Mary’s Fried Cakes

Name: Mary’s Fried Cakes
Yield: About 75 doughnuts
Ingredients: 1 egg yolk; ¼ cup milk; 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature; 1½ teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg; 2½ teaspoons baking powder; 1 cup sugar; ½ cup cooked mashed potatoes, warm; 1 whole egg; ½ teaspoon salt; Vegetable oil for deep-frying; Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional); 2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Preparation info

About
75
doughnuts

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The New Basics Cookbook

By Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso

Published 1989

About

The first American doughnuts did not have holes at all; they were quite literally little “nuts” of dough. Julee’s grandmother Mary made them that way, and that’s the way we still like them.

Ingredients

2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder
1

Vegetarian

Method

Combine the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl, and toss well with a fork.
In another bowl, stir the sugar and mashed potatoes together until smooth.
In a third bowl, beat the whole egg, egg yolk, milk, melted butter, nutmeg, and salt until well blended. Then stir in the potato mixture, and slowly beat in the flour mixture. Refrigerate for 30 mi