Drop Donuts

The following is the recipe I created to work with one of those automatic donut machines when I worked at Martin Marietta. It should do well with any kind of dropper. Oil should be at 390 degrees, and clean. There are special shortenings from commercial suppliers for donuts to help with shelf life, but a good 100% vegetable should work just fine. And my personal preference for homemade donuts is still clean lard.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups high gluten (bread) flour
1/4 cup shortening
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup milk

Blend all ingredients together on low until completely mixed, then beat on high for 3-5 min. If they split when you fry them, either the oil is too hot, or you didn't beat them long enough.

Variations:

Buttermilk - use 1 1/4 cups buttermilk in place of milk and add 1/4 teaspoon of soda to mix

Chocolate - replace 1/2 cup of the flour with 1/2 cup cocoa (packed) and increase the sugar to 1 2/3 cups Omit the spices but keep the vanilla.