These are the old fashioned yeast doughnuts with just a little bit of spice. They are fresh and fluffy with a light crust, deep fried and gloriously coated with chocolate.

They are pretty straight forward to make. If you have a mixer that comes with a dough attachment, then things should be even easier. Otherwise you can knead the dough by hand and get a little work out done – like I did. The hardest part of this process is waiting on the dough to rise….twice. It’s truly a labor of love. You’ll need a doughnut cutter as well, to get even shapes. This can be found at any shop selling baking ingredients and accessories e.g Topserve

A kitchen thermometer is important to have, to accurately measure the liquids’ temperature. In the absence of one you can just eyeball it and feel the liquids for warmth. Not too hot as to kill the yeast or too cold as to not activate it. Warmed, just right.

These doughnuts can also be baked. The crust will be a little lighter in color and the taste will be slightly different but delicious all the same. .

Doughnuts
36
Doughnuts15
Minutes3
Hours10
MinutesIngredients
2 tablespoons yeast
6 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon mixed masala
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/3 cup water - warmed (43 degrees)
1 cup milk - warmed (43 degrees)
3 eggs
1/2 (138g) cup butter - melted
300g Dark chocolate. (This can be found in any supermarket)
Directions
Mix the water and the milk. In a bowl, add a tablespoon of sugar and the yeast. Add the milk mixture into the mixing bowl. Cover and let rest for about 5 minutes. It should be frothy when you uncover it.
In the mixing bowl, add the melted butter and the eggs. Whisk until mixed. Add the spices, remaining sugar and salt whisk until mixed.
Add the yeast mixture to the mixing bowl and a cup of flour. Mix with the paddle attachment of your mixer or just a wooden spoon. Keep adding flour slowly and mixing. You don't want the dough to be tough.
When the dough becomes slightly solid, switch to the dough attachment of the mixer. Otherwise, sprinkle flour onto a clean surface and pour the dough. Gently knead the dough until it's not sticky. About 5 minutes. (The dough should be very soft but not sticky)
Place the soft dough into a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise for 1 -1 1/2 hours. The dough should be double in size.
Place the dough and lightly floured surface and roll out to about an inch thickness. Cut the doughnuts using a cutter as closely as possible. Place them on a flat surface. Cover and let rise for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. (If baking, remember to pre-heat the oven at 175 degrees)
Once the doughnuts are done rising, fry them in pan with hot oil until browned. Or bake them in the pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes until lightly brown.
While the doughnuts are frying, melt the chocolate. There are two ways you can do this; Melt the chocolate in the microwave - Cut the chocolate into little pieces. Put them in a glass bowl (It distributes heat better than plastic or melamine) and melt them in 20 seconds bursts, until it's smoothly melted. Method number 2 is to use a water bath, put the glass bowl on top of a sufuria with boiling water. The bowl should not touch the water. This should take about 5 minutes for the chocolate to melt.
When the doughnuts are done frying, let them cool down. Put them in the melted chocolate covering only one side. Sprinkle with sprinkles or whatever else you like.