Thursday, September 28, 2006

General Conference Doughnuts




Priesthood session of general conference 1999. Elder Nelson begins with this: ". . .this congregation is unique. I don’t see any mothers. Not one of us could be here without a mother, yet we are all here—without our mothers. Tonight I am attending with a son, sons-in-law, and grandsons. Where are their mothers? Gathered in the kitchen of our home! What are they doing?
Making large batches of homemade doughnuts! And when we return home, we will feast on those doughnuts. While we enjoy them, these mothers, sisters, and daughters will listen intently as each of us speaks of things he learned here tonight. It’s a nice family tradition, symbolic of the fact that everything we learn and do as priesthood bearers should bless our families."

Josh and Steve attended together that year and Sara and I heard about this fabulous tradition and if it's good enough for an apostle it's good enough for us! Sara and I started making doughnuts one Saturday every 6 months. After we moved away we continued the tradition and invited friends over to share the doughnuts with. Thanks to the darn time difference we've never had doughnuts after priesthood in New York (doughnuts just don't sound good at 10:30 pm), but we do still make them conference weekend in October.

This is the best recipe EVER. A few tips: you can omit the vanilla bean, I've tried it with and without and the flavor difference was miniscule. If you don't use a vanilla bean, compensate by adding extra vanilla extract. The dough is super, super sticky. This makes it pretty hard to work with. You can add a little extra flour (no more than 1 c.), but keep in mind that the dough is supposed to by sticky. I slather my hands in butter before I work with the dough. One of the most decadant parts of the recipe is the glaze. Don't substitute milk if you can help it.

Conference Twists & Holes
Makes 18 of each

3/4 c. milk
1 pkg. active dry yeast
3 C. plus 2 T. flour
6 large egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 cube butter
1 vanilla bean split lengthwise
1 T. vanilla
2 qts. canola oil
White Glaze

Heat milk until warm. Place yeast in large bowl. Pour milk over yeast. Sprinkle 2 3/4 c. flour over the milk and let stand until the flour begins to crack, about 20 min.

Whisk together egg yolks and sugar. Add salt and 1/4 c. flour.

Melt butter, add vanilla bean (scrape seeds into butter and add pod). Cook until butter browns about 3 minutes. Discard pod. Pour over egg mixture, whisk to combine. Stir in vanilla.

Add butter mixture to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed 1 min. Add 2 T. flour, combine. Mix on medium high for 1 min. more. Dough will be very sticky.

Let rise until doubled aobut 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and let rise 30 min.

Heat oil to 375. Pat dough into 8x12" rectangle, 1/2" thick. Using a 2 3/4" circle cut out doughnuts. Cut holes in each. Stretch and twist each circle to form a figure 8. Set aside 10 minutes. Fry in oil. Glaze with White Glaze.

White Glaze
1 3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 t. vanilla

Mix together in saucepan over low heat until just warm.

11 comments:

jordan said...

Does Josh make doughnuts for you while you are at the women's conference?

Jenni said...

my mouth is watering, but i am really a chicken about deep frying things...no pun intended...you'll have to give me some tips...what sort of pot do you use? maybe if i had a fry daddy!!! but these sound SO worth getting over my fear...mmm

Anonymous said...

We do the same thing because of that talk and love it. Although hot doughnuts sounded better when we lived elsewhere and when it wasn't 90 degrees outside in October. I am going to try this recipe this year. It looks soooo good.

Mom in Mendon said...

Makes my mouth water, too. Looks yummy.

Mumsy said...

No prob with the deep frying. Major issues with yeast. Care for an apprentice?

Erin said...

i'm not so good at the deep frying either. lindsey i need your help!

Anonymous said...

I remember those doughnuts. Erin says "sara and I made them" but really Erin made them and I held the baby for her.

I haven't had a hot doughnut since Erin and Josh moved away. Maybe I will try this weekend.

Now that I think of it, much of my edibles went downhill when Erin moved away. Move back here and feed me.

Lisa said...

How much milk?

Erin said...

sorry, i forgot the milk! look at the original post for the amount. 3/4 c.

Megan said...

I've never heard that general conference priesthood talk. In fact, I didn't even read your blog about this, until our Martha Stewart doughnuts were in the fry daddy, frying away! I've created the tradition without even realizing it! How exciting! We've tried other doughnut and spudnut recipes, and you're right, NOTHING holds a candle to this recipe! It is tops!
Megan McQ

Anonymous said...

That's a good tradition I think I'm going to start. I actually got to join in the tradition with Elder Nelson's granddaughter last night, and Sister Nelson's donut recipe is divine. We had over 200 donuts and we re worried they wouldn't be eaten, but for some reason Priesthood really does makes guys hungry.