Depending on my mood, I like my donuts plain or fancy. When I’m feeling nostalgic, I spell them as “doughnuts.” Whatever the spelling, and whether plain or fancy, I have to have them with coffee. I’ve come to think of donuts and coffee as things that naturally and logically go together. You know, like Antony and Cleopatra. Or Phineas and Ferb.
When we were still living in the city, around the time that the girls were in pre-school, there was a phase when, almost every night, Speedy would go out on his scooter to buy donuts. There was a Dunkin’ Donuts stand a few minutes away and he’d go there, come home with a box of donuts and we’d go donut crazy. Then, Mister Donut came along, we liked Mister Donut donuts better than Dunkin’ Donuts and we shifted brands. Not long after that came Country Style Donuts with its signature apple fritters and we forgot all about Mister Donut.
We were Country Style Donuts loyalists for a long, long time. We dabbled with other brands like Gonuts Donuts (new flavors like pastillas de leche were hard to resist) and Hot Loops for a while but we always went back to Country Style Donuts. When Krispy Kreme came along, my heart didn’t flutter even a bit. By that time, I already knew that, like anything else, a good donut is not the result of massive advertising and marketing. Good donuts are made, not hyped.
So, what makes a good donut? Sam and I decided to find out a couple of weekends ago. I mixed the dough, patiently waited for it to rise, Sam cut the dough into rings then we fried them. By the end of the process, we learned that good donuts are made with a lot of love, patience and fun. And whole mountain of mess.
The first batch of donuts, I simply rolled in a mixture of sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
The second batch… Well, there was some leftover ganache in the fridge, Sam reheated it until gooey and we started dipping the donuts in the chocolate. Not quite content, Sam took out the sprinkles and started decorating the chocolate-topped donuts with them. She is so creative. Much more so than I am.
Recipe adapted from 17andbaking.com.
Is it donuts or doughnuts? Whatever. These are homemade.
Ingredients
- 2-1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 cups vegetable oil for deep frying
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the yeast and warm water. Leave until frothy, about 10 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, put the flour, milk, butter, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix until everything starts to come together.
- Form the dough into a ball. It will be rather sticky but don’t be tempted to add more flour or you will have very dense instead of soft and airy donuts. Place in a clean bowl, sprinkle the top with flour, then cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Leave to rise until double. Depending on the room temperature and humidity, this can take anywhere from two to three hours.
- Sprinkle the work surface with flour. Turn out the dough. Dust your rolling pin with flour (unless you have one of those pretty non-stick models) and roll the dough to about half an in thick.
- Using a three-inch round cutter, cut out circles.
- Use a smaller cutter to cut out the holes. If you have a donut-cutter, the process would be simpler. We don’t so we just used the multi-sized steel cutter that we have (and which I keep forgetting to take photos of so I can show you).
- Lift the dough so that only the cut pieces are left on the work surface.
- Sam re-rolled the dough and made donut twists.
- Heat the cooking oil. The ideal temperature is 350F but I don’t have a thermometer for that job (the only ones I have are for meat and to measure the oven temperature). To test if the temperature is correct, drop a piece of dough into the hot oil. The dough will sink to the bottom, if it does not rise after a few seconds, the oil is still not hot enough.
- If the dough browns too fast within seconds from touching the hot oil, the oil is too hot. Lower the heat and wait a few minutes.
- Fry the donuts in batches, two to three at a time, depending on the size of your pan. One minute per side is quite enough. Flip them to brown the other side.
- Scoop out the browned donuts and drain on paper towels.
- Roll them in plain sugar (or add cinnamon and nutmeg to the sugar for more aromatic donuts) or dip one side in ganache for chocolate-topped donuts.
If you cooked this dish (or made this drink) and you want to share your masterpiece, please use your own photos and write the cooking steps in your own words.
Hello and welcome! I'm a retired lawyer and columnist, wife for 28 years, mom of two, and a passionate cook. What is this blog about? Recipes for dishes 
Turon (banana spring rolls) with bacon and cheese
Wow! Thank you for sharing this with us. It looks so simple and easy pala. I’ll try to make this at home and since we don’t have a cutter, gawin ko na lang syang bola-bola. I hope my kid will love this.
