Homemade Glazed Donuts

Alright! I made glazed donuts this weekend and they were DEE-lish.  I was a tad intimidated at first, but once I really got going, I realized how easy they were!

I made the dough the night before as instructed. I refrigerated it and just pulled it out cold the next morning. I have no pictures of that, as it really was pretty simple and self explanatory. NOTE: The recipe Ree posts on her website and the recipe she has in her cookbook are different! I followed the one on her website and I think it turned out perfectly.  But feel free to use whichever one you like!

The next morning I woke up around 7 to get the dough out of the fridge and rolled out.  I cut each donut and placed it to rise in the warmest environment I could create.  I turned my oven on to 220 degrees and then opened the door just a crack.  I placed the pans on top of the oven and covered them with towels.  I rotated the pans every fifteen minutes or so, that way the outsides would be warmed as well.  

Something's coming, something good!

This was after I mixed up the glazes.  I made a vanilla and a honey glaze.  I simply added powdered sugar, milk, and whatever flavoring I wanted until I reached a thick consistency.  You could even do a chocolate one or a maple one!

This was a beautiful sight.

Oh man. Once I saw how much they had risen, I was super excited.  Some had obviously risen more than others. but this is something that maybe I could work on in the future.

Testing out a couple.

Waiting for the oil to heat and stay at the desired temperature was a process in and of itself.  I was constantly checking it, turning it down a bit, turning it back up. It was never just staying at 375.  

Gorgeous fried dough.

I had bits of dough leftover after I rolled out and cut as much as I could.  The tiny donut at the bottom or this picture was just a piece of dough that I rolled into a log and then folded to make a circle.  I had three of those that I used to test the heat of the oil.  I definitely recommend this! It makes it much easier to have these "throwaway" pieces! (Though obviously I didn't throw them away. I ate them.)

Me enjoying one!

Of course I had to try one to make sure they were good.  And guess what? They were.

Glorious little donut holes!

This was about halfway through.  The donuts definitely stayed warm longer than I thought they would.  I would fry about 3 full size donuts or 6 donut holes at a time. Then I would let them drain and cool a bit.  In between frying I would dunk them in the glaze and let them set on the plate.  The ones at the bottom were dipped in crushed up French Toast Crunch cereal, as requested by my husband. My husband, the adult. 

Yes, I had two.

Finally, all the frying and dough rising, and glazing was done.  I sat back with my cup of coffee, my donut, and the Food Network.  It was a good time!

Some ideas for next time:

I will probably let them rise longer than one hour.  The donut holes and about half the donuts looked great. But I wonder if I had let them rise longer, if they would all look great. This didn't distract from how delicious they were though!

I used a mixture of Crisco and vegetable oil.  I thought this did the job pretty well, and I don't think I honestly would have noticed a difference if I only used one or the other.  I just happened to have Crisco on hand and thought I would throw it in.  Ree uses only Crisco, but since I only had one small can, I used about a cup and a half of this and 3 cups of vegetable oil.  I will use less oil next time as I threw a lot of it away and the donuts didn't need much. 

I will definitely experiment with the glazes and toppings! So many possibilities!