Old Fashioned Donut Holes

Do you ever wake up in the morning and just dread the thought of another bowl of cereal - BORING!  Well, I had that feeling this morning along with a craving for an old fashioned donut.  After I fed the dogs their same ole bowl of IAMS (talk about boring), I searched my files for a recipe Rich cut out of the USA weekend for Old Fashioned Donut Holes.   I couldn't find it, I started flipping furiously through my binder of torn out recipes asking myself "where is it, where is it - damn, what am I going to make now".  (normal people would get in their car and drive to dunkin donuts)  I pulled out a couple of different recipes and then saw the one I wanted, stuck right to the front of the refigerator.  I immediately got started.  The dough was very simple to mix but you  had to let it sit for 30 minutes in the fridge before actually frying them.  The final results were less than perfect.  The first batch which came out a light golden brown were raw in the middle.  Thinking that I had to cook them longer, I did.  The second batch was cooked all the way through, but a little to dark on the outside.  It was at this point that I thought that it was possible that I made them to big - in fact that was the case.  This recipe is supposed to make 4.5 dozen donut holes.  I made about 15 extra large donut (baseballs).   Even with the less than perfect results, they tasted pretty good.  I filed the recipe in my binder and will try them again soon.  Stay Tuned!

I tried these again last week - made them smaller (like they are supposed to be) and they were delicious.  Keep in mind when frying them to use fresh vegtable oil.  Here is the recipe:

WARM CINNAMON DOUGHNUT HOLES

Cinnamon sugar:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Dough
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted but not hot
1 large egg
1/3 cup buttermilk

Mix cinnamon sugar on a plate; set aside.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk sugar and butter in a large bowl.  Whisk in egg and then buttermilk until smooth.  Gently stir in dry ingredients with a spatula to form a soft, pliable dough.  Cover with plastic and refigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

When ready to fry, heat 1 inch of oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet to 325 degrees.  Meanwhile, use a rounded teaspoon measure to scoop all of the dough into balls.  Working in batches, drop dough balls into hot oil.  Fry until golden brown on one side, 1 to 2 minutes.  Flip and continue to fry until golden on remaining side, another 1 to 20 minutes.  I found that they flipped themselves over when the first side was done and fried them for a total of 3 minutes - they came out perfect.

Drain all doughnut holes on a brown paper bag, and quickly dredge in cinnamon sugar, serving warm or at room temperature.

YIELD:  About 4 dozen