Here’s the thing: when my brain convinces me that I need a homemade doughnut, it’s not telling me that I need a dozen homemade doughnuts. As a solo person in a houseful of cakes, I’ve come to hack desserts to half their size for my own sanity. Remember ages ago when I made Single Lady Pancakes? Yup: spot on. I even remade them here with a massive amount of blueberries The Single Pancake. Not a single regret.
I’d also like to remind you of French Toast For One (or Two), which is a tremendous idea any day of the week.
Which brings us to doughnuts – a recipe for just two. Both for you or a wonderful opportunity to display your unlimited generosity.
They’re twisted, yeasted doughnuts (not a bit of dough is wasted) drenched in cinnamon sugar.
How ’bout it?
Here’s what you’ll need doughnut friends:
โข a cup of flour
โข an egg, a pat of butter, and a dash more than a splash of whole milk
โข yeast and warm water, sugar, and salt
โข oil for frying
โข cinnamon and sugar for dredging.
We’ve made all sorts of doughnuts around here. For a step-by-step of doughnut dough in the making see Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts.
I use an electric stand mixer with a dough hook to bring the dough together. It’s actually very simple, once the yeast is combined with the warm water to activate it, the rest of the ingredients are just combined in the bowl and mixed to smooth.
The fat will make a velvet smooth and pliable dough.
Allow the dough to rest in a warm place in the kitchen for an hour or so. It will puff and double in size. It’s really very satisfying.
Now let’s make two doughnuts!
Divide the risen dough in half.
Roll each half into a 15-inch dough rope.
I find that I needed a bit of flour, but really not much at all. You want the dough to stick to the counter just a bit, giving it enough resistance to stretch.
Fold the dough rope in half so the ropes are parallel.
And start to twist.
This is where it also helps to have the dough be just slightly sticky. It will help the dough ropes stick together once twisted.
Twist to the end and tuck the edges under, sealing with a pinch.
Let the twists rest for about 30 minutes. The dough will puff up lightly and the inside twist will start to stick together.
While the dough rests and rises we can whisk together the cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl.
And we can start to heat the oil.
I used 1 quart (that’s 4 cups) of oil in a 3 quart saucepan. Even though we’re only making two doughnuts, we need enough oil, and depth of oil, to fully submerge and float our frying doughnut.
What I’m saying is, don’t try to skimp on the oil. We need this.
For best results, exercise extreme patience and fry one doughnut at a time.
The dough is cooked in hot hot oil (355 degrees F to be exact – get thyself a fry thermometer) to golden brown.
From hot oil to a cinnamon sugar bath, and maybe an extra cinnamon sugar shower. Get it on there.
All that hard work?
We deserve a second cup of coffee and some quality time with this twist. Call a friend, or you know… don’t.
Print
A Recipe For 2 Doughnuts
- Prep Time: 120
- Cook Time: 2
- Total Time: 2 hours 2 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
For the Doughnuts
- 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon warm water
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup warmed whole milk
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- pinch of ground cinnamon
For Frying and Topping
- 1 quart (4 cups) canola or neutral oil
- a 3 quart saucepan
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- small pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Stir together yeast and warm water in a small bowl until yeast is dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast doesnโt foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine flour, milk, butter, yolks, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and yeast mixture. Use a spatula to quickly bring the ingredients together then mix at low speed until a soft dough forms. Increase speed to medium-high and beat 3 minutes more.
- Scrape dough down side of bowl (all around) into center, then sprinkle lightly with flour (to keep a crust from forming). Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
- Turn dough out onto a very lightly floured surface. You won’t need much flour at all because you want the dough to stick to the counter just a bit. The resistance helps the top elongate and the doughnut twist stick to itself and stay coiled during frying.
- Divide the dough in half.
- Roll each half of dough into a 15 to 18-inch rope. Fold the rope in half, creating two 7 1/2 to 9-inch strands parallel from one another. Twist the dough ropes over each other, creating a twist, pressing and folding the two strands of dough together and under to seal the doughnut. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
- Place the two twisted doughnuts on a parchment lined baking sheet. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.
- While the doughnuts rise, mix together sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl large enough to toss around the cooked doughnut.
- When you’re ready to fry the doughnuts, place 1 qt of oil into a 3 qt saucepan. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan so that the bulb is submerged in the oil to register the temperature. Heat over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 355 degrees F.
- Fry one doughnut at a time.
- Gently lower the doughnut into the hot oil and allow to fry and brown for about 1 minute. Flip to the other side and fry for about 1 minute more. Rotate the doughnut through the oil for 30 more seconds, making sure that every bit of the doughnut is moistened with very hot oil. The twist can make the doughnut thick so do you best to make sure the doughnut is cooked through. Remove and quickly transfer to the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Quickly toss to coat on all sides and remove from the sugar and place on a wire rack.
- Return oil to 355ยฐF between batches and fry second doughnut. Quickly transfer to sugar mixture, coat generously and allow to rest on the wire rack.
