Doughnuts!!!!

We like doughnuts.  Who doesn't?  Personally, I am a plain glazed doughnut kind of girl.  Nothing fancy here!  So when I saw this recipe on Pioneer Woman, I decided I HAD to try them.  By the way, have I mentioned how much I love, love, LOVE Pioneer Woman's blog?  I think almost every new recipe I have tried in the last several months have come from her, and we have loved almost every single one.  And I have a whole bunch more on my "to try" list.

Okay, back to my story.  I had decided that I would try the doughnuts on Monday, Valentines day.  Matt and I didn't spend money on "fancy" gifts for each other, but I still wanted to do something for him.  And I know that he loves doughnuts too.  So that was my plan.  But I failed at it.  First of all, when I went to make them, I realized two things.  One, the dough needed to be refrigerated for at least 8 hours.  Oops.  Second, I needed 2 eggs, and I only had 1 in the fridge and it was majorly snowing outside.  Double oops. Bad planning on my part.  So, anyway, I had to put it off until Tuesday.  But Matt didn't seem to mind.  It ended up that we did get some eggs later that day on Monday, so I made the dough that night and had it refrigerate over night.  I got up the next morning all excited to try this out.

Am I the only one who enjoys rolling cutting out dough?

Actually, I was excited and nervous at the same time. Nervous because I am not a fan of cooking with hot oil.  To be honest, I am a real wimp when it comes to that.  I actually hate it.  I love to eat bacon, but hate frying it up.  I love to make homemade fries, but hate the frying in oil part.  Usually, I have Matt do it since it doesn't bother him (he used to work at a KFC and worked with hot oil all the time).  But, this was supposed to be a gift to him, so I didn't want to ask him to help me with it.  Plus he was gone while I was making them.

So, I rolled out the dough, let them rise, made the glaze and started to heat the oil.  Well, if you've ever worked with oil, you know that it is hard to regulate at first.  And I don't own a deep frying thermometer (hint, hint - my b-day is next week!).  So it was a lot of guess work.

Once the dough had risen enough, and the oil was heated, I dropped the first one it.  It took me all of 3 seconds to realize the oil was most definitely TOO HOT!!!! The doughnut went almost completely black almost immediately.  The kitchen filled with smoke and it stuck to high heaven.  Great.  I've failed!  I quickly turned off the heat to the oil, turned on the fan above the stove and started to open windows in the house.  I turned on the ceiling fans in the dining room and the living room, which was a dumb idea seeing as how we haven't used them in months and, well, I don't clean them every week so there was just a LITTLE bit of dust on them.  Except for the fact that there was a TON of dust and it was then being spread all over my house.  Great.  I've just added dusting and vacuuming to my to-do list today!

Oh, so yummy!

But still, I was not going to be discouraged because I WAS going to try again.  I knew Matt was looking forward to them and I wanted to try them myself.  I waited until the air cleared and the oil had cooled off some, and I tried again.  Let me just say that I believe the rest of the doughnuts reached almost perfection !  They looked exactly like doughnuts, exactly like the ones on the Pioneer Woman's blog (by the way, I LOVE that she takes pictures all along the way of her cooking.  It sure helps dumb cooks like me know your are doing it right!).  So I finished them off, glazed them (she said to glaze only one side, but c'mon - that glaze is yummy!  I did both sides!), and eagerly waited for Matt to come home to try the first bite.

Matt came home soon after they were ready, and was able to eat one while it was still warm.  Then I ate one.  And they tasted.........DELICIOUS!  So light and fluffy and gooey and yummy!  Like Krispy Kreme - only better (probably am a little partial!)!  They are just so good, and it made quite a bit so we have been enjoying them for a couple days!

So, my first attempt at making doughnuts seems to be a success!  I'm not one who usually toots my own horn but - Toot Toot!!  Good job Emily (well, except for the first one.  Fail on that one!)!  I am also proud of myself for overcoming my fear of hot oil and frying them "all by myself-is(as Leila says)."

So if you are looking for something yummy to eat - try these out!  They are right up there with cinnamon rolls for me!

My first one.  Not so yummy!

 Until next time...