National Doughnut Day | Copycat Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

BuzzFeed always provides entertaining articles. I mean, I could get lost in their website and, in fact, I have. National Fast Food Day is coming up (November 16) and completely lacking any creativity and imagination at the moment I was wanting to make a dish for that day, I decided to google “fast food recipe” and lo and behold! BuzzFeed came through again! For they are better than just entertaining articles, they are a RESOURCE. In their article about copycat fast food recipes, I found today’s recipe, White Castle burgers for National Fast Food Day (they came out perfect!) and Pizza Hut’s pan pizza for National Pizza with Everything Day (although mine will have everything that I like on it: ground beef, pepperoni, and green peppers).

This first successful copycat recipe I made is because of BuzzFeed, because they made it possible for me to add another blogger to my Feedly, Erin from My Thirty Spot ^[4]. The recipe below is 100% hers, and I thank her so much for it, even though I ate through approximately 6 doughnuts and 4 doughnut holes before realizing that I needed to put the lid on the container, and FAST.

I totally eyeballed the vanilla I put into the glaze so mine came up pretty vanilla-y, but I think I really like it that way. Back in the day, my favorite doughnuts were the ones with vanilla frosting and colorful sprinkles, but then somewhere down the line, these doughnuts started being made cake-like rather than soft and glazed all around. At that point, I stopped ordering vanilla-frosted and went instead for the French cruller, which is still my favorite doughnut to this day. However, they are light as air so I order, oh, (let’s just say more than one).

Also, let me tell you how easy this recipe is. Really, it so simple. You basically make your dough, let it sit for an hour or so, cut your doughnuts (I used a regular glass and a small shot glass for the hole), let them sit again, heat up some oil and fry away. I made these doughnuts on Sunday, but I actually went to the store last night for more canola oil so I can bring in some doughnuts for my coworkers this morning. All mornings are better when doughnuts are involved.

Happy National Doughnut Day!

Print Recipe ^[5]

Copycat Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

Yield: 20 donuts

Ingredients:

Doughnuts

• 2 (1/4 ounce) packages yeast
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk (scalded, then cooled)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• Canola oil

Glaze

• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4-6 tablespoons hot water (I used 3)

Directions:

Doughnuts

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups of flour.
2. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl if needed. Increase speed to medium and continue to beat for 2 minutes, scraping bowl if needed. Stir in 3 remaining cups of flour, one cup at a time, until smooth.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double, about 50-60 minutes. (Dough is ready when indentation remains when touched.) Turn dough onto floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour.
4. Using a floured rolling pin (since I don't have a rolling pin, I used my Soda Stream bottle, hehe), gently roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with floured doughnut cutter (or use biscuit cutters or a drinking glass and small shot glass, like I did).
5. Cover with plastic wrap again and let rise until double, 30-40 minutes. (Note: Mine did not double, but Erin's did and look awesome. Either way, it'll work.) If you have extra dough, which you should, gather it up into a ball and start the process again of rolling out the dough and cutting.
6. In a heavy, deep pan, heat vegetable oil to 350*F. Slide doughnuts into hot oil with wide spatula. Turn doughnuts as they rise to the surface. Fry until golden brown, turning over when needed to maintain good coloring.
7. Remove carefully from oil (do not prick surface); drain on paper towel-lined surface. Dip the doughnuts into creamy glaze.

Glaze

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you've reached your desired consistency.