- Enjoy with coffee! You did great!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2
68 Responses
This a recipe where the frying is key. I am a novice at frying dough. My actual doughnuts are great in form, aroma and texture. I think when I fry them…I need to perfect getting the temperature and time right. They still taste good. My mom ate it all in one swoop but I think can be softer. Practice!!!
I made two last night. They reminded me of my childhood. Going to a real bakery that made donuts not the fake donuts like a well known franchise that taste like cardboard. LOL! The one I ate was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Also, these donuts were not meant to be super sweet. They had the right amount. I had it with a Kahlua and cream iced coffee. Delicious.
Amazing! Worth the time and energy to have perfect doughnuts. I’m so glad I gave these a try and that they worked so beautifully. Thank you Joy!
Hi I have made these many times and these are amazingly delicious. I have tried other recipes but this one is the best. I want to triple the recipe and wanted to know if the 3x scale on the website accurate? I donโt want to mess it up. Thanks so much!
Came out perfect! I used same amount of instant yeast vs.active and they rose great. I found using damp fingers was a great help while rolling out on my granite counter. So pleased with recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Can we airfry these donuts??
Thanks
Those look lovely! Can I make the dough at night and fry them fresh in the morning. Do you think that would be just fine?
Thank you
I do think you can shape the doughnuts and let them proof in the fridge overnight. Allow them to rest on the counter for about 20 minutes until they come to almost room temp before frying them!
Perfect. Thank you for replying. Making these soon.
I love the idea of small batch baking!
https://bearplate.com/
Wow this looks really yummy.
Olga.
I love this concept for a smaller yield recipe! If you made it somewhat of a recurring theme, I wouldn’t be mad :-)
Thanks fro your list i love to read food blog
Yay, yay, yay! I loved this at first sight, but then the frugal gal in me said, whoa, can I use all that oil for two doughnuts? Yes, I can. And then the wise grandmother in me said, yes, you can, and you can even strain and save that oil to fry another day, farm kitchen style, if you want. Whoa! Thanks for all the love and real goodness, Joy. Plus, hello Hanukkah!
I just made for breakfast & they are level-up kind of perfect! Will definitely be making these again – thank you for the fab recipe!
Thoughts on replacing the egg yolk? I would guess a little extra butter/milk.
Tried these this morning – I am horrible at frying (great at baking, horrible at frying) and this was no different. They were gorgeous, but doughy inside. Popped them in a 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes to finish them. ??? I will def be making these again and ? they fry all the way through for me next time.
Brilliant! I love when you do these smaller-portioned recipes. I mean, Iโm all for going to town on a dozen donuts all by myself, but Itโs nice to have an alternative when I actually want to accomplish something other than napping for the rest of the day. You rock!
JoytheBaker;
This should be your next book – microbaking. I’ve often wanted to bake something, but there’s only three of us, and the recipes are enough to feed an army. I don’t know what I’d do with all that food (actually, I do, which is why I don’t bake).
I like the way you think!
You are absolutely right! The main reason I don’t make doughnuts is that I don’t want my family to eat 15!! They are only good on the day they are made. Thank you!
This was a perfect recipe! It happens to be my day off and report card day. I whipped them up in no time and they were waiting for my daughter when she came home on this windy, cold day. I added a bit of cardamom with the cinnamon in the donut. I will be making these again!!
So so sweet!
I am going to finally get on these this weekend, but vegan — vegan butter and cashew milk. I can’t wait, thank you lady! xo
Sounds perfect Maggie!
I’ve never deep fried anything before. What do you do with the oil afterwards? Is it reusable?
Wow donuts that look beautiful and tasty, thanks for sharing. I think will try to make it at home.
Yes, please to more single serve recipes!! For those of us who live alone, dozens of cookies and an entire two layer frosted cake is not practical and prevents us from making home-baked goods. Would love to have a scaled down cake recipe for a small 4″ or 6″ cake from you.
Now if I can get over my aversion to deep frying and fear of bubbling oil to make these two doughnuts….
Love it! I have a couple blogs that I love simply because they offer smaller batch recipes. I know I could do the calculations for most recipes, but it’s not only easier but sometimes ones that include things like yeast are tough to divide up. Thanks for this, I can’t wait to make them!
Your single lady recipes are my favorite. Especially that molten cake. Can’t wait to try this!!
These look delicious and so easy, yummy! It is so hard to be in a house full of temptations, but I love the idea of these & I will definitely be sharing them!
Hi Joy, this recipe is so great – yay for small batches! Even someone with family needs something only for them from time to time. Thanks for the reminder. If only I could bring myself to conquer frying. I imagine the smell of oil lingering in the appartement for days and I cave…
I really enjoyed your writing in this one! It made me smile (“not a single regret” – “call a friend. Or you know, don’t”). Love it! :-)
You really are very wise. I cannot wait to try these! Also, I love your single lady pancake!!
Maj shirt! Maj napkin! MAJ DOUGHNUTS!
i’m not sure if i’m sad or mad about not seeing these when i got home from work earlier to make after a disaster of a day, but i do know what i’m doing tomorrow afternoon when i get home.
