Malasadas - Portuguese Doughnuts

 My grandparents retired to the beautiful island of Hawaii.  I was so lucky to be able to visit them twice when I was younger.  While I was there I was always enamored with my Grandpa's kitchen.  He had huge industrial mixers to make breads and rolls.  He was always cooking.  I don't have many recipes of his but recently my mother gave me a few Hawaiian cookbooks that he used.  While paging through the book I discovered this!

I know that to most this old piece of paper might not mean much, but to me, this means the world.  I feel like I have a little piece of my grandfather. 

Malasadas are very popular in Hawaii.  Here is a list of the ingredients I used:

1 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup mashed potato
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
6 cups flour

Oil to fry the doughnuts in
Cinnamon and sugar to roll the doughnuts

Ok, you probably read the ingredients and asked, "Mashed potato?"  I thought the same thing, but my Grandfather was a great cook and I followed his recipe - I wasn't disappointed!

To begin, I dissolved the yeast and the water.  To activate the yeast I added a teaspoon of the sugar to the yeast water.  You know it is activated when you start getting bubbles/foam in the water.  Once activated, I added the rest of the ingredients until a smooth dough formed.

I was expecting a stiff dough but it wasn't.   The dough moved freely.

Let the dough rise - about 2 hours.  When doubled in size, heat vegetable oil in a large sauce pan or fryer.  When the oil gets to 375 degrees, drop spoonfuls of dough into the hot oil. 

 
When the donuts are golden brown, remove them from the oil and roll in sugar.  I rolled mine in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

Trevor gave a big thumbs up!

If you haven't taken the time to gather your family recipes, I encourage you to do so.  You might not be interested right now and you might not ever be interested, but if you want them, you will have them.  Keep those handwritten gems.  That way, you will always have a piece of your loved one.

Enjoy!