Greetings, SteemFAM!

Before we jump into the donuts. I’ve a VERY important question to ask.

Who’s the Kitchen Wench?

That’s right. I’M the Kitchen Wench.

And quite possibly the CUTEST Kitchen Wench that has ever wenched a kitchen!

A little backstory…

Several weeks ago, I was in the kitchen doing kitchen things, like baking and cleaning, when the sweet husband @chrisroberts jokingly called me his “Kitchen Wench”. Instantly, I LOVED it! I decided right then and there I wished for an apron to don my newfound (hilariously accurate) label.

A few days later we made our monthly trip into the big city for grocery shopping and ate dinner with Chris’s dad. During dinner, somehow, “Kitchen Wench” was brought up. We laughed, it was fun. But I was still quite serious about wanting to make/aquire an apron that said it. It was about time for a new one anyway.

Christmas comes and low and behold! Chris’s dad remembered my odd request and had his mom get this made for me. I was SO excited! I seriously LOVE it. LOVE.😍

Okay. Preface complete.😏

🍩Time to make the donuts.🍩

Full disclosure: I had no intentions to make this a post when I started making donuts. It was New Year’s Eve and all the stores were closed (which is pretty normal for the middle of nowhere), and we had no snacks.

After looking through available ingredients, I decided I wanted donuts.😏

Oh! Something you don’t know about us.

We used to make donuts.

When we first moved to Crestone, there weren’t (and still aren’t) a lot of jobs available. So we made one. This actually worked quite well for a while and made it possible for us to meet a huge portion of the community very quickly.

Here’s an old one of us in the VERY beginnings of the donut days.

Dang! We look like some dirty hippies! I can assure you. We are clean. 😆

And here's one of Chris, the Donut Farmer. 😍

Oh! Here's a good one! We sold Breakfast Burritos for a bit, too.

A LOT has changed in the last 6 years! Like whoa. 😲

Recipe time!

I’m going to share the exact recipe I used on New Year’s, substitutions and all. This isn’t the same recipe we used when we made donuts, but it’s relatively close. And yes- they’re vegan. 😜 Turned out, vegan ingredients were simply the best ingredients for what we were after.

What you’ll need:

Large Bowl
Measuring cups of some kind
Rolling pin
A cast iron skillet or dutch oven
CRISCO (or off brand) We used Shurfine as the ingredients WERE totally vegan.
*Do NOT use peanut, sunflower, vegetable or other oils that are liquid at room temperature. Your donuts will become soggy.
*It’s also nearly impossible to make them gluten free. We tried… everything we could possibly think of, to no avail.
A cookie sheet with a cookie rack on it
A slotted metal spoon
A couple of smaller bowls for icing
Sprinkles (opt.)
A donut cutter OR two round things that would work for an outside and inside circle.
*We used, for a long time, a regular 2 ¼ inch circle for the outside and a plastic lid to a disposable water bottle for the hole. Get creative. You can do it.

Finally, the actual recipe:

This yielded about 14 - 2 1/2 inch donuts and holes.

In the large bowl add:

½ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt (don’t omit, salt is very important)
½ tsp cinnamon (opt. But delicious)
Mix well. Add in:
¼ cup of egg replacer OR applesauce.
*The original recipe calls for applesauce, but we had none
*We use Ener-G Egg Replacer and it is awesome.
*¼ cup equals TWO eggs
2 Tbl oil or melted butter (I used peanut this day)
½ cup milk. The original recipe is canned coconut milk (so good!), but alas, I had none of this either and used Soy milk.

Beat this really well. It’s gonna GROW. The amount of baking powder is necessary to get nice fluffy cake donuts, but don’t worry, it’s not too much that you taste it.

Once mixed be ready to add in your flour. Depending on your altitude and humidity, this could get tricky. The recipe (that we made up LOL!) original calls for UP TO 2 cups of flour. I ended up using closer to three this time. Though, I think I added a touch too much.

Your dough should be handle-able, but still a LITTLE sticky. Wrap that baby up in plastic wrap and refrigerate it whilst you prep your icing and frying area.

