When I was a kid, my father had a donut nearly every morning for breakfast. The local bakery would deliver bread and donuts to the house every morning, alongside the milkman who brought milk, cream and butter. Ahh, those were the days – the olden days.
I was thinking about my family over the holidays. It’s what you do when you’re thousands of miles from family and old friends from your past. When I thought of my father I could see him with his morning cup of coffee and donut.
There was a method to eating a donut. You couldn’t just pick it up and bite into it. Oh no, you must first break it in half and then in half again and then it was proper to begin eating.
“Only pigs eat a donut without breaking it first,” he’d tell us kids. To this day, I don’t eat a donut without breaking it first. I have tried to eat one without breaking it and it just doesn’t feel right. Our childish programming stays with us for an entire lifetime.
The other day I decided to see if I could recreate my father’s favorite chocolate donuts and while these were really good, they were much lighter than the ones the Harris Baking Company made in Waterville, Maine. This recipe is good and I’d make it again but it’s not memory food for me.
- 4 large eggs
- 1½ cups sugar
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled for a few minutes
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Oil for frying
- 1½ cups icing (powdered) sugar
- 6 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Mix sour cream, sugar and eggs together using your mixer.
- Add melted butter and mix again.
- Sift together all the dry ingredients and mix into your wet ingredients until the dough forms. It should be a bit sticky.
- Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
- Preheat cooking oil to 360F (I've found anywhere between 350-375F will work)
- On a lightly floured surface (I use a large silicone mat) roll the dough about ½ inch thick.
- Cut with a donut cutter and fry for about a minute and a half, then flip and fry for another 30 seconds or so. Remove and place onto a rack or paper towels to drain.
- In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the sugar, milk and vanilla and mix until smooth.
- Remove from the neat and dip the donuts into the glaze to coat and place on a wire rack over a baking sheet to cool. (these will drip just a bit)
