Fastnacht Day

Happy five days after fastnacht day! In honor of this hallowed event, we agreed to make doughnuts. I wanted to do something interesting... but couldn't really think of anything. I almost decided on basil or rosemary, but... a little scared, I thought I'd stick to the classics. So here we have sugared persimmon doughnuts (above), and plain dougnuts filled with vanilla-orange cream.

The basic recipe is the one our dutchy mother grew up using, so it's the real deal.

Fastnachts

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 cups sifted flour
• 2 cups milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm
• 3 eggs, well beaten
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups sifted flour

Soften yeast in warm water. Let stand 5-10 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and 3 cups sifted flour to the milk, stirring until smooth. Stir in the yeast. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled. Stir in eggs, butter, the remaining sugar, salt, nutmeg, and enough flour so that mixture can no longer be stirred with a spoon (a soft dough). Cover; let rise until doubled. Punch down dough and divide into two portions. On a floured surface, roll out each portion about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough with a doughnut cutter (anything with a circular rim works fine- I used the rim of the flour sifter). Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled. Fry in vegetable oil heated to 370 degrees 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned; turn doughnuts to brown evenly. Remove and drain.

the first doughnut I ever made! and its hole.

I found it hard to regulate the temperature of the oil. But even when I was 15 degrees below what it was supposed to be, they never took 3 minutes to cook. It was much closer to 1 minute. For the persimmon doughnuts, I added 1 chopped persimmon to half of the batter. The other half I left plain. The persimmons really didn't add much though- they just taste like sugar, themselves, as did the doughnuts. Not to say that they weren't delicious.

Vanilla Orange Cream Filling

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 cup sugar
• zest of 1/2 orange
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in container with lid (I used a jar) and shake until it reaches the consistency of whipped cream. Put into a piping bag, or a ziplog bag with the corner cut off. Prepare doughnuts by making a hole in the side reaching to the center, and enlarged to create a hollow. Squeeze cream into hollow as neatly as possible!

To make up for this debacle, I had steamed brussels sprouts and mushrooms for dinner, but felt over-sugared anyway. But, alas, such is life!

--Pam