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    Gingerbread-spiced doughnuts with lemon glaze recipe | Waitrose

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    Gingerbread-spiced doughnuts with lemon glaze recipe | Waitrose

    'Doughnuts get the festive treatment... I couldn’t make up my mind whether to make ring or round doughnuts, and then couldn’t decide if sugar or glazed was better. So I covered all options – they work wonderfully with the warming gingerbread flavours.' Annie Riggs 

    • Christmas
    • Preparation time: 40 minutes, plus proving, rising and resting
    • Total time: 60 minutes, plus proving, rising and resting 20 minutes

    Makes: about 15 ring doughnuts and 15 mini doughnuts

    Ingredients

    175ml whole milk
    10g active dried yeast (not fast-action)
    450g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
    ½ tsp salt
    50g light brown muscovado sugar
    2 tsp ground ginger
    1 tsp ground cinnamon
    ¼ tsp ground cloves
    generous pinch ground allspice
    pinch freshly grated nutmeg
    1 large egg, beaten
    1 large egg yolk
    75g unsalted butter, softened
    1 tbsp treacle
    1.5-2 litres sunflower or groundnut
    oil for deep-frying

    For the sugar coating and lemon glaze:

    125g caster sugar
    5 tbsp icing sugar
    about ½ lemon, juice

    Method

    1. Heat the milk until warm to the touch, add the yeast, whisk to combine and leave in a warm place for about 5 minutes until foaming and active.

    2. Tip the flour, salt, muscovado sugar and spices into the bowl of a freestanding mixer fitted with the dough hook. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, then add the yeasty milk, whole egg, egg yolk, butter and treacle. Mix steadily for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. It will still be slightly sticky.(Alternatively, mix until combined, then knead the dough by hand for 10 minutes.)

    3. Lightly flour a work surface, and knead the dough with your hands for 1 minute. Shape the dough into a smooth ball and place in a large, lightly oiled mixing bowl. Cover with cling film and leave to prove in a warm place for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.

    4. Lightly flour the work surface again and knead the dough very gently for 1 minute. Roll out to just over 1cm thick. Using round cookie cutters, stamp out circles from the dough, roughly 8cm in diameter. Using a smaller cutter (4-4½cm), stamp out a smaller circle from the  middle of each doughnut. Arrange the ring and mini doughnuts on 2 lightly floured baking trays, cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to rise again for 30-45 minutes until doubled in size again.

    5. Pour the oil into a large, shallow saucepan; it should come at least halfway up the sides of the pan. Heat to 180°C; measure the temperature with a sugar thermometer. (Alternatively, use a deep-fat fryer.) Cover a large baking sheet with three layers of kitchen paper; tip the caster sugar into a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix the icing sugar with just enough lemon juice (about 3-4 tsp) to make a smooth, drizzly icing.

    6. Fry the doughnuts in small batches for about 1-2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain thoroughly on the kitchen paper before tossing the round doughnuts in the caster sugar and brushing the rings with the lemon glaze. Make sure that the oil comes back up to temperature before frying the next batch. Best eaten on the day of making.

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