep fryer or heavy pot to 375°F. Fry donuts, being careful not to crowd, for about 1 minute per side, until brown.
Drain on paper towels or paper bags. Sprinkle with sugar or dip in vanilla glaze.
Vanilla Glaze: beat all ingredients together until smooth.
Apple Cider and Donuts
In the fall my favorite tradition is making apple cider. Uncle Ed and Aunt Bev have a really fantastic cider press they are kind enough to run for us. We provide the apples and as many donuts as we can fry.
The weeks leading up to the pressing, Dad takes stock of the different apple trees on the farms to see which ones have the most apples, or asks neighbors if he can pick their apples if his trees don’t look promising. Collecting the apples is a fun task because it involves ladders, or tractors, or climbing apple trees, and/or Dad’s favorite approach: climbing the tree himself and shaking the branches with all his might so the apples drop onto a tarp below. No one is terribly discerning about the state of the apples – Dad’s rule is: as long as they aren’t rotten, they are good for cider. Sometimes he takes a half-rotten apple and scoops out the rotten part with his bare hands,then throws the good half in the bucket for cider.
Whenever anyone asks (and usually a kid does) what happens if there is a worm in an apple, the standard response is: “a little worm juice isn’t going to hurt anybody”. So far, that has held true.
Uncle Ed passed away last year, so the tradition of taking apples to Ed’s farm has most likely come to an end. The past couple of years we have gotten the manual cider press that sits on the front porch of the farm as an ornament up and running and made several gallons of cider. It was as delicious as ever.
-Helen
Spencer Family Cookbook 