Chocolate Banana Doughnuts

Schools out, the holiday season is over, summer is breaking over the horizon with temperatures peeking into the 80's and I thought for sure that would mean that I would have some long and lazy days. Wrong. But it's all in a good way. There are some things keeping me very busy over here in the Pass the Sushi kitchen/office and I can't wait to share them with you. However, they are preventing me from being an active member of the food blogging community. My comment time has dwindled to barely nothing, and even as I type this for tomorrow the clock is approaching midnight faster than I anticipated.

As for this weekend, there was work to be done. That didn't mean we didn't get a little time in on the mountain bikes, and did I mention, I'm watching 130lbs of chew through my computer mouse, romp in our pond and look oh-so-adorable-doing-it of puppy? (She also ate a toy Santa my cat has been dragging around for years. I felt horrible at the site of a mangled chewed Santa and couldn't stop laughing all at the same time).

Chocolate Banana Doughnuts

from Better Homes and Gardens April 2011

Ingredients:

5 ¼ - 6 ½ cups flour
⅔ cup granulated sugar
2 packages active dry yeast
1 teas salt
¾ cup milk
½ cup butter
3 medium bananas, ripe and mashed
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
Vegetable oil for frying

Chocolate Glaze:

½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup heavy cream
2 tbs butter

Preparation:

In the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with the hook attachment, combine 1 ½ cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt; set aside.

In a saucepan, heat milk and butter over medium low heat until butter is just melted (125 degrees F). Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the milk. Add bananas, eggs and egg yolks. Beat on medium speed for two minutes. ¼ cup at a time, add the remaining flour and continue to knead 5 - 8 minutes. Dough will be sticky to the touch. Transfer to a large greased bowl; turn surface to coat. Cover and let rise 1 hour or until doubled.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

On a clean floured work surface roll out the dough to ⅜ inch thick. Cut dough with 2 ½ inch doughnut cutter. Line doughnuts on baking sheet, cover and rise for an additional 30 minutes or until doubled.

Meanwhile, heat a large stock pot with 2 inches of vegetable oil over medium to medium-high heat (365 degrees F). Using caution, fry a few doughnuts at a time 2 minutes per side, turning once. Remove one at a time with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towel lined wire rack.

Dip in glaze and serve.

Dying to know what has me so busy lately? No, I am not the next Food Network Star, nor am I getting married. Nothing that fun and exciting I promise. But I also promise to let you in on it all soon. 😉