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Dessert

Raised Doughnuts

A yeast‑raised doughnut made with butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and eggs, then fried and dusted with powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Raised Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Make a sponge as for bread, using a pint of warm water or milk, and a large half cupful of yeast.

  2. When the sponge is very light, add half a cupful of butter or sweet lard, a coffee cupful of sugar, a teaspoonful of salt and one small teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little water, one tablespoonful of cinnamon, a little grated nutmeg.

  3. Stir in now two well-beaten eggs.

  4. Add sifted flour until it is the consistency of biscuit dough.

  5. Knead it well, cover and let rise.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll the dough out into a sheet half an inch thick.

  2. Cut out with a very small biscuit-cutter, or in strips half an inch wide and three inches long.

  3. Place them on greased tins, cover them well and let them rise before frying them.

  4. Drop them in very hot lard.

  5. Sift powdered sugar over them as fast as they are fried, while warm.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

702Calories
20 gProtein
19 gFat
111 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  3. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Ferments the sponge, producing gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the dough hold its shape and fry tender.
Butter or lard
Adds fat for tenderness and flavour in the dough.
Soda
Reacts with acid in the dough to add lift and a tender crumb.
Sugar (in the method)
Adds sweetness and helps the fried surface brown.

The step that matters

Frying in very hot lard. If the lard is not very hot, the doughnuts absorb excess fat and turn greasy and heavy instead of sealing and puffing. Frying them hot browns the outside quickly while the inside cooks through.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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