Hello friends!
So I know I mentioned to you that I had big news to share with you today. It turns out I now have TWO big things to share with you today!
The first being the more obvious one: I LEARNED HOW TO DEEP FRY DOUGHNUTS! More important, I overcame my deeply-rooted fear of frying and now my fellow fried-food lovers…
“I believe I can fry,
I believe doughnuts will be mine,
I think about them every night and day,
So delicious in every way.
I believe I can pour,
Homemade glaze over a dozen moreee
I believe I can fry.”
That song came out of my mouth in real life, friends.
Yep. I know you’re jealous of my mad song-writing skills.
For those of you who keep up with my crazy shenanigans and odd ramblings about food, you know that I very much want to take my blog to the professional level. I’ve always loved writing and once I started blogging (almost three years ago!) I knew that this was the perfect medium for me to develop as a writer. So for me, getting accepted into the community of female bloggers that make up BlogHer is huge.
Kermit waving his arms around huge.
I know I still have a long way to go to reach the rest of my goals (cough cough On Sugar Mountain cookbook, cough) but for now, I shall celebrate this little victory by eating ALL THE DOUGHNUTS.
Well, I would if I hadn’t already eaten most of them before writing this post. I just couldn’t help myself! They were calling to me with their fluffy, fried interiors and their sweet, creamsicle glaze.
Speaking of which…
DUDE THIS GLAZE. It’s liquid creamsicle and you need want it in your life. It’s like being one step closer to Summer with every bite.
I’ll be back on Wednesday with another deep-fried treat (forgive me but typing #can’tstopwon’tstop feels appropriate at this point) so be sure to check back first thing in the morning!
Happy Frying!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 4 cups flour
- 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking power
- 1 tsp grated orange zest
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp orange extract
- 3/4 cup milk
- 5 tbsp melted (and cooled) butter
For the glaze:
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 1/2 tsp light corn syrup
- 1 tsp orange extract
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp hot water
- orange food coloring, if desired
- LOTS of vegetable oil, for frying (I used about 10 cups, but it all depends on the depth of your pot!)
Instructions
- *Make the dough:* Whisk together flour, baking powder, orange zest, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with sugar until thick and creamy. Slowly beat in milk and melted butter.
- Pour wet mixture over dry mixture and stir with a large wooden spoon until thick dough forms.The dough should be soft and a little sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness on a well floured surface. Cut out doughnuts using a well-floured doughnut cutter, and place on a wax-paper covered baking sheet to rest for 20 minutes. *If you need to re-roll dough to make more doughnuts, only do so once or the dough will get tough. If you do keep re-rolling the dough, use it for doughnut holes instead of whole doughnuts.
- *For frying:* You're going to want a sturdy pot that you can fill at least 2 inches deep with vegetable oil while you still have another four inches or so of space between the oil and the top of the pot (you don't want to overcrowd the pot or have hot oil boil up at you!). Using a candy thermometer, heat the oil to 375. Transfer a few of the doughnuts in carefully; I took Joy of Cooking's advice and slid them in using a spatula that has been dipped in the hot oil.
- Fry on each side for about minutes, or until golden brown, then flip carefully with a wooden chopstick. Once brown on both sides, carefully remove with chopstick and let excess oil drip off for a moment before setting down to cool on a cooling wrack layered with paper towels.
- *Make the glaze:* whisk all ingredients together until a thick and smooth glaze forms. If it seems to thick, add a little bit more warm water as needed to thin it out. Dip half of doughnut in glaze, let excess drip off, then set back on cooling rack until frosting sets. *To make a drizzle: dye the leftover frosting a deeper shade of orange, pour into a sturdy ziploc bag, snip off a corner, and drizzle over tops of frosted doughnuts once the first layer is set.
