sweet potato maple bacon fried goodness...

maple-glazed sweet potato doughnuts with bacon crumbs

you really must try these - well, not these these as they have already been consumed - but you should definitely whip up a batch of your own very soon.   it takes only 30 minutes to mix the dough (the night before works best) and then you can fry them up in the morning while the coffee brews, more or less. 

these are so good, i've made them twice in the past week. and that's a lot considering i usually take my breakfast in bed and wait for the house to be emptied of all inhabitants before venturing out from beneath the covers. i am not a morning person. but the thought of having these warm, puffy, bacon-encrusted morsels in as little as 45 minutes has changed all that. 

here's a picture of the dough (looks like any other dough, i know) and if you look carefully, you'll see my fancy doughnut cutter (both pieces) in the background....

...a wine glass and the cap to an over-sized bottle of olive oil.

glaze (check), bacon crumbles (check).....time to fire up the fryer

after you fry, drain, dip, drip, roll and cool...they will look like this:

fry: 360 degree fat (shortening, vegetable oil or lard)

drain: on brown paper for 3-4 minutes

dip: in maple glaze (recipe below)

drip: on a wire rack so the glaze spreads out a bit

roll: the tops in bacon crumbs (i use an old coffee grinder to chop some a bit finer)

cool

doughnut dough:

1 T yeast

1 egg plus 1 yolk

1/3 c brown sugar

1 1/4 t baking powder

1 1/2 t salt

1 t freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 t vanilla

1 c cream or milk, scalded

6 T butter

1 c sweet potato puree (one potato's worth)

5 1/2 c flour (i use bread flour)

scald the cream/milk on the stove while you dissolve the yeast in 1/4 c tepid water.

warm the eggs in a bowl with hot tap water. once milk is scalded, remove from heat and stir in butter (cut into small pieces) and let it melt (stir from time to time). mix egg, yolk, salt, powder, puree, nutmeg, vanilla and sugar together. add yeast mixture and then the milk/butter mixture once it becomes lukewarm (put it in while it's still hot and you'll kill the yeast).

now stir in 2 1/2 cups of the flour. stir and stir. until the dough becomes elastic. then add the remaining 3 cups flour. stir and stir some more, then put out on a floured surface (not too much flour or your doughnuts will be tough) and knead for 10 minutes. put dough in greased bowl. turn dough so top is now coated in oil/butter, cover with plastic wrap and stick in the frig overnight. in the morning, while the oil is heating on the stove: punch down the dough. wait 10 minutes and then roll it out to 1/2" thickness. cut into doughnut shapes and let rest/rise for 30 minutes. when fat is close to 360 degrees, you can start frying. don't crowd the pan or the temp will drop and your doughnuts will get really greasy. drain them on paper towels or brown paper grocery bags for a few minutes before dipping them in the glaze.....

glaze:

1 c maple syrup boiled to reduce to 3/4 cup

2 c confectioners sugar (more or less)

4 T cream

1 t vanilla

mix all until smooth. should be the consistency of shampoo.

let the glaze run down the sides of the doughnuts for a minute before rolling them in a plate of bacon crumbs.

4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and chopped should be enough for this many doughnuts.