MAKING WINTER WARM AND COZY with Ginger Bolton

A very warm welcome to our friend, Ginger Bolton. Survival of the Fritters is the first in Ginger's new Deputy Donut Mysteries. And I am proud to say that the darling kitten on the cover is loosely based on my Twinkie!

Don't miss Ginger's giveaway at the bottom of the post.

 When I was a kid, about the only time we had donuts was when my father brought them home from a local bakery. What a treat! To me they were an exotic food that I couldn’t imagine making at home.

Then, when I was a teenager, I was reading a cookbook and found a recipe.

Knowing my folks wouldn’t want me to use a lot of oil, I fried my cake donuts in about a half inch of oil The donuts ended up nicely nutmeggy, but almost harder than our teeth.

I had proven that donuts were definitely an exotic food that I again couldn’t imagine making at home.

Well, almost . . . Some of our failures stay in our brains as challenges.

So . . . here’s a way to warm a wintry day: Make donuts shaped like snowflakes, and then eat them.

SNOWFLAKE DONUTS

Ingredients List:

1 7/8 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2  - 1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

½ cup milk

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter

Vegetable oil with a smoke point of 400º or higher, or follow your deep fryer manufacturer’s instructions

Confectioners’ sugar

Recipe steps:

In one mixing bowl, stir the dry ingredients with a fork or whisk until blended.

In a large mixing bowl, blend the egg, milk, sugar, and butter.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir until blended, adding flour if necessary to make the dough firm enough to handle.

Chill the dough for ½ - 1 hour.

With a floured rolling pin, roll dough on a floured board to 1/3 inch think.

Using floured snowflake cookie cutters, cut out the doughnuts. If the cutter has a large solid central section, use a smaller cookie cutter to cut a hole in the center. This will allow the donut to cook evenly.

Place the donuts on silicone baking sheets or floured waxed paper.

Knead the scraps together and roll out and cut more donuts. Continue until all the dough is cut out. Cut the last few with a small round cookie cutter to make donut holes.

Allow the donuts to rest 5 or 10 minutes.

Heat the oil to 360º.

Fry the donuts a few at a time so they’re not crowded. When the first side is golden, turn them over. When the second side is golden, remove them and drain them on paper towels.

While the donuts are still warm, dip their tops in confectioners’ sugar or shake the donuts, 1 at a time, in a paper bag of confectioners’ sugar to coat completely.

Dry ingredients.

Dough firm enough to handle.

Cut with floured cookie cutter.

Fry.

Serve!

Ginger Bolton writes the Deputy Donut mystery series—coffee, donuts, cops, danger, and one curious cat. When Ginger isn't writing or reading, she's crocheting, knitting, sewing, walking her two rescue dogs and generally causing trouble. She’s also fond of donuts, coffee, and cafes were folks gather to enjoy those tasty treats and one another’s company. As Janet Bolin, she wrote the Threadville mystery series.

 Visit Janet at:

http://gingerbolton.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGingerBolton/
https://twitter.com/ginger_bolton

Survival of the Fritters, the first mystery in the Deputy Donut series, comes out January 30. Comment below for a chance to win a copy.