I love foods that fit into the Breakfast, Snack, AND Dessert categories. The way I ate these, I might as well have considered them a Main Dish.

The best chocolate glazed doughnuts ever.

Despite putting away over a dozen on my own, I’m not the biggest fan of doughnuts. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about them, but I’m sorta jaded by the Dunkin Donuts and the Krispy Kreme ones now. I’ll skip over those brands and go straight for a chocolate chip cookie every time. But find a good local bakery or a doughnut shop that does authentic yeast doughnuts and I’m hooked.

Freshly fried yeast doughnuts are second to none. Even without the glaze, these were amazing. I literally burned the roof of my mouth trying to eat these right out of the fryer (totally worth it). As the dough fried, the little rings puffed up and became soft, tender and airy. The little holes cut out were tossed in at the end for a few dozen tiny doughnut holes. These were possibly more addicting than the full sized doughnuts.

Keep the holes you punch out and fry them all!

If you do make these, don’t think you can get away without making the chocolate glaze. Trust me. Make the chocolate.

I’m not going to say that these were easy. It is time consuming and does dirty quite a few pots and pans. It’s absolutely worth it though. These are possibly the most addicting doughnuts I have ever eaten. Which is fortunate, because they don’t keep very well. They are best the day of, and quickly lose their quality. You can resuscitate the glazed ones by briefly microwaving them and the unglazed can actually be passed through a toaster with amazing results.

You get bonus points if you make them prettier by tossing sprinkles on the top. I actually bought sprinkles to do this, but started eating the doughnuts before I got around to shaking the sprinkles out of the jar .

Fried, unglazed doughnuts. These are so good. It was hard enough waiting to eat them until they were glazed.

Yeast Doughnuts
Recipe by Alton Brown.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups milk
2 1/2 ounces vegetable shortening, approximately 1/3 cup
1/2 ounce instant yeast (that’s about 4 1/2 teaspoons, or 2 packages instant yeast)
1/3 cup warm water (95 to 105 degrees F)
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (optional)
23 ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surface
Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying (1 to 1/2 gallons, depending on fryer)

Directions

1. Heat the milk until warm (microwave or saucepan) and pour the hot milk over the shortening in a bowl. Set aside to allow the shortening to melt into the milk.
2. In another small bowl, heat water until warm (about 95F, warm enough to keep your hand in). Sprinkle the yeast over it and let it dissolve for about 5 minutes.
3. Once the milk & shortening has cooled (to about the same temp as the water & yeast mixture started), combine the two mixtures from steps 1 and 2 in the bowl of your mixer. To that, add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and about half of the flour. Mix everything on low speed with the paddle attachment, then turn the speed to medium to beat everything together. Add the rest of the flour, low speed first so it doesn’t fly everywhere, then increase the speed to med-high and beat.
4. Switch out the paddle for the dough hook, beat on med-high until the dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl and is pretty smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. It’ll still be sticky, but it should seem to want to stick to itself more than it wants to stick to you.
5. Let rise for 1 hour (or until doubled in size) in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap.
6. Flour your surface and roll the dough to about 3/8-inch thick. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch doughnut cutter or pastry ring and using a 7/8-inch ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
7. Keep the holes with the rings and roll the scraps together, let rest 30-60 minutes and repeat the previous step.
8. Heat the oil to 355 degrees F. Don’t let the oil get too hot or it will burn and give off flavors. Put 3 or 4 doughnuts in at a time, cook 30-60 seconds per side, until they get golden. I do all the rings first, then the holes.
9. Transfer to a cooling rack with some newspaper underneath to catch any drips. Allow to cool at least 15 minutes before eating or glazing. Or just wait about 15 seconds and start eating. Do try not to burn yourself…

Sugar Glaze
Recipe by Alton Brown.
Ingredients
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine milk and vanilla. Heat on low heat until it gets warm.
2. Sift in the confectioners sugar while gently whisking. Slowly add all the sugar so that clumping does not occur.
3. To keep the glaze a liquid, place the saucepan over a bow of hot water. Dip the doughnuts into the glaze and place onto a cooling rack (drippage will occur, so put something underneath).

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe by Alton Brown.
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup whole milk, warmed
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla. Heat on medium heat until butter melts.
2. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate whisking gently until incorporated. Then add the powdered sugar, again whisking gently until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.

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