Apr 10, 20163 min read

Donuts from Shirobako!

Earlier this week, a man broke into my car, threw my trash everywhere, dismantled the smaller bits and pieces in my car, and then fell asleep. Imagine my horror when I woke up that day, eager eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to have a great day at work and was confronted by a sleeping, drugged-out man in my car.

The only thing I could think of was that he needed to leave so I could go to work. Eventually he left, but not before revealing he had a GIANT KNIFE, striking fear and anxiety into my heart. I ducked into my car and locked the doors immediately, and then I cried the entire way to work.

Also, MINZY LEFT 2NE1, so that’s another tragedy. This whole week has been rather difficult to me, which can only mean one thing: Donuts are necessary.

I love Shirobako, though when I first saw it I thought it was really, really stupid. The whole ‘Don Don Donuts, let’s go nuts!’ thing made me cringe, and I thought it was really boring. Thankfully, I came to my senses, and even cosplayed as Arupin from the anime they made in the show! It was so much fun. In the spirit of the show, I made the donuts they always eat. It’s not very hard either!

The Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2-3 hearty dashes of nutmeg
2 tbs butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 quart canola oil for frying

Original recipe found here.

To Make!

This recipe is super simple! Place all your dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk thoroughly together. This serves two purposes: to aerate the dry ingredients and to make sure all the spices, salt, and sugar is evenly distributed.

Then, mix in the melted butter. Your dough will be crumbly. That’s good!

Pour out your half cup of milk, and crack your egg into the milk. Whisk together thoroughly, and then pour into the dry ingredients.

Stir this all together until a dough ball forms. With well-floured hands, knead this a few times in the bowl, and then let rest about 15 minutes while you prepare the oil.

In a pot, bring your quart of oil up to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. This may take about 10 minutes or so, depending on your stove. I would STRONGLY recommend that you use a thermometer to gauge the correct temperature. However, if you don’t have one, stick the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil. If the handle bubbles, the oil is ready. Drop a test donut/ scrap of dough in before going all out.

While the oil is heating up, and after it’s had a chance to rest, turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Coat the top liberally with flour, and roll it out to 1/4 inch thick. The key here is to keep everything well floured so nothing gets stuck to the counter or to your rolling pin.

Then, cut out donuts! For the bigger ones, I used a small bowl, and for the smaller ones I used a cup. To cut out the center, I used a shot glass. Move aside, re-roll dough out, and cut more.

When you have everything ready, assemble your work space! Lay out paper towels or brown paper grocery bags close to your pot of oil so that you can quickly drain the donuts.

Then, do a test ball of dough first to gauge how quickly the dough will cook. Once you feel ready to handle the real deal, slip your donuts in! Depending on the size of your pot, I recommend you do one to two donuts at a time to avoid overcrowding the pot.

Cook on each side, about 1-1 1/2 minutes. Flip over with a pair of cooking tongs, and remove with the same tongs when donuts are a nice golden brown. Let drain thoroughly (or eat piping hot-they’re really good!).

And now it’s done! This recipe was so fun! I was really worried about deep frying, but it turned out to be quite easy. I hope you can try this recipe out, and share the results with your friends so that you too can ‘go nuts’ for these donuts 🙂