Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

​Is there anything harder than driving past a Krispy Kreme store when the HOT NOW sign is shining brightly in the window?  It's like that sign has some magnetic power to actually draw cars into the parking lot.

​I am absolutely fascinated by the huge glazing conveyer belt machine.  I stand and watch it perfectly glaze each and every doughnut as it passes through the wall of warm glaze and dream about how I could recreate a machine like that in my own kitchen.  (OK, so I'm a little obsessed with the glaze machine.)

Even though I haven't yet figured out how to get that glazing conveyer belt into my kitchen, I decided to try and recreate the Krispy Kreme doughnuts at home for my family.  I declared it "doughnuts for dinner night."  (We did have a few other things to go with our doughnuts too.)

This recipe came from www.leannebakes.blogspot.com.  I altered her recipe a little and the doughnuts were amazing.  They were so good in fact that I almost didn't get a picture of them before they were scarfed down by hungry teenagers.  

It was a group effort to get these doughnuts made for sure.  You'll see why as you read through the recipe. 

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp boiling water
1 tsp dry active yeast
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 oz sugar (about 3 tablespoons)
1 egg
1 oz butter, cold to room temperature
dash of salt
Enough oil to cover the bottom few inches of a wok, or a deep fryer.

In a large measuring cup, combine the milk and boiling water.  Add a teaspoon of the sugar and the yeast. Stir it gently, then leave it in a warm place for the yeast to activate.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, the rest of the sugar, and the salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, until it resembles crumbs.

​Add the egg (give it a quick beat) and yeast mixture to the flour mix, and mix into a smooth dough. This usually takes about 5 minutes of mixing.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured counter and knead for about 5 to 10 minutes—it should feel springy and little bubbles should form under the surface. Place it back in the bowl, cover with a cloth or plastic wrap, and let rise for about an hour until double in size.  Courtney was my dough maker.  She did a fabulous job don't you think?

Stretch dough into a rectangle and using a donut cutter, cut circles.  Place on a floured baking sheet. Cover the doughnuts and holes with a cloth to rise while you heat the oil to 375F.

Place the doughnuts into the oil and fry until golden brown on each side, about 2 minutes.  Be sure to fry only a few at a time so they don’t overcrowd and stick together.

​Drain on a paper towel. 

Combine glaze ingredients.  Dip each doughnut into glaze briefly.  Ryan was the glazer.  He also did a fantastic job - even though he didn't have a conveyer belt with a steady stream of glaze pouring through it.

Repeat process with doughnut holes.

​Where was Ben you ask?  Taking all of these fabulous pictures.  He served as guest photographer on this post and he did a wonderful job - don't you think?

​No kidding, these doughnuts were on the table less than 5 minutes.  Courtney had a couple of friends over and they were eating doughnuts as fast as Ryan could glaze them.  The pictures don't really do them justice because the glaze didn't really have a chance to set up.  I had to grab these off of the plate quickly so I could snap a few quick pictures before they got eaten.  You'll have to take my word for it - they were good.  I think I'm ready to hang a "Hot Now" sign in my window now.  (Well then again, maybe not.)

Ciao!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe