Doughnut Saturday

First, I'm so happy to have our wireless back up and running! Phew. That was a close shave. I'm sort of sad to say that I don't do well without my wireless, so I'm glad that's over.

So! I actually did what I said I was going to do in Friday's blog post and on Saturday, which was a rainy, cold day in my neck of the woods, I made gluten-free doughnuts. Mmm. Mmm. After a few minutes of deep frying, they were all golden and gorgeous and crispy. Then I either rolled them in cinnamon and sugar or powdered sugar or an almond glaze. Oh baby.

The dough.

(I used an icing tip to cut out the hole in the center because I didn't have a cutter that smalll)

Into the fryer they go ...

All warm and golden waiting to be glazed ...

I added a splash of almond extract to the glaze and of course there was a bowl of cinnamon and sugar ...

The glorious final product which was perfect on a rainy Saturday with a hot mug of french roast.

I used a gluten-free flour blend as this recipe calls for it, but I'm sure one could just use regular flour and still get a delicious result.

Gluten-Free Cake Doughnuts, Adapted from Cooking Gluten-Free by Karen Robertson

Ingredients:

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 C milk

1/2 C sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 TBL butter, melted

1 3/4-2 C Jeanne's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix (depends on humidity--I use 1 3/4 C consistently)
(I used Bob's Redmill All Purpose Gluten-free flour + 1 tsp. xanthum gum)

Vegetable oil for frying (I use Rice Bran oil) ( I couldn't find rice bran oil so I used expeller pressed safflower oil instead)

Confectioners sugar, granulated sugar, or cinnamon mixed w/sugar for dusting.
-Mix together egg, milk, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and butter in a medium bowl.

-Add flour (you may need incorporate it with your hands at end of mixing).

-Cover and refrigerate for about an hour (to firm up dough).

-Prepare to roll out the doughnuts. I use a Silpat mat to roll out the dough. You can also dust your cutting board with flour and cut out there. (I would use tapioca flour for this--it won't add graininess to the dough). You may need to use a little flour for the biscuit cutters so they don't stick to the dough.

-Roll out the dough to 1/2" thickness (be sure it's not too thin).

-Cut out doughnuts with bigger biscuit cutter and doughnut holes with smaller biscuit cutter. Or you can just use the smaller one and cut out a bunch of doughnut holes (because they are fun and easy to eat!).

-While you are cutting out the doughnuts, have the pan of oil on medium-high heat. I use a small saucepan and I do several batches. This is so I don't have to use a ton of oil. You need to have the oil deep enough that the doughnuts can cook be completely submerged and have oil all the way around them. Oil should be around 360 degrees.

-Once doughnuts are cut out, test the oil. Drop a bit of extra dough into the oil to see if it fries. If it starts frying immediately, then the oil is ready.
-Carefully drop doughnuts and holes into oil. They should drop into the oil and start frying.

-After a couple of minutes, they will rise to the surface.
 
-When they are golden brown, carefully take doughnuts out of oil and drain on a plate covered w/paper towels.
 
-Repeat the frying procedure until all the dough is used.
 
Dust with powerded sugar, cinnamon and sugar or make a simple glaze and drizzle on top. Yum!