Doughnuts/Donuts for the first blog Anniversary

                                        I had bookmarked many doughnut recipes earlier  but I didn’t have the  energy to search it and Aparna’s recipe caught my attention and I finalized for the same.Aparna is my Fb friend and we got connected via our common interest that is cooking.She is one of the creative blogger I have ever seen.Above all, this doughnut is eggless and I love eggless cooking/baking.The original recipe called for fried version,but I took the risk of baking few doughnuts with my Amma’s moral support.And it was successful.

                                    I prepared doughnuts for the first time and I learnt few tips to improvise the same for my next batch.I had bought the doughnut cutter 2 years back and finally, today I got the occasion to prepare it.If you do not have a doughnut cutter,don’t worry,you may use a sharp edged steel glass for the outer disc and a bottle lid for the centre cavity.Feedback for my doughnut was positive.My best critics,my husband Sanjay gave me full marks,Santoshi too said tasted good..Thanks a lot dear readers and all my well wishers for making this happen. 414 posts,600 plus members and 1,29,792 pagevisits,what more do I want?Slow and steady always wins the race…Happy Birthday Geeths Dawath!

Recipe adapted from:Flavors and colors

Ingredients:
All purpose flour-1 3/4 cups
Butter-1 tbsp
Sugar-3 tbsp
Yeast- 2 tsp
Salt- a pinch
Vanilla essence-1 tsp
Water- 1/4 cup
Milk-1/4 cup

Method:

1. Take a mixing bowl and add water,sugar,salt and yeast.
2. Mix it until it dissolves.
3. Leave it aside for few minutes to turn frothy.
4. Add milk and vanilla essence.
5. Add flour little by little and knead it well.
6. When the dough is 3/4 th done add the butter and knead it further.
7. Close the dough and keep it aside untouched for an hour to rise.
8. I kept it for 2-3 hours since I was busy with other work.
9. The dough will rise now.
10. After the rising time deflate the dough and knead lightly.
11. Make a big ball and roll it into 1/4″ thickness.
12. Cut it with a doughnut cutter or a lid with a hollow at the centre(refer picture).
13. Use the centre cuts again with the dough and mix it and reuse it.
14. Line a tray with butter paper dusted well with flour.
15. Arrange the doughnuts on it keeping some distance.
16. Keep it aside for 30 minutes again.
17. It will rise.
18. If you want the baked version,preheat the oven for 15 minutes at 150 D C.
19. Bake it for 15-20 minutes or until it gets baked and turns light brown in colour.
20. Once baked brush it with butter immediately and dip it in cinnamon dust if you are using that as a dipping.
21. If you don’t do it immediately the topping wont stand.
22. If you are following deep fried version,heat oil and deep fry it until light golden brown.
23. Glaze the doughnuts as per your choice.

For the topping:
Chocolate glaze:
Sugar-1 cup,powdered
Unsweetened cocoa powder-4 tbsp
Milk-4-5 tsp
Vanilla essence-1 tsp

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and mix it well.
2. Remove all the lumps and mix it until you get a right consistency.
3. Dip the fried/baked doughnuts top part in it and drip the excess and place it on a wire rack.
4. Garnish it with sprinkles of your choice.

Cinnamon dust:

1. Take castor sugar(or normal sugar powder) and add little cinnamon powder in it and mix it.
2. Coat the doughnuts top part with the dust.

My notes:

• Dust the lined tray well with the flour.
• I had dusted little less so it got stuck slightly.
• I prefer baked version over fried version.
• Arrange the doughnuts with proper distance as it will rise again.
• Though I had kept the distance it wasn’t enough.
• So the shapes of my doughnuts were not perfect.
• You may keep the dough and doughnut to rise in a warm place like microwave.
• You may use other glaze like jam,chocolate sauce,marmalade etc.
• If you are good at icing you may do some swirls using your own imagination.
• You may also use the centre cuts of the doughnut,bake/fry it and dip it in chocolate glaze.
• Use a shallow plate while you glaze the doughnuts.