Have a large quantity cut out before you begin the work of frying, for when the fat has attained the proper state of heat you will not want to set it to one side to cool while you roll out another batch of the small cakes. Of course, crullers and doughnuts do not really taste better when cut into various shapes, but, since John and the boys fancy that they do, the mother will do well to indulge the innocent notion and to twist and turn the raw dough into fantastic and attractive forms.
Heat the cottolene or other fat used for frying gradually until so hot that a piece of the dough used as a test will rise to the surface at once, swell immediately and brown quickly. As the doughnuts brown, remove them from the kettle with a perforated spoon and lay in a colander, set at the side of the stove, to drain free of grease. Transfer to a platter, and while hot, sprinkle with sugar.
Quick doughnuts
Cream one cupful of sugar with half a cupful of butter, add one cupful of milk, two eggs, beaten light, one tablespoonful of cinnamon and nutmeg mixed, and two cupfuls of flour into which has been sifted a heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder. Work in enough flour to make a soft dough. Roll out into a sheet nearly an inch thick, and cut into shapes with a cutter. Fry in deep cottolene or other fat.
Sour milk doughnuts
Cream a cupful of butter and two cupfuls of sugar; add four beaten eggs, a half-pint of sour milk, a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little boiling water, a teaspoonful each of nutmeg and cinnamon, and enough flour to make a dough that can be rolled out. Roll and cut into shapes. Fry in deep, boiling cottolene or other fat, which has been heated slowly.
Mother’s doughnuts
Cream a generous half cupful of butter with two cupfuls of sugar; add three well-beaten eggs, a cupful and a half of milk, and about five cupfuls of flour, which has been sifted with three teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Add this flour gradually until you have enough to make a dough that can be rolled out, as it may not take the full amount. Roll out, cut into rounds, drop into boiling cottolene or other fat and fry to a golden brown. Drain in a colander, and while hot sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Ideal crullers
Rub together a half-pound of butter and three-quarters of a pound of powdered sugar. When you have a soft cream, work in gradually six beaten eggs, a half-teaspoonful each of nutmeg and cinnamon, and by the handful enough flour to enable you to roll out the dough. Avoid getting it too stiff. Roll into a very thin sheet and cut into rings. The centers of the rings make pretty little marble-shaped crullers. Fry in deep boiling cottolene or other fat, which has been heated slowly.