DRUNKEN FORTUNE DOUGHNUTS

"This might be called the hardworking man’s version of the classic New Orleans breakfast of warm beignets and café au lait. In the “Big Easy,” beignets are not just consumed at breakfast but are also indulged throughout the day, coated in confectioners’ sugar, piping hot, and puffy. Made from a rich choux paste, the New Orleans classic is crisper than my filled, raised doughnut, which I first created as a steak house dessert.

Drunken doughnuts, especially with the hidden fortune, are fun, rich, sweet, and intoxicating. When serving children, obviously you should omit the liqueur flavoring, but never the fortunes. When making the fortunes, try to re-create the look of the paper fortunes found in Chinese fortune cookies, and have fun with what you write."

1 1/2 cups fine-quality raspberry jam
1/4 cup framboise
1 cup warm water (about 120 degrees)
1 cup warm milk (about 120 degrees)
1 ounce yeast
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
2 pounds all-purpose flour
3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Approximately 6 cups peanut oil
30 handmade paper fortunes, optional
Approximately 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Combine the raspberry jam and frambroise in a small bowl, stirring to blend well. Set aside.

Combine the water, milk, and yeast in a large mixing bowl, stirring until the yeast has dissolved. Whisk in the eggs and oil until well combined. Using a wooden spoon, beat in 1 1/2 pounds of the flour. If the dough becomes too stiff to mix with a wooden spoon, use your hands to knead the dough together. When the flour is well incorporated into the dough, cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and place the dough in a warm spot to rest until doubled in size. This should take about 90 minutes.

While the dough is rising, mix the remaining flour with the granulated sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. When the dough has doubled in size, knead in the spiced flour mixture, kneading until the mixture is smooth. Place into a large, clean bowl and again place in a warm spot to rest until doubled in size.

Lightly flour a clean, flat surface. Pat the dough out on the floured surface. Sprinkle the top with additional flour and gently roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/2-inch. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out circles until you have used all of the dough.

Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to 360 degrees on a candy thermometer. Add the doughnuts, a few at a time, and fry, turning occasionally with a slotted spoon, until the doughnuts have risen to the top and are golden. Transfer them to wire racks to cool slightly.

When just cool enough to handle, using a small, sharp knife, cut a small opening in one side ofeach doughnut and a tiny opening in the opposite side. Using a teaspoon, stuffa bit of the jam-liqueur mixture into the larger opening in each doughnut and tuck a fortune into the smaller opening. Place the doughnuts on a serving platter.

Place the confectioners’ sugar in a fine sieve and, holding the sieve over the platter, tap gently against the edge of the sieve to dust the doughnuts. Serve immediately.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen
Excerpted from David Burke's New American Classics by David Burke and Judith Choate
Copyright © 2006 by David Burke and Judith Choate. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.