Doughnuts for Dinner

My mother was 100% Irish American. But when she was a newlywed a colleague (probably German or Polish American) brought in doughnuts on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).  She thought that was a great idea so she started a family tradition of making doughnuts on Fat Tuesday.  She only made doughnuts once a year and we always looked forward to them.  I have carried on that tradition with my family but with a wrinkle.

Mother's Doughnuts Recipe

 When the kids were little I was always up early anyway so I tried to make the doughnuts for breakfast.  I would end up flustered and frustrated trying to get them done before the kids went to school.  Then I remembered that Mother always made them during the day and served them up for an after school snack.  After a little bit more thought I figured that if you could have doughnuts for breakfast, why couldn't you have them for dinner? Yup, that's right. Doughnuts for dinner.  No four food groups on Mardi Gras!!

Mother always used the recipe from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook that she got as a shower gift in 1947.  When I would make them, though, they would end up heavy, undercooked and/or over-browned.  Don't get me wrong, my family and friends still loved them but I thought I could do better.

I eventually ended up making them with my own recipe that I glammed together from the original and other recipes that I found along the way.  The biggest contributor was a recipe that I found on Cook's Illustrated.

That took care of the heavy part but they were still coming out either too done or undercooked or both.  I finally broke down and bought an electric fryer that I LOVE. I use it a couple of times a week.

So here's the recipe.  ENJOY!!