I sit here in despair and, of course, donut-less.

Below this missive is a recipe I copied from some cooking mag for something
called "Cake Doughnut Mix"

I have, at this time, tried two donut recipes and they both failed.

THIS recipe, whew, was such a failure I'm not sure I can describe. Also, I
*think* I know what I did wrong which I would ask kind selves to verify. AND,
damn, if possible does anyone have a recipe for donuts I can make in my deep
fryer that works?

If you note this recipe is for a "mix", the sort of thing one can make up ahead
of time and store. Then the recipe continues on with instructions on how to
make the "mix" into real donuts by the addition of several ingredients.

Note that the mix part calls for 4.5 cups of all purpose flour than a cup of
this and a cup of that. And understand that as I was preparing this recipe I
was not attempting to make the mix for storage but was, instead, trying to make
the damn donuts.

So further on the recipe instructs how to turn the "mix" into donuts. This
part says to take 4.5 cups of the donut "mix" then yada, yada.

What I think I did wrong was to ass-u-me that the entire mix could immediately
be turned around and changed into donuts by the addition of ingredients as it
instructs. But paying closer attention to the measurement of the ingredients
in the mix part, there is not only 4.5 cups of flour, but a cup of powdered
milk and another cup of sugar, etc. Which effectively means that the mix part
that could be stored would be MORE than the 4.5 cups called for to complete the
recipe. Myself used the entire mixture instead of doling out 4.5 cups of the
"mixture".

Way I figure, the proportions were all wrong. OR another thing I did was to
use, instead of "shortening" I used those butter-flavored shortening sticks,
made by Crisco. I used the correct amount but did I erroneously figure that
those shortening sticks are not the same thing as shortening like the recipe
calls for?

Anyway, these things fell apart into a pile of fried doughy crumbs immediately
when placed into the deep fryer. I started with two doughnuts but I got the
crumbs. Then I tried frying only the "holes" but they too fell to crumbs.
Soon I had a pile of fried crumbs that would fill a small trash bag. I tried
to salvage the recipe by adjusting the eggs which wasn't easy as the dough was
already rolled out and everything. Still more crumbs.

Any help, suggestions, aspersions to my character? More important, some donut
recipes that work?
+++++
Cake Doughnut Mix

4.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmet
1.5 cups shortening.
2 eggs
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
oil for deep frying
confectioners' sugar to dust finish doughnuts

In a large bowl, combine the flour, milk powder, sugar, baking powder, salt,
cinnamon and nut; cut in shortening until crumbly. At this point the
ingredients can be stored for later use.

Place 4.5 cups doughnut mix in a large bowl. Combine eggs, milk and vanilla;
stir into doughnut mix just until moistened. Turn dough onto a floured
surface; knead 15-20 times. Pat dough out to ½ in. thickness. Cut with a
floured 3-inch doughnut cutter.

In an electric skillet or deep-fat fryer, heat oil to 375 deg. Fry a few
doughnuts at a time until golden brown, about 1 to 1 and half minutes on each
side. Drain on paper towels. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired.


Pat Fish/Merryland