How to Make Doughnuts
Doughnuts don't just come in bakery boxes by the dozen. If you've got a couple cans of refrigerated biscuit dough, some oil, and plenty of sweet stuff for toppings, you're already well on your way to discovering how to make doughnuts in your own kitchen.When you make your own doughnuts, not only do you get the sweet satisfaction of enjoying the finished product, but you also get to "frost" them yourself with glaze, icing, sprinkles and other toppings. As you might imagine, this is great fun for little ones, which is precisely why this particular recipe is called "Cooking-With-Dad Doughnuts." Think of it as an interactive family breakfast.
While you could absolutely make your dough and toppings from scratch, this recipe takes all the right shortcuts--from the canned biscuit dough to using pre-made chocolate frosting as part of one of the glazes. There are three toppings suggested below, but feel free to break out the sprinkles, the food coloring, different icing flavors and let your imagination run wild!
Transcript
Hi, I'm Miranda with recipe.com, and today, I'm gonna show
how to make cooking with Dad Doughnuts. Now, these doughnuts
are sure to become a new family favorite. It's a
great little breakfast threat. They're fun, they are fast, they're
easy, and of course they are delicious. So, I won't
waste anymore time. Let's get started cooking. I have ingredients
all laid out here.
So, let's start for doughnut themselves. We have 2 packages
here of small refrigerated buttermilk biscuit. So, they are the
small kind. You can see this is like 7-1/2 ounces.
So, I've got those all laid in the plate here,
and then for actual cooking, we have 5 cups of
vegetable oil here that has been heated to about 365
degrees. So, you can either use, you know, like either
tabletop frier or you can use a skillet. I have
a nice big cast iron skillet here that I'm gonna
use today.
Definitely, I wanna make sure that you have tongs and
slotted spoon, really important tools, and then over here are
3 different icing variations that we're going to do, so
delicious. We're gonna do a vanilla, a chocolate, and a
cinnamon. So, what you'll need is 1 cup of powdered
sugar, 3 tablespoons of milk or half in half, 3/4
teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/3 cup of semisweet chocolate chips,
1/2 cup of chocolate frosting, 1 cup of granulated sugar,
and 1-1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon. So, to begin, let's prepare
our doughnuts. Let's get these all ready. We're just gonna
smooth out the edges of these buttermilk biscuits, soon to
be doughnuts. So, they are little bit flat right now,
you can see, and we just want them to be
a little more rounded like a doughnut shape. So, just
kind of round out those edges, and then we're just
gonna poke a whole in the middle because of course
we like our doughnuts with holes. So just poke a
little hole in the middle, large enough that it doesn't
close back up again,
but that's good and frankly now you're done is you
can make them however you like. So, I'm just gonna
go through until we've done that with each of them
and you will get ready to fry. Okay, so here
we go, look at our beautiful plate of ready to
go doughnuts. They are ready to go in our oil.
We are ready to cook folks. So, using either slotted
spoon or you can use just tongs like this, we're
just gonna lower it into the oil and watch as
it gets golden brown. Flip, this happened really fast.
So, our oil is a little bit warm perhaps and
I'm just placing it over here on a wire rack.
Under the wire rack, I put like a backing sheet
with paper towel. So, I'm just gonna let this sit
for like 5 to 6 minutes. It's gonna drain and
cool and I'm just gonna continue with the rest of
my doughnuts. So, I'm just gonna let this cool now
here. Let them drain a little bit for like to
6 minutes, and we're gonna get started on our different
icing variation. So, we have really yummy stuff to dip
this in
Alright, so for our different icings, let's start with our
vanilla. So just in this bowl, I'm going to combine
the powdered sugar, the milk, and the vanilla. I'm just
gonna whisk this around using wire whisk to introduce that
vanilla in and just keep whisking until this is all
dissolved and deliciously combined.
Beautiful, delicious vanilla icing, fantastic. Let's set this to the
side. Next step is our chocolate frosting. I'm gonna melt
this chocolate chips in the microwave until they are just
melted and then mix these together. Stick them back in
the microwave for just a few seconds until it's nice
and running. Alright, so, our chocolate frosting is done. Last
but not the least, we have our cinnamon and sugar,
simple enough, just toss in the cinnamon, the sugar, give
that a little stir to make sure its nice and
combined. We are good
to start frosting and icing and dipping our delicious doughnuts.
