Sometimes it just hits me. The absolute need for a doughnut. Usually I search the blogosphere and find a few recipes and choose one. Honestly sometimes it’s based on their pictures, sometimes it’s based on the ingredients in my cupboard. Through this method I’ve been disappointed on more than one occasion. Thick, gummy interiors, concealed in a nice looking exterior that was, typically, overly heavy for a doughnut. When a doughnut recipe ends with mediocre results it makes the mess frying creates almost unbearable, but give me a great doughnut and pouring a little used oil back in a container for next time and wiping up the grease drippings is no big deal.

These doughnuts don’t feel like much work at all. They are free form, spooned into the oil instead of rolled and cut. They are not yeast doughnuts, but are the lightest gluten free doughnut I’ve ever experienced. Even using the same browse and select method that has brought me my previous failures, it brought me to this recipe which will fill my need for doughnuts time and time again.

yogurt doughnuts
adapted from: Saveur.com
It adapted to gluten free very easily and the taste was light and fluffy on the inside with a nice golden crust on the outside. Doughnut perfection! I halved the original recipe since I’m the primary doughnut eater around here. My half batch, which is what is written below, produced a dozen doughnut hole sized rounds.

Flours:
25 g white rice flour
25 g brown rice flour
37.5 corn starch
37.5 potato starch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used greek with great results)
2 eggs
Juice of 1 lemon
1 heaping tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. vegetable oil plus more for frying
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
Sift flours and baking powder and xanthan gum together into a medium bowl and set aside.

Combine granulated sugar, yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, honey, and 1 tbsp. of the oil into another bowl and whisk until smooth.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the yogurt mixture, beating with a wooden spoon until batter is smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until batter is chilled, 30-60 minutes.

Pour oil into a wide medium heavy-bottomed pot to a depth of 2″ and heat over medium heat until temperature reaches 325° on a candy thermometer.

Working in batches to avoid crowding with the pot, carefully form rounds in two large tablespoons by srapping them off of each other and gently rolling the batter. Then gently scrape the batter off of the spoon into the hot oil. Cook, turning every 30 seconds or so, until doughnuts are deep golden brown all over and cooked through, 3-4 minutes for little ones, 5-7 for larger ones.

Transfer doughnuts with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, or as I did, use a cooling rack over a pan lined with paper towels. Dust with confectioners’ sugar while still hot, or dunk in glaze!

Enjoy!