ICING - Chocolate

In a small bowl:

about a cup of powdered sugar. (I honestly never follow a real recipe for icings…)
1-2 Tbl of DARK cocoa powder. We use Hershey’s Special Dark. It has the best flavor.
Mix that up really well. Perhaps sprinkle in a touch of salt.

In a small cup:

A couple of tsp of HONEY
1 Tbl of warm/hot water
Mix until honey is totally dissolved.
Add a couple of drops of vanilla.

Combine this mixture with the powdered sugar and cocoa until smooth.

Too thick?

Add water.

Too thin?

Add powdered sugar.
Do be careful here. If you find you need to add a lot more powdered sugar, you may want to separately mix some with cocoa BEFORE adding it to your icing.

ICING- Vanilla Glaze

In another small bowl:

About a cup of powdered sugar.
1 Tbl (or so) of ANY milk. Again, coconut from a can is THE BEST for this, but use what ya got.
½ tsp of vanilla (maybe more depending on your vanilla)
Mix that up. I like to GLAZE with this simple icing, so you want it to be a bit thinner than your chocolate one.

CINNAMON & SUGAR

This is pretty self-explanatory.
Put some sugar and a bit of cinnamon in a bowl. Mix it up. It’s probably my favorite way to top a donut.

Roll out!

Time for the fun part! Well, ONE of the fun parts.😃
Get your dough out of the fridge. If it’s still feeling a little loose, you may just need to put it back in for a while.
If it feels sturdy and ready to work with, lightly sprinkle some flour on your rolling surface and slap that ball of happiness down!

You’ll want to get a good bit of flour on both sides before hitting it with the rolling pin, to avoid a sticky mess. And while you DO want to use SOME flour, be careful not to go overboard, for your donuts will come out tough and chewy, rather than soft and fluffy.

I used dowel rods to ensure equal thickness of the donuts, but couldn’t find them so used large plastic straws. The straws were a bit thicker than normal, but turned out pretty good. You don't want them much thicker than 1/2 an inch.

The goal

is to get AS MANY donuts out of the first roll as possible. Each time you re-roll the scraps, you’re adding more flour, thus adding to the toughness of the donuts.

Here’s the first pic of me finishing up cutting. This is the point the hubs @chrisroberts came in and said, “Oh! You’re doing a donut post!?”. To which I replied, “No. I’m just making donuts, but I totally should.”

He ran and got the camera and started snapping shots.

There MAY have been drinking going on...😏

You can put the donuts in the fridge while you ready everything else, but if you work quickly, it’s not necessary.

If you are using a cast iron skillet (it’s what I used this time), you’ll need to fill it about half full with CRISCO. Half full when it is liquid.

Have a candy thermometer?

Use it! The perfect temperature is around 370 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you Do NOT have one- no fear! There are tricks. 😎

I use a popcorn kernel. Simply place one in the pan. When it pops your oil is between 360-375 degrees and ready for donuts.
You can also throw in a tiny piece of dough and see what it does. It shouldn’t take more than a minute to brown to perfection.

Time to make the donuts!

Once your temperature is good, CAREFULLY lower 3 or 4 donuts (or the holes, I normally do all the holes first) into your hot oil. Use the spoon if you don’t wanna risk the drop and splash.

Also, at this point, you’ll want to apron- up, to protect yourself and clothing from splatters.
Here’s a good example apron. 😎

The little rings of happiness will need about 30+ seconds per side… I think. LOL! I honestly just watch them. When it seems like they are becoming golden on the bottom, flip ‘em over. You may want to flip again before removing to make sure the color is even on both sides. Plus, the FIRST side that went in the oil will appear to be the top of the donut. Trust.

Take them out with the slotted spoon and set on the cookie rack you have over a cookie sheet pan.

If you are rolling them in Cinnamon and Sugar, let them cool for just a minute (enough that you can touch them without screaming) and then drop them in the C&S bowl and roll around. There has to be a bit of wet oil still on them for the sugar to stick. I generally do ALL my holes in C&S.

Continue frying until all donuts are done. You may have to wait a minute between batches to allow the oil to get back up to temperature.

For the ones that you GLAZE, you’ll want them to still be pretty warm, but NOT hot. If they are too hot, the glaze will just soak in rather than coat.

For others, it’s best if the donuts are cool before icing. Make sure you add your sprinkles when the icing is still wet!