Maylee at Beyond Gumbo 
I love to see what culinary treats we discover on vacation trips to different parts of the country. This time we stumbled across “Maine Potato Donuts.” When I think of Maine food products, I think of lobsters, blueberries and perhaps maple syrup. Definately, moose for wildlife and timber for export crops. But, as we learned on a very educational harbor tour at Portland, Maine, potatoes are actually Maine’s largest agricultural crop. And the local Maine folks have managed to find a way to sneak potatoes into their donuts. If you are skeptical, don’t worry. These donuts are definately worth bragging about. The unique potato donuts were moist and dense, full of flavor. They are cake-style donuts, which is my favorite type. Once we returned home I got busy and tried making my own potato donuts; here is the result of my cooking session.
Although they look nothing like the authentic Maine potato donuts, my donuts are just as delicious. My husband commented that my donuts taste like Louisiana beignets. And, I concur with his assessment. The donuts are crunchy on the outside and fluffy and airy in the middle. The potatoes are the trick. The starch content in the potatoes absorbs moisture helping keep the donuts moist and tender. And, you don’t taste the potatoes; they seem to blend in with the other ingredients.
To finish my donuts, I added a maple syrup glaze. All the Maine donuts seemed to have some sort of interesting glaze or topping.
Oh, those vacation plans….
Our vacations always seem to have unusual twists and turns. We had the perfect late summer vacation planned to Maine and I was looking forward to cool, crisp air. Our trip included a visit to Acadia National Park and then an excusion to upstate Maine for hiking to beautiful waterfalls and lake canoeing/kayaking. However, a freak injury to my knee left me hobbling and changed all those plans. We decided to pivot and instead explore the shops and city of Portland, Maine, and the harbor area. Here are quaint homes and a sailboat on one of the many islands around Portland. Picture perfect.
At the last minute, we booked a tour of the Casco Bay of the greater Portland area — and we went all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. Our little tour boat chugged along beside massive Norwegian cruise ships, two megayachts, a cargo ship, fishing boats and sailboats. I had no idea that the Portland Harbor was so extensive. And, I can’t remember when I’ve ever shared the same space with one of those huge ocean-going cargo ships. Of course, our tiny tour boat (on the left) was dwarfed by the cruise ships (the Norwegian Joy is on the right). We were at sea level in our tour boat and at times I felt like I was almost in the water. Where are those life jackets?
Two of the giant Norwegian cruise boats were harbored at port for the day — the Norwegian Joy and Norwegian Gem. (The Norwegian Joy can carry 3,852 passengers and a crew of 1,821. I’ve seen these cruises ships advertised on television but have never personally seen the ship from sea level.) The Gem can carry 2,394 guests.
We paralleled this small fishing boat as it came home from the Atlantic ocean. Wonder if he was trapping lobsters?
This sailboat’s sails were full of wind on this breezy late afternoon day. You can see the oldest lighthouse in Maine from a distance, commissioned by George Washington. It is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the country. (Also see lighthouse photo at end of post.)
I was concerned that the saiboat would miss the huge cargo ship in the distance which was really coming towards us at full speed. Whew, he did. And, a small fishing boat — who was dwarfed by the cargo ship — just whizzed by, too.
The tour guide did an excellent job of telling us about the bay, light houses, islands with beautiful homes and the city of Portland. The day was lovely — the sky was blue, the water was blue and the harbor was full of sailboats. (Could this be some sort of sailing school? They seemed to be going in circles.) This was a fitting end to our vacation.
Wouldn’t a nighttime cruise on a schooner be exciting! These folks were headed towards the ocean in the late afternoon.
“The Holy Donut” Shop
Back to donuts. As luck would have it, we parked next to a little shop called, The Holy Donut. We learned that these were the famous Maine potato donuts which our tour guide referenced. The business was started by local entrepreneur, Leigh Kellis, who set out to develop her own recipe (based on one in the Joy of Cooking cookbook) and to make the perfect donut. In 2010, she began selling a dozen at a time from her kitchen. Her donuts caught on and the business expanded. Now, her family operates four stores and sells over two million donuts each year according to one of the references. (See below.) Quite an accomplishment! The chocolate donut with sea salt (left) is their most popular donut. We also tried an apple cider donut and maple donut with icing and bacon topping. All the donuts were “wow.”
