Recipe - Hanukkah Cutout Cookies

One half cup Warm water; (about 115
degrees)
5 teaspoon Active dry yeast
(2 envelopes plus One half tspn)
1/3 cup Granulated sugar plus 1
pinch; divided
1 cup Warm milk or water
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 Eggs
1/3 cup Vegetable oil or melted
vegetable
Shortening
5 One half teaspoon Salt
4 One fourth cup Allpurpose flour; (to 5
cups)
Vegetable oil; for frying
2 cup Jam or jelly; at room
temperature

In large mixing bowl, stir together One half cup warm water, yeast and pinch
sugar. Let stand for several minutes. Stir in remaining 1/3 cup sugar,
milk, vanilla, eggs, oil, salt and most of the flour to make a soft dough.
Knead for 5 to 8 minutes by hand or with a dough hook, adding more flour as
needed to form a firmer dough that is smooth and elastic. Place dough in
greased bowl. Place bowl in plastic bag and seal. (If making dough a day in
advance, refrigerate at this point.) Let rise for about 1 hour. Gently
deflate. (If dough was refrigerated, let come to room temperature for about
40 minutes before proceeding). Pinch off pieces of dough and form into
small balls, a little larger than a golf ball. Alternately, roll dough
about Three fourths inch thick and cut into 2 One half or 3inch rounds. Cover doughnuts
with a clean tea towel; let sit for 20 to 30 minutes. Heat about 4 inches
oil in deep fryer or heavy Dutch oven to about 385 degrees. Fry a test
doughnut; oil should bubble. Fry until underside is deep brown. Turn once;
fry until other side is deep brown. Total frying time should be 1 One half to 3
minutes. Remove with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels. Check middle of
doughnut to make sure inside is cooked. If not, reduce heat of oil
slightly. Fry remaining doughnuts, 3 or 4 at a time. To fill, make a small
opening in each doughnut; spoon in jam or jelly. (Instead of filling
doughnuts, you can shake them in a paper bag with granulated or powdered
sugar.) Yield: 2 to 2 One half dozen doughnuts.

Tester's note: Timeconsuming but good recipe that yielded, light,
nongreasy doughnuts. I made the dough and let it rise in a bread machine
with a 2pound loaf capacity. Smaller machines would not be able to handle
this recipe.

Recipe Source: St. Louis PostDispatch 12141998 Recipe adapted from "A
Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking" by Marcy Goldman (Doubleday, $25)

Formatted for MasterCook by Susan Wolfe swolfe1@prodigy.net

Converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.