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Sugared Doughnuts

Sugared doughnuts are fried dough pieces coated in powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓

Sugared Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the sugar and milk.

  2. Stir in the melted butter, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

  3. Gradually add flour until a soft dough forms.

Fry and coat

  1. Heat lard in a deep pan for frying.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of dough into the hot lard and fry until golden brown.

  3. Remove the doughnuts and place them in a paper bag with powdered sugar. Shake to coat.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the dough and add richness and structure as they set.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the dough, making the doughnuts rise and turn light.
Flour
Forms the structure of the dough once it is gathered into a soft mass.
Melted butter
Adds fat, giving the dough tenderness and a rich flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the dough and helps the surface brown during frying.
Milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and keeps the dough soft.

The step that matters

Drop spoonfuls of dough into the hot lard and fry until golden brown.. If the lard is not hot enough, the doughnuts absorb grease and turn heavy and oily; if too hot, the outside browns before the centre cooks through. Steady heat gives a light, evenly cooked result.

“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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