Doughnuts Plain and Simple and Some with Chocolate Glaze

Doughnuts and coffee...awesome combination.
And if it is raining, even better! 
My memories of doughnuts are of my mum making loads of them...when I was little ...she hardly ever dunked them in chocolate though...
But always sweet and encrusted in sugar!
And then I wonder why I love sweet....

After the onslaught of Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee's books on my delicate emotional balance..I needed some succor.
The emotional pain that the women bear in  her books is so, so, much ,that it sort of rubbed off on my normal cheerful self ...and I found myself in tears watching the new movie Cocktail...egh!(ps Cocktail stars Saif Ali ,Deepika Padukone and a newbie.)

Totally not happening!
 I have been debating with myself...should I read  50 shades or should I not read...after all that self deprecating literary fiction...I Totally NEEDED the trash.
They just fell into my lap...neighbour lent them to me....so that omitted the mental battle,and after the 50 Shades Freed(the last of the three!), the only thing I need an answer to is..."Whats the big deal????"
OK, it is trash...so many grammatical errors...and literal freedom-I mean new words constructed without a reason...
Well Whatever!
All I know is that I am ready to face the world all over again...and I wont be crying after watching a soppy scene on celluloid soon!
So Doughnuts!

The rains are playing hanky panky with our plans..never a dry evening and the days are sunny and sticky and humid.Had the cycle been the other way round, life would have been so much more beautiful!So we are stuck indoors.
If only ,is not an expression I live by...I'd rather attack from the front.
With no intention of toiling over the hot stove making something yummy...I decided on Doughnuts!
Plain are quite boring , so we dunked them in chocolate "almost" ganache.
Result...awesome!
This is my mums recipe...of yore!!!

Leaning tower of goodness here!
So easy , you don't need any special equipment or tools...just a small amount of yeast and you are ready to go.


for the

Doughnuts Plain and Simple and Some with Chocolate Glaze...


you need


3 1/4 cups plain flour
2 1/2 tsp dried yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup milk
1/4 cup or 60 gms butter
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

3-4 cups vegetable oil to deep fry

for the Plain Sugar Doughnuts

Tip 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon powder or lemon zest into a Zip Pouch and keep aside.(I used cinnamon)

for the Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts-"almost" Ganache

100 gms semi sweet chocolate 

2 tbsp cream

2 tbsp sugar

This is the yeast...cute bottle.

Mix the yeast in 2 tbsp warm water, if it froths up after 5 minutes use it. else , discard and start afresh.

Place the flour, the salt, sugar , cinnamon and butter in a big bowl and rub the butter into the flour.

Now the egg yolks.

Knead with the yeast and the milk(keep warm).

Knead for a couple of minutes too let the gluten stretch and rest covered in a warm place to double.

OK , rested and doubled....now for the rolling.Roll a small portion of the dough gently with the help of some flour to 1/2 cm thickness. I don't have a doughnut cutter, so a steel glass and a mini cookie cutter did the trick.

Roll out all the doughnuts and place the oil to heat.If you inhabit cold climes, you may need to let the doughnuts rest and prove/double in size a while, but this place is HOT!

The small centres I left as they were...tiny snack.Munchkins!!! That baby Sanskriti adores..(The small centres are called munchkins...keeps the dough soft as you are not rerolling and handling the dough unnecessarily....and the small lill munchkins are apt for tiny hands.)

Almost Ganache...the stuff in a microwave safe bowl...nuked at half power for 2 minutes.

And that gives you a glossy dip...

Yup...no pic of the dipping, but when Kanchan and I get together...its too much ,to not talk.

Once the oil is hot...three doughnuts at a time. Lift them up like neonates(new borns...)...and gently slide them in...you want that shape.

Fry on a low flame...all puffed up and golden!The one on top is the rerolled doughnut.Roll out, cut and fry....till all the dough is used up. The munchkins ,we fried last-all together.

Wait 2 minutes and throw into the zip pouch and shake...

For the special some...wait 2 minutes and then dip in the ganache and place on a platter and sprinkle some coloured sprinkles...
The doughnuts need to cool a bit or the almost ganache just slips off.Sprinkle.....

Eh Voila!

Warm doughnuts taste the best....with or without the coffee...

And  the lill Munchkins...

Go ahead and try these at home...Indulge!

So what are you baking today????