My first doughnuts

Potato Doughnuts
Easy Bread Machine Recipes Copyright 1997

2 C all-purpose flour
1 ½ T mashed potatoes
¼ tsp nutmeg I omitted this - just wasn't in the mood for nutmeg
5/8 C potato water
1 egg
3 T sugar
1 tsp salt
2 T dried milk
2 T butter
1 ½ tsp yeast
vegetable oil for deep frying

Topping: 1 C confectioners’ sugar

1. Load the bread pan of the machine with all the ingredients except the powdered sugar and oil, select the dough setting, and start it. When the beeper sounds, remove the dough to a greased bowl and chill thoroughly for two hours or overnight.
2. Roll out to about a 10x16 inch rectangle and cut doughnut shapes with a doughnut cutter or a biscuit cutter. (If you use the biscuit cutter, just make a hole in the center with your thumb when you move them to the cookie sheet, but be sure there is a large hole, as this aids in cooking the doughnut.) I just cut the dough into strips.
3. Place the doughnuts on a greased cookie sheet. Let them rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until nearly doubled in bulk. If you find that the holes have closed during the process, just take the handle of your spatula and enlarge them.
4. Put oil at least 2 inches deep in a heavy saucepan and heat it to 375 degrees F. Slice each doughnut into the deep fat, using a spatula that has been dipped in hot fat. Do only three or four at a time. Fry the doughnuts until brown.
5. Drain on absorbent paper; then cool in a rack. Toss with confectioners’ sugar.
___________________________

It's Fastnacht Day here in central PA. I haven't had a good fastnacht in years since I don't have access to the church sales, just the supermarket variety which were pretty awful the last time I had them. So I decided to try making my own this year.

Not bad for a first attempt. Unfortunately I had to make them last night and they're much better fresh but these were a very light and fluffy doughnut - I was impressed. I should have glazed them though, instead of using the powdered sugar. The sugar kept dissolving into the doughnuts.

The dough was super easy to work with. I let it rest for several hours, not overnight, and that was fine. I took the easy way out and just made pillows since I didn't have a donut cutter and fastnachts are generally more pillow-shaped anyway.

Blast From The Past: Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes from a year ago. I'm not doing the pancake thing this year since I did the doughnuts. There's a limit to how many carbs I can eat in one day.

Question of the Day: How is Fat Tuesday celebrated in your area?