Homemade doughnuts for breakfast were not considered an unusual thing in the 1940s. My grandmother and my father’s sisters almost always had a big tin of fresh doughnuts on top of the refrigerator.
2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup vegetable shortening or butter (or a mixture)
¼ cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Vegetable shortening or oil for deep frying
Confectioners’ sugar
Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Add shortening and cut into flour mixture with pastry blender or 2 knives to make coarse crumbs.
Add milk and egg; stir together until a stiff dough forms. Pat out to ½-inch thickness on a floured board. Cut with doughnut cutter. Pat together scraps and continue cutting doughnuts until all dough has been used. Remove holes from doughnuts.
Heat shortening or oil to 375°F. Fry doughnuts and holes until golden on both sides. Drain on paper towels.
Put confectioners’ sugar in a paper bag. Shake hot doughnuts and holes in sugar to coat completely.
18 Doughnuts, 18 Holes