Cabin Cooking: Family Circle Quick Spicy Doughnuts

This morning I made doughnuts for the first time. I found an easy recipe in the Family Circle Illustrated Library of Cooking (1972). I remember this set of 16 colourful and complete recipe books when they were sold in our local market 37 years ago. I only got Volume 1 back then, but recently increased my collection to 10 with a lucky find at our Economy Shop thrift store. The "Breakfast" section in Volume 2 contained this easy recipe for doughnuts, but like most recipes it was too large for just the two of us. I cut it to one third, and it came out fine with a few adjustments.

Quick Spicy Doughnuts

1 cup pancake mix
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon each ginger, nutmeg & allspice
1 egg, well beaten
scant 1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon melted margarine
vegetable oil for deep fat frying
cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar for sprinkling

• stir together pancake mix, sugar, baking powder and spices
• combine eggs and milk, add to dry ingredients and mix well
• stir in melted margarine
  
• if dough is too moist, add a little more pancake mix
• roll or pat dough on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/2"
• cut with a lightly floured doughnut cutter (I didn't have one so I used a knife and made doughnut sticks)
• fry in deep hot fat (375 degrees on a candy thermometre) until golden brown on both sides - it goes really fast so be prepared
• drain on paper towels
• sprinkle both sides immediately with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar

Wayne came into the kitchen and said, "I see you have another experiment going." What he meant was, not all of my new recipes turn well. But this experiment was a good one. We ate so many there weren't many to snack on later. But they were so easy, I can make more. Besides, they taste best warm and crispy right out of the frying pan. -- Margy