Ricotta Doughnuts with Blackberry Glaze
As a little girl, I was in love with doughnuts. I'd stand on the other side of that glass counter, gazing covetously at anything loaded with sprinkles and colorful frosting. The first bite was always a disappointment. A playful exterior gave way to a shallow, empty shell of sugary softness. There was no satisfying substance, no complexity of flavor. It was a real dilemma. I wanted donuts to taste as pretty as they looked. But I couldn't deny that the reality fell short.
Don't get me wrong. I still ate that donut. Every damn bite.
I discovered as an adult that homemade doughnuts are an entirely different species. When they are fresh from the fryer, their outsides slightly crispy with oil, doughnuts transcend. Rolled in sugar, dipped in glaze, sprinkled- it doesn't matter. Because inside that unassuming, browned exterior is a soft, fragrant dough laced with flavor and spices and a density that melts like velvet on the tongue. These magnificent little beauties are no exception.
I adapted these from a recipe on A Beautiful Plate. If you don't follow this gorgeous food blog yet, get on it! Laura does incredible things in the kitchen. I decided to pair this soft, dense ricotta doughnut with a vanilla cardamom sugar.
Why? Because it sounds like a fucking fantastic idea. I'm pretty sure I don't need to explain that further.
And then I stumbled across blackberries at Costco and was instantly filled with nostalgia.
As a teenager, my family lived on 40 acres of thickly wooded mountainside over a covered bridge in rural New England.
During the summer, the dirt road became a riot of blackberry bushes. The brambles would grow dense with heavy, dark fruit and I'd go out with a big stainless steel bowl for a few hours in the morning.
I'd come back with stained, scratched fingers, a sunburn, and a vow to never go out picking again. Then I'd taste my mother's blackberry jam and I'd brave the bushes once more. Some things are worth a little pain and suffering.
Like doughnuts. Paired with that cheerful glaze, these homemade beauties become an unexpected taste of summer. One bite and you'll never fork over the money for a Dunkin' dozen again.
Ricotta takes the place of milk in this recipe, creating a dense, flavorful dough.
After a few turns of the mixer, it's into the fridge for a bit while the oil heats up. Although we don't use it as often as we used to, our deep fryer has been a great addition to our kitchen repertoire. Trying to fry shit and keep oil from splattering everywhere is impossible. If you can fork over the dough for one of these babies, it'll be worth it. We've had ours for about a decade without a whisper of a problem.
While the oil is heating, mix a little cardamom and sugar together with the seeds from a vanilla bean. If you want to get super fancy, you can put sugar, a generous amount of cardamom and a split vanilla bean in a glass jar and let it sit for a few days. It'll create a spicy, fragrant sugar that'll pair well with everything. Including your morning coffee.
Cardamom ALL the things.
Be sure to roll the doughnuts in sugar as soon as they emerge from the deep fryer. It's okay to blot them briefly with a paper towel if you want to get the extra oil off, but don't go too health Nazi here. They need to be a little oily to absorb the sugar properly.
Besides, doughnuts are not a health food. Suck it up. You could bake these but it would be a god damn travesty.
I know. You're looking at this picture and wondering where the rest of the shit is. That's it. This glaze is blackberries and powdered sugar, pulsed in a food processor. I'm pretty sure this is actually the secret to its wonderfulness. This glaze tastes like a blackberry just landed in all its plump joyfulness right in your mouth. You're welcome!
Adorn those pieces of doughnut delightfulness with spoonfuls of glaze. Oodles of glaze.
Don't be stingy. Because first they start like this. Which has a pretty, rustic farmer's market thing going for it. Cute, right?
Sugar, spice- isn't that nice?
Add glaze and you get this. Va-va-va-vroom!
Now that you've seen the magic that is homemade doughnuts, promise me you'll never fall for the cheerful, shallow, sprinkle donut again.
Choose something real and honest and full of delightful complexity.
Until next week, keep devouring these things one terrific bite at a time!
Ricotta Doughnuts with Blackberry Glaze
For the doughnuts (from A Beautiful Plate):
1 cup whole fat ricotta
2 whole eggs
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
5 cups safflower or canola oil, for frying
For the sugar:
1/4 cup sugar
seeds from 1/2 of a vanilla bean
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
For the glaze:
1/2 cup blackberry puree
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
In a bowl, mix the ricotta, eggs, sugar and vanilla until well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients gently into the ricotta mixture until just combined. Refrigerate the batter while you prepare the vanilla-cardamom sugar and blackberry glaze.
Place the sugar and cardamom in a bowl, mixing together and then add the vanilla bean seeds. Using your fingertips, rub the sugar and seeds together until very fragrant.
Line a baking sheet or large plate with paper towels. Using a candy thermometer, heat the oil in a medium (3-4 quart) saucepan over medium-high heat until the temperature reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the batter from the fridge. Using a medium ice-cream or cookie scoop (and a spoon), scoop the dough and drop the batter gently into the hot frying oil--frying only 2 to 3 doughnuts at a time (do not crowd the pan, as it will cause the frying oil temperature to drop quickly).
Fry the doughnuts, turning them once or twice, until they are golden brown on all sides, roughly 3-4 minutes--adjusting the heat as necessary. Remove the doughnuts from the oil (if they are cooked all the way through, they should be relatively light in weight) and place them on the paper-towels to soak up any excess oil. Repeat with the remaining batter.
While the doughnuts are frying, pulse the sugar and blackberry puree together in a food processor. Add water if too thick or additional sugar if too thin.
Allow the doughnuts to cool until warm, but not hot. Roll them, one at at time, in the vanilla-cardamom sugar until they are evenly coated. Drizzle them with the glaze. Dare yourself not to devour.