Jewish or not, homemade doughnuts are a treat. We tried these a couple of years ago with friends on the last night of Hanukkah. The most important thing is to heat the frying oil to a high temperature. If you place the dough into a less-than-hot oil, your doughnuts will sink — as ours did when we first tried this recipe. We have been perfecting it each year.
Makes 24- 30 smaller doughnuts.
For the Cinnamon Sugar:
1/2 c. superfine sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cardamom
Pinch of fine-grain Kosher salt
For the Doughnuts:
1/2 c. clarified butter (see note)
3 1/2 c. cake flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. Kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnmaon
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 c. buttermilk
1 egg
3 egg yolks
Grapeseed or canola oil for frying
In a small bowl, combine first four ingredients to make cinnamon sugar. Set aside.
To Make Clarified Butter: bring butter to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove pan from heat and skim off butter bits that rise to the top. Set aside in a warm spot until ready to add to following ingredients. When you are ready to add, gradually pour into recipe without including solids (TIP: a gravy skimmer works well for this).
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or with a wooden spoon and a lot of muscles), sift 1 1/2 cups of cake flour with sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. With the mixer running, gradually add buttermilk, butter, egg, and egg yolks. When the mixture is smooth (but is sticky), fold in remaining 2 cups of flour by hand.
Divide dough in half. Place one-half of the dough onto a well-floured surface. Add a little more flour to the top of the dough pile, pat down and then lightly roll out dough into 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch cookie cutter or small water glass, cut out rounds. Then, using a small 3/4-inch cutter, cut out the center doughnut holes. (Better yet, but only if you’ve got one: you can, of course, use a doughnut cookie cutter as well). Repeat with second half of dough as well.
Place about 4 inches of oil in a deep saucepan and heat to 375 degrees. Fry doughnuts in batches without crowding. Turn doughnuts so they brown on all sides. Cook until they are evenly browned, about 2 minutes per batch. Drain on paper towels. Roll warm doughnuts in cinnamon sugar mixture.
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