Hello Ms. Connie,
I have been baking (with yeast) a lot these past few months ever since I finished a bread baking seminar recently which has reignited by passion for baking. I started baking when I was in grade 4 which continued all through out high school, college and even up to just five years ago when we had to move from our place in Quezon City to our present place in Makati. Back then, I made mostly cakes and pies and would just occasionally bake with yeast except for no knead items like waffles. Back then, there was only the fresh and active dry yeast.
Nowadays I am having a very hard time finding ACTIVE DRY YEAST and what I do find is always the INSTANT DRY YEAST which is like rapid rise or bread machine yeast which I am presently using. Although you could substitute them for some recipes by using less of the other, there are recipes calling for a very slow rise which the use of the old fashioned active dry is recommended. I tried using the instant dry yeast once in a recipe calling for a slow rise and even though I already decreased the amount of yeast, the dough rose so fast and over fermented. When I baked the bread, it just collapsed! Hay sayang ingredients!
Could I asked you where you bought your Active Dry Yeast?
Thanks!
Your comment made me check the label. It is rapid dry yeast (let me edit the post). That was the last packet of Fleischmann that I used. Rather hard to find and pricey. I usually get them from Landmark.
When I want a long slow rise, I decrease the amount of yeast to 1/4 tsp. (I do use instant yeast) and put the dough in the fridge to rise, usually overnight.
tama….home made doughnut/donuts are the way to go……especially the plain sugared ones
sold @ Rustans Cubao or your friendly neighborhood bakery
best cooked fresh from the fryer and rolled in sugar right before your eyes
“sold @ Rustans Cubao”
That was the inspiration, exactly. I’m so bored with perfectly uniform donuts that look like they came out of the factory.
“… I’m so bored with perfectly uniform donuts that look like they came out of the factory.”
Yes, that’s also true with me… agree ako dyan, Connie. Parang wala ng randomness. Yung beauty ng something handmade and homemade ay yung hindi pagiging too perfect!
Even with cookies and cakes, I feel that way.
kakaingget naman…!
Homemade doughnuts with love ones are the best! :)
Yes, they are! :D
hi ms connie! no need to punch the dough after it rise? and after you cut the donuts you immediately fry? no need to wait for it rise again?
When you roll it, you deflate it. Punching down is for preparing the dough to rise a second time. No second rising for the donuts.
super duper thanks for this Connie..its actually the thought of having another cooking session to enjoy with my daughter and nieces every weekend that stirs up my interest…second na yun fun of eating since we enjoy eating meriendas so much…
its been a year since my last visit here…thank goodness i was able to retrieve your link through my company mail
thanks again!
Hi Connie,
Thanks for sharing this recipe..pwde po bang na i-bake eto instead of frying?
They will be just like bread if baked. No donut texture at all.
hi connie. Thanks for the donut recipe. My son just loooves them. He asks me to cook almost everyday. If i need a recipe, you site is my place to be.hehehe.. Thank you!
Wow! It’s a good thing that you send me the recipe of doughnuts. You’re a big help talaga Ms. Connie. Surely my kids will love it. Thanks a lot for the delicious recipes that you always sent to me. Im glad that you have a website now, hoping to meet you in person someday, I’m one of your avid fan! God bless!~
i bought a mini donut maker and i use that to bake donuts. yun na nga lang, since it is producing only mini donuts at six pieces per baking time of 3-5 minutes, ang bilis maubos. no chance to even roll them in sugar or whatnot.
Ya bro great recipe thanks a lot
Hi Connie,
I made a batch of light, satisfying and delicious doughnuts using your recipe, I was given a zeppole recipe which I believe is technically the same thing (?) but your recipe’s ingredients and instructions were easier to find and follow.
Everyone who had a bite loved it.
I did make it twice. The first time my impatience kicked in hard and I only let it raise for a little more than four hours, taste wise good — the second time I let it rise for at least 6 hours and it was down right perfect. I should really take note of the humidity warnings and all. Anyhow, I look forward to more recipes, anecdote, stories and photos.
Thank you.
Yes, humidity and overall temperature. On rainy days when it is cooler but often more humid, dough takes so much longer to rise. :)