It’s NATIONAL DONUT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is the description from the National Day Calendar website:
Each year on the first Friday in June, people participate in National Doughnut or Donut Day, celebrating the doughnut and honoring the Salvation Army Lassies. The Lassies were the women who served doughnuts to soldiers during WWI.
In 1917, the original “Salvation Army Doughnut” was first served by the ladies of the Salvation Army. It was during WWI that the Salvation Army Lassies went to the front lines of Europe. Home-cooked foods, provided by these brave volunteers, were a morale boost to the troops.
The doughnuts were often cooked in oil inside the metal helmets of American soldiers. American infantrymen were then commonly called “doughboys.” A more standard spelling of the word is “donut.”
Below today’s video is the original recipe The Salvation Army used. Try it out this weekend! Then tell us how the donuts tasted!
(If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, please click the headline and go directly to our site to view it.)
Ingredients:
5 C flour
2 C sugar
5 tsp. baking powder
1 ‘saltspoon’ salt (1/4 tsp.)
2 eggs
1 3/4 C milk
1 tub lard
Directions:
- Combine all ingredients (except for lard) to make dough.
- Thoroughly knead dough, roll smooth, and cut into rings that are less than 1/4 inch thick. (When finding items to cut out donut circles, be creative. Salvation Army Donut Girls used whatever they could find, from baking powder cans to coffee percolator tubes.)
- Drop the rings into the lard, making sure the fat is hot enough to brown the donuts gradually. Turn the donuts slowly several times.
- When browned, remove donuts and allow excess fat to drip off.
- Dust with powdered sugar. Let cool and enjoy.
Yield: 4 dozen donuts
(from https://salvationarmynorth.org/northern/original-salvation-army-donut-recipe–video)
Knowing What to Expect
So amazing! Who knew that a doughnut could be such a tool for ministry? Wonderful!
We went out to get our doughnut this morning, then came home to this video! Wow! I what a neat story. had no idea and I used to be a social worker with the Salvation Army!
I never knew that’s where the doughboy reference originated! Thanks for the interesting fact. It’s great to learn something new every day. I looked into this pastry item a bit more and discovered that they were originally called oily cakes but later named donuts when a woman mixed nuts in with the dough before frying it.
The Dutch called them Oilebollen. Many countries made doughnut-type things. Waiting for someone to do whole grain doughnuts with nuts and seeds inside. Oh yes!
That is amazing! Can’t wait to share with my husband. Thanks for a great start to the day!
Thank you for sharing. So interesting. I’m sure my boys will participate in donut day today ❤️
My mother made these donuts. They’re way better than our donuts today.
G hops
As a kid in Girl Scouts, we made an even easier version. We used pre-made biscuit dough (in the tube), poked holes in the middle, and deep fried the dough rings. Then we’d shake them in a paper bag filled with powdered or cinnamon sugar to coat. Delicious!
How yummy!
What a fun fact! I had no idea this is where donuts (doughnuts) became well known, that they were fried in soldiers’ helmets, or that that’s the origin of the term “doughboys.” Thanks, Steve!
Anything fried in lard is better! Can’t wait to try this recipe out.
Thanks for the Salvation Army Doughnut recipe.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PoVMwjI2jY
Donuts are my go-to reward. I can pass up any dessert, or candy, but set a chocolate glazed donut in front of me and I’ll fight ya for it.
I plan to make a batch, sans the lard, with my grandmother’s sheet pan. The baked donut won’t be as scrumptious as the fried, but chocolate icing will save the day.
A small evaporated milk can with air vents punched in the top, and a 7-Up bottle cap as my creative cutter. Yes, I have a donut cutter, but this is a fun challenge honoring a 1917 recipe.
Note: the original recipe calls for 1/4 tablespoon of salt not a teaspoon.
Lin
We bought ours a bit late– fritters, buttermilk, and twists from Maltby Cafe. So worth the wait. What is your favorite, Steve?