Kinds Of Doughnuts And Great Tips For Dessert

Doughnuts are sweet pastries that are made by deep frying round pieces of batter or dough. Doughnuts are often served as breakfast but they also make great snacks and desserts. There are two basic types of doughnuts – ring doughnuts or the ones with the holes and filled doughnuts, which have sweet fillings such as jam, jelly, custard or cream. There are also doughnut holes, originally made from the dough taken out of the center of a ring doughnut.

Yeast-based dough is used for making raised doughnuts. Cake doughnuts use a special cake batter. Yeast doughnuts can be traced back to the method of making doughnuts from leftover scraps when baking. They are light and fluffy with a distinct flavor of yeast. Yeast doughnuts can be baked instead of deep-fried. The heavier cake doughnuts are obviously denser and their texture resembles that of a cake.

After ring doughnuts are fried, they are usually topped with an icing, glazed or powdered with sugar or cinnamon. Jelly doughnuts may also be glazed as well as filled with jam or custard. There are also doughnuts that come in other shapes aside from the traditional round shape including twisted doughnuts, bear claws, rectangular and others.

Doughnuts are quite easy to make at home and it will be fun to have your kids help in making them. You can make doughnuts at home with basic ingredients and without any special baking equipment. Although, large bakeries that produce doughnuts commercially use pre-packed doughnut mixes and more complicated machines.

Doughnuts are one if not the most popular fried dessert in the United States. Even the trendiest restaurants are serving doughnuts for dessert such as Hearth in New York, which offers hot and crisp sugar and apple cider glazed doughnuts topped with maple whipped cream. But you do not have to go to a fancy restaurant for superb doughnut desserts. Try the following ideas:

Add some spice to old-fashioned donuts by adding nutmeg and a bit of cinnamon. Make extra-special honey-dipped doughnuts by dipping them in warm honey then in coconut flakes. Add some twist to good old chocolate doughnuts by mixing in some mashed potatoes and milk. For a dessert that resembles those served in fine restaurants, top a warm doughnut with a scoop of ice cream and add bananas tossed in caramel sauce on top then sprinkle with nuts. Whether you want your doughnuts with coffee or tea, any of these doughnuts make exquisite dessert.