Simple Donuts

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup half and half cream
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 7 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Vegetable oil for cooking the donuts

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, using a stand up beater, beat the eggs for 5 minutes until nice and bubbly.
2. Add in the sugar, a little bit at a time, beating as you add. Continue beating for several minutes until the mixture becomes a very pale yellow and is thick and creamy.
3. Now, add in the half and half, the milk, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 2 cups of the flour. Using a hook on your beater, mix until the batter is smooth. Then, add in the remaining flour until you have a nice soft dough. (It will still be a little bit sticky.) Use your dough hook and knead for about 5 minutes.
4. Empty the dough onto a floured surface, and knead with your hands a few more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Put your dough into a greased bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
6. Remove from the refrigerator and roll out your dough on a floured surface so it does not stick, to half an inch thickness. No thicker.
7. Now either using a floured donut cutter or if you do not have one use a round cookie cutter or even a wide glass, and cut out the circles. If you are not using a donut cutter, you can use either a very narrow glass or the screw top lid off a bottle to make the holes.
8. Cut them out nice and close together so you do not have spaces in your dough.
9. Using an electric frying pan or in a deep pot on the stovetop put in about 3 inches of oil.
10. Heat the oil until it is good and hot. Test by flicking a drop of water onto the heated oil. If it dances around the oil is hot enough.
11. The donuts cook quickly. Carefully drop no more than 4 donuts at a time into the oil. After about 90 seconds, using tongs, flip one over to see if it is nice and brown. If not cook a little longer. Once they are brown, gently flip them over and cook the other side.
12. Cook all the holes and you can cook the leftover dough pieces as well.
13. When done, lay the cooked donuts onto a tray lined with paper towels to cool and dry.
14. You can eat them plain or if you want to coat them, you can use powdered sugar, or granular sugar mixed with a little cinnamon, or they could be frosted. If you are using sugars, just put a little in a brown paper bag and put a couple donuts into the bag and shake until coated.