Thread: Dad's doughnuts

I know it's not crappie but bear with me....First, a little back story. My Dad grew up in Maine and we traveled there often over the years. Growing up here in CT, a couple of times a year, he would make doughnuts, using a recipe card he got from his mom, a recipe he grew up eating back on the family farm. All us kids and our cousins remember him making these and how quick they would get eaten up; it was a big event around here.
He passed in 2013 (August 4th was 10 years) and it was quite a long time before that that he had made any. My wife joined our family in '85 and she remembers only a time or 2 that he made them.
I was watching this fishing video last fall and the recipe that the older gent shows quickly is nearly exactly what my dad used; I went and seached it out at Mom's house.


I just had to make a batch even though I'd never made doughnuts before. I even used his old doughnut pot for tradition. They came out pretty good, pretty much just like Dad's. I think he would have approved.

This morning I needed something to do and made another batch to take another trip down memory lane. This time was much more efficient than the first time and I snapped a few pictures of the process.
This link shows another video where the nice gent outlines the whole process in his home kitchen if you want to give them a go on your own.


At the start: Dad always used lard so I do too.


It's kind of a wet dough to start, had to add more flour to stiffen and roll out. These are a cake type doughnut, not an airy raised type.



Ready to fry in the hot lard, about 1 1/2" deep at 350-360 degrees and yes, that is Dad's doughnut cutter from my childhood.



Testing with a few of the holes; yup, good to go. Only takes a minute or so.



Time to make the doughnuts!



My wife likes hers with cinnamon and sugar, I like them plain with milk. She suggested maple syrup or maple cream would be good to; I like the way she thinks as I love most anything maple flavored.





We had given away a bunch at this point to my brother's family as his grandkids were over. I don't really need to eat the whole batch myself anyway. I'm pretty sure that Dad approves of my efforts to keep the tradition going.

Great post. Thanks for the story