Why go through the trouble of making your own homemade fried yeast doughnuts? Because you need to. It’s really not that much trouble and the results will make you never want to buy them from the store again. Seriously, if you’ve never had a warm, freshly fried doughnut you’re missing out. Nothing beats a warm, soft, fluffy doughnut.

And do you know what might be fun? With Halloween and other Fall festivities coming up, maybe it would be fun to include doughnut making in your parties. Then take those fresh, warm, delicious doughnuts and use them to play the doughnuts on a string game, where you tie them up and try to eat them using only your mouth.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons SAF instant yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Glaze:

• 4.5 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the yeast, water, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Mix in remaining sugar, salt, milk, butter, eggs, and egg yolks.

3. Add 3 cups of the flour and mix until dough comes together. Add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, but still sticks to the bottom of the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes. The dough should still be fairly tacky.

4. Place dough in an oiled bowl and rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

5. Transfer dough to a floured surface and roll out to 1/2-inch think.

6. Using a doughnut cutter, cut out doughnuts as close to each other as possible to minimize the amount of dough to be re-rolled. Re-roll scraps and continue cutting out remaining dough.

7. Allow doughnuts to rise 20-30 minutes.

8. While doughnuts are rising, heat 2-3 inches of oil in a cast iron skillet or a heavy pot. Using a candy/deep fry thermometer, bring the oil to 350-360 degrees F.

9. Fry 2-3 doughnuts at a time, 60-90 seconds on each side.

10. Transfer onto paper towels to drain and continue to fry the remaining doughnuts.

11. Combine the glaze ingredients and dip warm doughnuts in the glaze. Place on a wire rack with a cookie sheet underneath to catch the dripping glaze.

12. Serve warm.

Recipe adapted from Alyona’s Cooking