Buttermilk Donuts

I don't love donuts. They are one food that I can have in the house and I will never even want to take a bite. They just aren't my thing. My husband on the other hand, can and will eat a dozen Krispy Kremes without blinking an eye. In less than 24 hours. How do I know this? He has done it before. The other day, my friend called me and said that she had found a really interesting recipe for donuts that didn't use yeast, didn't have any resting time for the dough, and she wanted to give them a try. I told her to come over and we had hot donuts less than a half an hour later. Seriously.

My friend found this recipe in an old, little booklet called Famous Mormon Recipes by Winnifred Jardine. She had been given the booklet by her grandmother and I realized I had seen this recipe in the local paper a couple of months ago. I have the link to the article below. I also realized that this compilation of recipes was put together by Winnifred Jardine, who wrote a meal plan/grocery list/ cookbook, that my mother used all the time when we were growing up. That really has nothing to do with this recipe, but it was interesting to me.

We were both amazed at the simplicity of this recipe. You stir together eggs, sugar and buttermilk (we even used low-fat buttermilk), mix together a few dry ingredients, combine those together and add a little melted butter. We did this all with a spoon.

Then you roll out the sticky dough on a floured surface, cut out the donuts and fry away. We fried them in an electric skillet, in about an inch of canola oil. The dough was quite thin, but when the donuts hit the oil, they puffed up beautifully. We drained them on wire racks, with paper towels underneath, and dusted them heavily with powdered sugar.

We had happy family members who came home from school and work to warm donuts.

We were both delighted by the texture and flavor of these donuts. They were very light, not too sweet, and the hint of nutmeg was perfect. The donut holes were perfect for my younger kids. Unfortunately, the true donut lover in my family was not here to taste them, but I just might have to make them again to get his opinion.

If you have wanted to try making homemade donuts, this is a really easy recipe to start with. Let me know how it goes!

here is the article that was in the local paper a couple months ago about these donuts

here are 3 different recipes variations of this donut

Brigham Young's Buttermilk Doughnuts (Modernized by Winnifred Jardine in "Famous Mormon Recipes")

This recipe belonged to Emily Dow Partridge Young, wife of Brigham Young and my great-grandmother. Because there was not a great variety of foods, when something was made it was generally made in large quantities and Grandmother Young's recipe was double this size. You may double the recipe or cut it in half and you'll find the doughnuts are as tender and crispy and delicious as anything made out of a modern cookbook. Nutmeg, incidentally, was the chief spice in the early days and was grated tediously by hand over tiny metal nutmeg graters.

2 cups buttermilk (we used low-fat)
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
5 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons (baking) soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 cup melted butter or shortening

Combine buttermilk, eggs and sugar and blend well.

Beat in sifted dry ingredients.

Then stir in melted butter.

Roll or pat dough on floured board about 1/4 inch thick and cut with 2 1/2-inch doughnut cutter. Fry in hot fat (canola oil) (375° F) till golden brown on both sides. Drain and sprinkle with sugar as desired. Makes two dozen doughnuts. (We had at least 40 donuts and lots of holes)

Coming Tomorrow- TWD- Fresh Mango Bread Muffins