Recipe
My goal was to make a potato donut at home which was similar to the wonderful donuts at The Holy Donut shop. Of course, I didn’t have access to the shop’s recipe, but I gleaned a few clues from articles published on the interent. I learned that the donuts are fried, not baked. The shop uses canola oil for frying. These are “cake-style” donuts rather than “yeast-style” donuts. The recipe includes buttermilk along with unbleached flour, cane sugar, cocoa powder (for chocolate donuts) and other ingredients typically found in donut recipes and ones which are locally sourced. Nutmeg is added to spice up the donuts. The potatoes are Maine white russet potatoes.
Here is my ingredient list:
The owner of The Holy Donut stated that she used the Joy of Cooking cookbook as her starting point for making the potato donuts. So, I got out my copy of this massive cookbook which was revised and expanded several years ago. (My original copy is falling apart.) Hurray. I found a recipe for buttermilk potato donuts in the cookbook and used it as a reference, adjusting the ingredients and cooking instructions. The Holy Donut owner apparently tweaked her recipe extensively, as my donuts are quite different compared to the ones from the shop which we purchased. But, both donuts (The Holy Donut and my own) have the same crunchy outside and soft interior.
The Joy of Cooking cookbook is one book which I’ll always keep around. I have used it for years as my “go to” reference for “how to” cook anything and everything. There is so much information packed into this cookbook. The new, revised edition is even larger. I recommend that every cook and chef have this reference volume in their home or place of business.
Making donuts can be harder than it appears
Donuts can be tricky to make. To make a successful donut, the texture of the dough needs to be stiff enough to roll out, manipulate and deep fat fry — but not too dense. You don’t want to over-stir the dough and develop gluten making a tough donut. The Joy of Cooking’s comment is that the buttermilk potato dough recipe will be sticky. The dough must be chilled for several hours — and up to two days — so that you can handle the dough and roll it out. Cross my fingers on this experiment.
Steps for Making the Donuts
The first step is to boil and mash the potatoes. I used a very large russet potato which weighted one pound. This yielded 2 cups of mashed potates. Peel and cut the potato into large chunks and boil in lightly salted water for 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes completely after boiling to avoid getting too much water into the dough. A potato ricer worked great for mashing the potato.
The next step is to make the donut dough. For my recipe, it is mixed up somewhat like cake batter — (after all, these are cake donuts!). However, the Joy of Cooking’s recipe adds the ingredients in a different order than traditional cake batter and I followed along with their process.
Use an electric mixer to mix the eggs and sugar until they are thick and creamy, perhaps three minutes. Mix in the buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract. Mix in the mashed potatoes. Then, on low speed, blend in the sifted flour mixture (flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg). Beat just until mixed in — don’t over mix the dough.
The dough is very sticky. Let it chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours. I let this dough sit overnight. This will make it much easier to roll out the dough.
The third step is to roll out the donuts and fry them. Transfer the dough to a well-floured pastry board. Chilling the dough helps with stickiness, but the dough will still be very soft and a little sticky. You will need to add additional flour, perhaps 1/4 to 1/3 cup. Knead the dough several times, dusting with more flour as needed. Then roll it out the dough until it is 1/2″ thick.
Use a 3″-diameter donut cutter to cut out the donuts. Alternatively, used nested round cookie cutters. I used a 3″-diameter can and neck of an empty bottle of hot sauce.
Keep everything well-floured — even the donut cutter and spatula for transfering the donuts. (You can’t pick these donuts up with your hands like a biscuit — they are very, very soft.)
The last step is to deep fry the donuts. Yes, these donuts are fried and not baked. I used my trusty LouAna brand of peanut oil. This oil has a high flame point and has a neutral flavor. I added several inches of oil to a 9″-diameter cast iron skillet. This heavy skillet holds the heat evenly. A heavy Dutch oven or deep fat fryer will also work. Heat the oil to 350 degrees. Carefully slide the donuts into the oil with a spatula and fry on the first side until nice and golden. Flip over, using tongs, and fry on the second side. Adjust the temperature on the stove to keep the heat even and fry only several donuts at a time. A kitchen thermometer is essential for monitoring the oil temperature (I use a clip-on candy thermometer.)
These donuts have lots of leavening agents — baking powder, baking soda and buttermilk. They really “puff up” when fried and they remind me of beignets or fritters.
The last step is to add a glaze or other creative toppings. In the spirit of a “Maine donut,” I mixed up a simple glaze using maple syrup and powdered sugar. I used one cup powdered sugar and slowly added enough maple syrup until it was a thick, but pourable spread. (I used 5 Tbsp maple syrup.)
Yum! We have glazed potato donuts!
Okay, let’s add more glaze.