Joy, for someone who’s never met me, sometimes I think you’re the only one who GETS me. Thank you. These look wonderful.
This is one of the greatest recipe comments I’ve ever read. And I agree 100%.
Joy, why did you do this to me??
Oh my goodness Joy – these look and sound amazing! You are exercising a tremendous amount of discipline if you can stop at two ;).
Important non-morning person question: Could I go through step 3 the night before and do the initial rise in the fridge overnight? Then the morning work would be shaping and the second rise, after letting it come up to room temp for a bit first? Starting a yeasted dough first thing in the morning seems like too long a wait.
The single lady pancake is how I found your blog! I absolutely fell in love with it (the pancake and blog, obviously) and convinced my picky husband to try the pancake – he asks for it every single Sunday. Now I have to try the doughnuts and create a new tradition. Thank you!
I love you.
you are definitely my hero for this recipe! thank you, cant wait to make them.
Gorgeous, lovely, love it.
What a great idea to make a doughnut recipe for two! So often I avoid recipes that will make too much and end up with my eating more than I want. These look delicious.. perfect for me and my husband:)
Oh my. I may have to conquer my aversion to deep-fat frying this weekend. As a single lady, I say yes please to as many single lady recipes as you can provide. I have been making a recipe for two scones (two scones = one single lady portion!) recently which is great for three reasons. Firstly, better for my waistline. Secondly, scones are only really good on the day they are baked so I don’t then have to munch my way through less-good older scones. Thirdly, I have problems with my hands and have given up on recipes that involve rubbing in, but even I can manage to rub in 10g of butter! My scone recipe is a scaled down variation of a Dan Lepard one: rub 10g butter into 80g self-raising flour (or plain flour with leavener added). Add a pinch of salt and 5g sugar. Add 50g plain yoghurt (or slightly watered down Greek yoghurt). Combine into a dough with minimal fiddling (add a splash of water if needed). Divide into two rounds. Plonk on baking tray in oven at 200C (with or without a milk wash/sprinkling of sugar) and bake for 14 – 16 minutes, then let cool a little before eating (or just dive in, with or without butter/jam/clotted cream). It takes mix-ins really well – you can get 60g of chopped dried fruit (two portions) in without affecting the dough’s ability to stay together.
Sadly, the doughnuts will have to wait until the weekend because I will need to buy some appropriate oil (my, local, rapeseed oil isn’t very neutral – I think I’d need something lighter), but then my cast iron dutch oven is getting the best seasoning ever! Really very excited about these :-)
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing this – you’re so right about scones really only being good on day 1. I so rarely make them for this reason.
Thank you so much for sharing the Scones for Two recipe as I love them and my husband doesn’t and I agree they are really only good the day your make them. Just on a side note, canola is a hybrid of rapeseed and coming from Canada and now living in the UK, I would say rapeseed would be just fine to fry with.
I am happy to report that scones can be frozen unbaked and then popped into the oven when needed! Just add a few extra minutes of baking. I also have arthritis in my hands, so I grate cold butter into the flour with a grater. Hope this helps !
Since my daughter is newly diagnosis with a dairy sensitivity I will make these with full fat coconut milk. Some days our little girls need something special just for them. Thank you for doughnuts for one.
I would love to know how that turns out!
You know… I bet coconut milk will work just wonderfully! Let us know!
I was so afraid of frying doughnuts for a long time (ugh, I know!) but once I did..I’ll never go back to baked! 10/10 making these for a solo brunch on Sunday xo
I may have doughnuts for supper tonight…YUM.
Love the small scale/small batch recipes. I’m a fan of your single lady pancakes and the single molten lava cake in your first cookbook. It’s one of my go-to desserts. :-)
I’m so glad!
hiya :)
Can i have the recipe for the single molten lava cake pls?
Thank you for sharing this delightful donut recipe!!! Would it be ok if I made this this margine as I am allergic to butter thank you!!!
Yes that would be fine!
These doughnuts look very good. Could I bake them instead of frying them?
I’m afraid this recipe is specifically for frying.
This is the recipe that will get me to make doughnuts! Batch size is the biggest part of what has held me back. Thanks so much for scaling things down for us small households!
Now all I need is to conquer my irrational fear of deep-frying.
well this is a doughnut game changer now isn’t it?? all I can say is HELL YES WOMAN.
Yay for single serve recipes! I make single lady pancakes all.the.time. I’ve even found a recipe for single serve cupcakes made from a box mix using the toaster oven. Excited to add these doughnuts to my arsenal – treat yo’self 2018!
I love everything with yeast! And I love doughs with yeast :) Therefore, I love your recipe, thanks for sharing.
With love from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
http://www.dressedwithsoul.com
Is it impossible if I try to put some cream inside the donut? Do you think the flavour will also be good?
I have never made doughnuts myself before, and this looks like the least scary way to do it! Officially excited for this.
Hope you are well! x
Bless you. Too often, satisfying an intense craving leaves us with a choice of feeling guilty for wasting the rest or feeling guilty for eating the rest.
Reducing a recipe isn’t always that simple, especially for baked goods. Thank you for figuring this one out.