Potato Doughnuts

{If you’re looking for the recipe for homemade eggnog, it can be found here. I had to separate the recipes. Sorry for any inconvenience!)

Rachel Good’s Glazed Potato Doughnuts
from Martha Stewart Living 

Ingredients:
8 oz. russet potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup warm water, plus 6 Tbsp.
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 cup milk, scalded
1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening (can use butter)
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed for dough and dusting work surface
2 quarts vegetable oil, plus more for oiling bowl (I used canola)
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Instructions:
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place potatoes in a small saucepan and cover with cold water.  Cook until tender, about 15 minutes.  (I boiled  unpeeled, whole potatoes because I couldn’t be bothered with the extra step of peeling beforehand and slicing them.  It worked great.)

Put potatoes through a ricer, food mill, or sieve into a medium bowl.  Set aside.

Place 1/4 cup warm water in a bowl, sprinkle with yeast, stir gently and let stand 5-10 minutes until it is creamy.

Combine the scalded milk, sugar and shortening in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Let stand until it cools to just warm to the touch.  Add the yeast, eggs, and potato.  Mix well.   Switch to a dough hook and add the 5 cups all-purpose flour.  Beat on medium speed, adding more flour if needed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a large, oiled/greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 55 minutes.  (Mine took longer because my kitchen was cold.)

Lightly flour a smooth, clean surface with flour.  Transfer dough to the surface and roll out 1/2″ thick.  Use a 2 1/2″ round doughnut cutter.  (I used a round biscuit cutter and a large piping tip to cut out the center hole.)  Place cut doughnuts onto parchment paper, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until dough has risen by 1/3.

If glazing the doughnuts, make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners’ sugar with vanilla and 6 Tbsp. water.  Set aside.  Mix remaining 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon in a medium bowl and set aside.

To fry the doughnuts:

Heat the oil in a large, low-sided saucepan over medium heat until the oil registers 375 degrees F.  Gently drop doughnuts, a few at a time, into the hot oil and fry for 1-2 minutes on each side.  Drain on several layers of paper towels.  (We use brown paper bags or newspaper.)  Fry the doughnut holes, if desired.

Place a cooling rack over a baking sheet and dip the doughnuts one at a time into the glaze or cinnamon and sugar.  Set on the doughnuts on the rack to “dry.”  Roll the remaining doughnuts in the sugar mixture.  Repeat with the doughnut holes.

Serve warm.  Makes about 3 dozen.

My notes:

At the last minute, I realized I didn’t have any confectioners’ sugar on hand, so I didn’t make any of the glaze.  I have made this recipe before and the doughnuts are really good with the glaze.  We had to settle for rolling all of them in sugar, which was just fine.  (But I missed the glaze.)

I rolled out some of the dough into a large round and cut it into equally sized wedges.  I fried them and instead of glazing them or rolling them in sugar, we topped them (after they had cooled a bit) with dulce de leche.

My husband was a Mormon missionary in Chile and said his favorite treat was a sopaipilla topped with dulce de leche.  This was my attempt to recreate that.  He said it was pretty close.  In any case, it’s pretty darn tasty.  My kids couldn’t get enough.  (Obviously.)

I made these for a service project for the 12-16 year old girls at church.  I doubled the recipe, which meant I had doughnuts all over the house.  But, they ate a ton and had a few to take home, so it was alright.  I suggest only making one recipe or even halving it unless you plan on serving them to a crowd.

They taste okay the next day, but after that they are too stale.

*You can also check out Azucar’s blog for her recipe for Spudnuts.  I’m going to make these (I think, I hope) to take to our neighbors this week for Christmas.  I’ll let you know how it goes.