Doughnut Day

Occasionally, somebody makes mashed potatoes. And somebody else gets hungry for doughnuts. So we use up the leftover mashed potatoes to make doughnuts for lunch later in the week.

It’s a little more labor intensive, so usually we pick a day when everyone’s available to help (and of course, to eat!)

Janna mixed them in the morning and the dough rose beside the wood stove. We cut them out with a drinking glass and tore the holes, instead of using a traditional doughnut cutter.

Sometimes we make filled doughnuts, which everyone loves. But when they are for a meal, we keep them less sugary – so these all had holes in.

Janna mixed them, I fried them, Caroline kept the frier supplied, and Elsie glazed them. She also had some leftover hot fudge topping in the fridge which was delicious on top of some of the glazed ones!

We don’t have time to make them too fancy, since everyone is starving by the time we get a tray full, and wants to eat the doughnuts while warm. So we fill up on doughnuts and milk (or coffee) for lunch, and have the leftovers to snack on the rest of the day, or to save until tomorrow’s breakfast. They are definitely better the first day, though.

This recipe is the same one Mama and Grandma made many times when Mama was still at home, to sell at their weekend bake stand in Carlisle, PA. Many people think of doughnuts as dessert, but these are actually just more like fried bread, with only the glaze sweetening them a little on the outside, so we use that as an excuse to make them a whole meal once in a while. 🙂