This personally other than eating is my favorite part. We're
gonna start with the cinnamon and sugar because it's a
good idea to dip the doughnuts when they are still
warm. It will help the sugar kind of hold on.
So, just drop them in and give them a nice
little shake around. Look how gorgeous this looks, delicious. Put
it on a plate. I'm gonna do one of each.
Demonstrate one of each and then I'll keep on going.
So, for the vanilla,
and just gonna kind of depth so you can those
nice little runny on the side that we all know
and love. Look how good this looks and you made
it. Isn't it so exciting. No need to go to
a doughnut store after all. The chocolate frosting, a quick
note, the cooler it is, the thicker it will be.
So, if you want a super, super runny frosting, just
continue to microwave at short little intervals, but like mine
to kind of hold up a little bit. Look how
gorgeous that looks, yummy, and there you go.
Now, you know how to make quick and easy doughnuts.
What You'll Need
- 2 packages refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, small 7.5 ounce
- 5 cups vegetable oil
- Icing Variations...
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk or half and half
- 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chocolate frosting
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
Step By Step
1
Pre heat oil in a skillet or electric counter-top fryer to 365 degrees F.
2
Open biscuit package, round the edges of biscuits and poke a hole in each one. Lay biscuits on a tray or plate.
3
Place biscuits one by one in hot oil. With a skewer or tongs, check the color of the underside of each biscuit and turn when they reach the desired light golden brown color (approx. 35 to 45 seconds). Check the bottom again and remove donuts when they have evenly browned on both sides.
4
Drain donuts on a baking rack for 5 to 6 minutes and dip in glaze or desired topping. If sprinkles are to be applied do so before icing or glaze dries.
5
Vanilla Donut Glaze - in a small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and whisk with a wire whip until well blended.
6
Chocolate Donut Frosting - in a glass mixing bowl, heat chocolate chips in microwave until melted. Add frosting and whisk with a wire whip until smooth. Reheat for a few seconds until frosting is slightly runny. Thicker frosting will translate to thicker coverage on donuts. To thin frosting, reheat periodically.
7
Cinnamon Sugar Donut Coating - combine all ingredients.
Of course, the most important ingredient in how to make doughnuts can be summed up in three short letters: F-U-N.
More Recipes
Be sure to coat the doughnuts with the cinnamon and sugar mixture while they are still warm.
Enjoy fresh doughnuts in the morning with this make-ahead recipe. Chill the dough overnight so all that's left is rolling and cutting the dough, and frying the doughnuts.
These delicious homemade doughnuts are rolled in a mixture of sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon, complementing their pumpkin flavor.
These no-fry doughnuts are baked in muffin cups, then rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Serve them for breakfast or dessert.
Skip the bakery and make these homemade mini doughnuts. Cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, and mace give these glazed breakfast treats their flavor.
An apple pie spice glaze is drizzled on these homemade doughnuts right before serving. Set these out at breakfast or brunch and watch them disappear.
Christy Timon opened her bakery in 1982, hiring Abram Faber to help with deliveries. The now-married couple are revered as early champions of classic European baking. They continue to hunt down rare recipes, like these light doughnuts adapted from Robert Jorin, a third-generation Swiss baker at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.
For a breakfast treat or a special dessert, these donut holes are dressed up with chocolate and coconut. They're simple, but showy.
Whether served for breakfast or dessert, piping chocolate-hazelnut spread, or Nutella, into these donuts result in a dreamy treat. They are equally special filled with jam.
When you go visiting on Christmas morning, surprise and delight family and friends with a gift of decorated donuts they can enjoy while opening presents.
These fried Dutch coffee dunkers will remind you of doughnut holes. Enjoy them at breakfast or dessert.
Cider doughnuts, a New England harvest treat, inspired these spice-happy muffins. A crumbly streusel topping made with a small amount of butter provides a delicious finish.
Beignets are commonly referred to as the Southerner's doughnut. In this family recipe, the dough should be stiff add just enough water to let you press the dough flat. To make cutting the stiff dough easier, use a floured pizza cutter.