Pearl's Spudnuts

These little jewels are pillowy soft on the inside with a light crisp outside. The first time I ever tried these was when we were stationed out on Adak, 1400 miles waaaay out on the Aleutian chain of Alaska. A sweet round grandma named Pearl, who was an amazing baker, shared this with us in Relief Society. When I was Young Women President in our branch we went Christmas caroling and I brought the girls over to my home for hot cider and cocoa with doughnuts. A couple of weeks ago one of the young ladies came up to me and told me she would really love it if I would make doughnuts and hot cider for the girls so I did, between getting ready to decorate for a church dinner tonight and taking care of Family History stuff. These life "events" never come one at a time do they? This recipe is so yummy you will want to make it often.  I hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

Pearl's Spudnuts
1 1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. oil
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 T. yeast
1 c. sugar
1 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
2 t. nutmeg
5 1/2 to 6 c. flour
Powdered sugar for glaze or cinnamon sugar


Combine warm water, yeast, and a little bit of the sugar in a mixing bowl. Let yeast start to bubble. Add the rest of the ingredients except for 3 cups of the flour and mix well. Start adding the rest of the flour while keeping the mixer set at stir. The dough will be very soft. Let sit and rise, then stir down, rise again and stir down. Flour a surface and take half the dough out. Flour your hands and pat down the dough to about 1/2 an inch. Cut with favorite doughnut cutter or glass. In a heavy cast iron skillet or deep fryer heat the oil to 350-375 degrees. Drop cut dough shapes into oil and let puff up until golden brown. Turn and do the same with the other side. Drain on paper towels and dredge in cinnamon sugar or glaze. For my glaze I put about 1 cup powdered sugar in a bowl and then added a touch of orange juice, just enough to have a thin but not watery glaze. This will make about 4-6 dozen depending on the size of your cutter. Bon Appetite!