My husband is my “taste” tester and he really loved these donuts. And, you really would not know that potatoes were part of the donut recipe unless I pointed it out — which I would never do! Of course, the donuts are best eaten when just fried and hot. This recipe makes a large batch — 20 donuts — which were 3″-diameter. We couldn’t eat them all at once, so I covered them tightly and reheated them in the microwave over the next several days. I even froze some of the donuts.
We had memorable trip to Maine in early September. Even with the unexpected twists and turns, it was a great family vacation. Maine is a different world from Louisiana — I am a bit jealous. But, wait until winter and I will be happy to be in the South.
And, I have an exciting new recipe — “Maine Potato Donuts.” It was a succesful cooking adventure on the first try. Yeah! The donuts turned out perfectly. Can’t wait to try some chocolate donuts and different toppings. Enjoy!
Maine Potato Donuts
Ingredients:
- 1 large (1 lb) russet potato, or 2 medium-size potatoes to yield 2 cups cooked, mashed potatoes
- 3-1/2 cups all-purpose plus 1/4 to 1/3 additional flour to flour pastry board and mix into dough
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt, plus 1/2 tsp additional salt to boil potatoes
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 4 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- peanut oil, for deep frying potatoes
- 1 cup confectioners sugar, more if needed (for glaze)
- 4 – 5 Tbsp maple syrup (for glaze)
Method and Steps:
- Prepare potatoes: Peel potato(es) and cut into chunks, about 1″ cubes. Add to medium-sized sauce pan partially filled with salted water (1/2 tsp salt). Bring to boil. Lower heat on stove, and gently boil until the potato chunks are cooked through and tender. Drain in a colander, shaking well to remove all cooking liquid.
- Using a potato ricer, completely mash potatoes. Yield should be 2 cups. Use excess potatoes in other recipes. Set riced potatoes aside.
- Make dough: Sift flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and ground nutmeg together. Set aside.
- In large mixing bowl of electric mixer, add eggs. Beat until foamy on high speed, about one minute.
- Gradually add sugar, beating until thick and creamy, about two additional minutes.
- On low speed, add buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth.
- Add reserved riced potatoes and mix in, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add flour mixture on low speed. Stir as needed, and beat in. Mix just until blended. Do not overmix. The dough will be sticky.
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for 2 hours. (May refrigerate overnight, if desired.)
- When ready to fry donuts, transfer dough to well-floured pastry board. Add enough flour, up to 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup, so that dough can be handled. Knead two or three times.
- Keeping the pastry board floured, roll out dough to 1/2″ thick.
- Using a 3″-diameter donut cutter, or nestled cookie cutters or a 3″-diameter can and a neck of an empty bottle of hot sauce, cut out donuts. Keep cutters floured. Re-roll scraps one time to cut out additional donuts.
- Fry donuts: Add peanut oil to 2″ depth in a deep fat fryer, large heavy Dutch oven or large cast iron skillet. Heat to 350 degrees, using a kitchen thermometer. Use a floured spatula to slide donuts gently into the oil. The temperature of the oil will drop, so fry only several donuts at a time, adjusting the temperature of the fryer to maintain a 340 – 350 degree range.
- When the donuts are golden brown on the first side, use a tongs to flip over and fry on second side.
- When both sides are golden and the donuts are cooked throughout, remove to wire rack to cool down. (Suggest setting the wire rack over wax paper.)
- Make glaze; Add 1 cup powdered sugar to medium-size bowl. Add 1 Tbsp maple syrup at a time and stir in using spoon. Continue to add tablespoons of syrup until the glaze is thick. It should coat the spoon but still be pourable. If too thin, add an additional tablespoon of powdered sugar (add 1 tablespoon at a time).
- Drizzle the glaze over the donuts and let the glaze harden. (Scrape up glaze which has dripped through the wire rack onto wax paper and add to the top of the doughnuts again.)
Ah, Maine. The Casco Bay and Maine’s oldest lighthouse –the Portland Head Light, which was built in 1791 and is located on Cape Elizabeth; taken on our cruise of the greater Portland Harbor area.
Reference:
Sounds really magical!
Thank you! Loved Maine! Just beautiful at this time of year. And, I loved their potato donuts.
any thoughts on egg substitutes as we can no longer afford them?
Hum, that’s a good question — using egg substitutes. I think it will work fine to use them in some recipes, not so much in others. Gee, I’m an optimist and will keep hoping that the price of eggs will go down. Meanwhile, I’ll explore the egg substitute question or ways to reduce eggs in recipes. Perhaps, we will all become just a little healthier while saving our precious pennies.