Dough a Dear

A few years ago, when Krispy Kreme finally made its way out west and the first one opened in the Denver metro area, there was literally a line of cars several blocks long for the drive-through window for over a month. People eagerly sought that sugary piece of dough, and they would purchase the glazed doughnuts by the dozens.

That enthusiasm has waned over the years, and now you can walk right up to the counter to get your doughnut without a wait. Maybe folks are more health conscious, or maybe they simply buy their doughnuts at the supermarket, where they are less expensive.

Being the child of a baker, doughnuts were available to me whenever I wanted one. People used to ask me if I got sick of doughnuts. The answer is, no. To this day, there is nothing that tastes better to me than a fresh doughnut. Every so often, my husband and I will treat ourselves after church on Sunday. I always choose the lemon filled glazed bismarck.

I must admit, however, that despite being parented by a professional baker, and despite so loving these doughy treats, I have never made a yeast doughnut from scratch. I can’t really say why. Maybe I just know they would never taste as good as my dad’s.

But that isn’t to say that I have never fried a doughnut. In fact, recently my 3-year-old granddaughter helped me make perfectly good doughnuts, and she loved every sugary bite.

The secret? Pizza dough. Often I will go to my neighborhood Whole Foods and buy their pizza dough. But since my idea to make doughnuts with little missy was a last minute notion, I simply used the pizza dough that comes in the cans you find in the refrigerated case at your favorite supermarket.

I brought out my trusty cast iron skillet and filled it with about an inch worth of vegetable oil. I turned on the heat on my stove to medium high, and let my candy thermometer tell me when the oil had reached the temperature of 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, I patted the dough out to about a half-inch thickness and gave little missy my biscuit cutter and let her have at it. She needed some help, but surprisingly little. Since I wanted my doughnuts to have holes, and since I don’t own a doughnut cutter, I simply took the lid from a bottle of water and used it to cut out the hole (which I also fried).

It only takes a minute or so on each side to become golden brown. Once they were browned on both sides, I let them drain on paper towels for a minute or so, and then rolled them in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. I considered also making a chocolaty glaze out of Nutella and heavy cream, but went for simple.

It only makes about a dozen, and Krispy Kreme doesn’t have to worry about competition, but nevertheless, the doughnuts were sweet and yummy and little missy and I both got a kick out of eating our hot treats, making sure to lick our sugary fingers after.