Glazed Doughnuts

By Foodiewife

I spotted this recipe on "Colleen's Recipes" food blog.
Wow, are these ever good! They are light and airy, and the glaze is perfect. Take note of some very useful tips to help your doughnuts turn out perfectly.

Ingredients

• Simple Sugar Glaze:
• 2 envelopes of dry active yeast (or 2 scant tablespoons) NOTE: I used SAF Instant Yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 cups warm milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1/3 cup butter flavored Crisco*
• 5 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 tablespoons hot water
• I used organic vegetable shortening and 2 tsp of LorAnn Sweet Buttery Dough Emulsion, because it's all I had

Preparation

Step 1

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let it stand for 5 minutes or until foamy**. In a stand mixer, mix 2 cups of the flour, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and yeast mixture until well mixed (takes just a minute on low speed).
**If using SAF Instant yeast, you can skip this step and add it directly into the mixer, without waiting for it to foam.

Beat in the rest of the flour, ½ cup at a time, until the dough doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl anymore.
NOTE: I added a couple tablespoons more flour, until the dough quit sticking. Once it is at that stage, knead for about 5 minutes.

Place the dough in a greased (I use cooking spray) bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and sit it in a very warm part of your kitchen for an hour, or until the dough doubles in size.
NOTE: I preheat my oven to WARM, then turn it off. I put the dough into the cozy oven, and the dough rose in less than an hour!

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently roll it out to ½" thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter (see note below). Set cut out donuts on a square of parchment paper that you lightly sprayed with cooking spray. This will help you tremendously when it comes time to lift the donuts into the cooking oil.

Spray the tops of the donuts with a little cooking spray and cover loosely with plastic wrap for a second rising (takes about 45 minutes to an hour).

Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer (see note below) to 350 (I cooked mine at 375) and gently lower donuts into oil. Fry until they turn nice and golden then flip them.
NOTE: Monitoring the heat of the oil is essential. My first doughnut cooked very fast, and dark because the oil was pretty hot!

Drain cooked donuts on a baking rack and before they cool all the way down, dip them in a simple sugar glaze (or cinnamon sugar).

SIMPLE SUGAR GLAZE (totally amazing recipe)

Mix everything together (starting with 3 tablespoons hot water, then adding the last tablespoon if you need it).
NOTE: I found that my first doughnuts had tiny clumps of powdered sugar in the glaze. I simply strained the glaze into a new bowl, and all was well.

NOTE: If you use electric frying pan you can better regulate the temperature (and it doesn't take as much oil as a deep fryer).