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Halloween Donuts | DonalSkehan.com
  • halloween

Halloween Donuts

October 28

A new Halloween must have in our house! To make spider web donuts: dip a donut in a white or orange icing, shake off excess and turn over and let dry for a minute but not totally. Then pipe 3 or 4 rings of white or black icing around the donut and use a cocktail stick to drag from the centre out, all the way around, to get the spider’s web effect.

  • serves Serves 12
  • time 140mins

Method

  1. 1. Add the milk to a small saucepan and heat to a lukewarm temperature (37°C/99°F), before mixing with the sugar and yeast in a separate bowl. Leave for 10 minutes to allow the mixture to froth.
  2. 2. Add the flour to the bowl of a stand mixer along with the sea salt. Pour in the yeast and milk mixture, the eggs and the melted butter.
  3. 3. With the dough hook on the mixer, beat at a low for 10 minutes until you have a smooth, glossy elastic dough. Tip onto a worktop, grease the bowl lightly with neutral oil and return the dough to it. Cover and leave to stand somewhere warm until it has doubled in size, which can take around 1 -2 hours.
  4. 4. Punch the dough down with your hands and tip onto a lightly floured worktop, before rolling out so that it is about 2cm thick. Use a round 8cm plain cutter to cut out as many discs as you can, combining and rolling out the trimmings to ensure no waste.
  5. 5. Place each cut out on a sheet of baking parchment on a worktop or baking sheet and then use a small 3.5 cm cutter to cut holes in each donut. Save the holes to fry as well if you’d like. Cover and leave to double in size again, for about 30 - 40 minutes.
  6. 6. Heat the oil in a deep pan to 180°C/350°F (or when a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds). Add up to 3 donuts into the oil at a time, if you used baking parchment and they are stuck, carefully lower the paper and they should detach once they are in the oil. Fry for 1 minute on each side until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a plate lined with a paper towel. Repeat with the rest of the donuts and the holes, if using.
  7. 7. To make the icing, divide icing sugar into separate wide bowls (depending on the number of colours you want) and blend each with a little water to make a stiff paste. Leave one bowl white and add food colouring to the others.
    Spoon some of the coloured icing into small piping bags, along with the melted dark chocolate and snip a tiny hole in the end.
  8. 8. Dip the donuts in the colours and then use the coloured icing & chocolate in the bags to draw decorations. Stick on the edible googly eyes and allow to set before serving.

Ingredients

10fl oz whole milk

1.4oz caster sugar

0.2oz sachet fast action yeast

22oz strong white bread flour

1 tsp fine sea salt

2 medium free range eggs

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Neutral oil, for greasing

65fl oz vegetable oil, to fry

 

For the decoration:

35oz pack icing sugar

Orange, black, green, or food colouring of your choice

2.5oz dark chocolate, melted 

Edible googly eyes

300ml whole milk

40g caster sugar

7g sachet fast action yeast

600g strong white bread flour

1 tsp fine sea salt

2 medium free range eggs

100g unsalted butter, melted

Neutral oil, for greasing

2 litres vegetable oil, to fry

 

For the decoration:

1kg pack icing sugar

Orange, black, green, or food colouring of your choice

75g dark chocolate, melted 

Edible googly eyes