Homemade Vanilla Glazed Doughnuts

You might think that National Doughnut Day is in June but did you know there is also a second, less celebrated National Doughnut Day on November 5th? And I'm happy to celebrate with doughnuts pretty much any day of the year.

I've provided the recipe I use for plain cake doughnuts with a vanilla glaze, but see below the directions for some autumnal variations - pumpkin with a maple glaze or apple cider with a vanilla glaze. Dunked in hot chocolate - my preference - they make a terrific treat when snuggling up under a blanket, or when getting together with friends and family.

Ingredients

For Dough:
1-1/4 cup of milk, warmed
1/4 cup of sugar
2-1/4 teaspoons dry yeast
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup of butter, melted
4 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Oil for frying


For Glaze:
1/4 cup of butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups icing sugar
milk to thin glaze


To Make the Dough

Warm the milk, not to boiling, but so that you can still dip your finger in it. Put in a bowl and add the sugar. Once dissolved, sprinkle the dry yeast on top, stir gently, then leave it for 5 minutes. The yeast should begin to ferment. If it doesn't, it means that either your milk was too hot or the yeast is too old. Either way, you'll have to start again unfortunately.

Add the eggs and melted butter to the bowl and stir to combine. Slowly add the flour and salt and mix until it forms a dough. Continue to stir for 5 more minutes.

Lightly oil the dough to keep it from sticking to the sides, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours if not overnight. During this time the butter will firm up and will spread evenly throughout the dough while cooking.

Take your chilled dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about a 1/2 inch thickness. Use two different sized glasses, or a doughnut cutter if you have one, to cut out the shapes. (I used a travel mug and a plastic bottle lid!)

Cover the doughnuts with a tea towel or paper towels and let them rise until they double in size - about an hour.

Frying

Pour several inches of oil into a cast iron skillet and heat at a medium temperature to about 370 degrees or until a drop of water sizzles when added to the pan (be careful, don't splash yourself!)

Carefully add the doughnuts and doughnut holes to the oil and fry to a golden brown, turning them over after about a minute or so. They will cook much faster than you expect!

Remove the doughnuts from the oil with tongs or a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Let them cool for a few minutes.

Glazing

Melt the butter in a small bowl, add the rest of the ingredients, and mix until smooth. Thin the glaze with milk as needed. Dip each doughnut halfway into the glaze, then set it face-up on a rack or paper towel to allow the excess to drip off.

Alternate Flavours

Pumpkin Doughnuts with Maple Glaze

Add the following to your dough before chilling:

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2-1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
1.2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp all spice
1/8 tsp ground cloves

For glaze: add 1/2 cup of maple syrup, reduce sugar by 1 cup

Apple Cider Doughnuts

Add the following to your dough before chilling:

1/2 cup of apple cider
2 tsps ground cinnamon