When I was growing up in Finland, me and my older sister, Julia, would visit our grandmother the next town over. Our mom would drop us off at the train station and our grandma would pick us up at her end.

Visits to grandma's were especially fun when it was just me and my sister. Grandma would let us make forts out of blankets and chairs, put make-up on, and help her bake. One of the tastiest treats she made was homemade doughnuts. My sister helped her with the dough, I was allowed to powder the doughnuts. I used the same recipe she always used to make homemade doughnuts for a cook-out I was invited to. The recipe is a little more labor intensive than some doughnut recipes, the dough is made, leavened, shaped and the leavened again, but it makes for the most deliciously fluffy doughnuts. They were a huge hit at the cookout.

Deep frying, though somewhat intimidating, is easy if the necessary precautions are taken and you let the oil come to the correct temperature over medium, not high, heat. For doughnuts you need oil at about 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you reach that temperature, you reduce the heat. I keep the lid to the pot I'm using close by in case the oil cathces fire. A good slotted spoon with a long sturdy handle is also a must, I like using a wire mesh spider spoon with a wooden handle. You only want to fry a few doughnuts at a time, if you put too many in at once you'll bring down the temperature of the oil. The temperature is important because if the oil is too cool the doughnuts will absorb too much oil. If the oil is too hot the doughnuts brown too quickly and the center will be undercooked.

This recipe is given in the metric system, since it is Finnish, most volumetric cup measures also have mililiters (ml). The metric system is actually very simple. Each 100 ml is equal to 1 dl, and it takes 10 dl (or 1000ml) to make 1 liter.

For doughnuts you need

5 dl of milk

2 packets of dry active yeast

1 egg

1 and 1/2 dl sugar

2 tsps salt

15 dl all purpose flour

1 and 1/2 stick of butter

for frying;

about 10 dl of oil

Make the dough

1. Take the eggs and butter out and let them get to room temperature at least two hours before baking.

2. Warm the milk to about 100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix in the yeast  with a fork until it dissolves.

3.Add the egg, sugar and salt and mix well.

4. Start adding the flour, first using a wooden spoon, and finally kneading with your hands. Leave about 2 dl of the flour aside in case you need them toward the end and for when you shape the doughnuts.

5. Add the softened butter.

6. Keep kneeding the dough, add flour if the dough is not coming off the sides of the bowl. If you use a freestanding mixer eliminate about 2 or 3 dl of the flour.

7. Cover the evenly kneeded dough and let it leaven until it doubles in size. This will take at least 45 minutes to an hour.

8. Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl with a plastic spatula onto a floured surface. Divide it into four parts. Roll the pieces under your hands into a long tube and then cut into small 1 and 1/2 inch pieces. Take the small pieces inbetween your hands and roll them into rounds. Let them leaven for another thirty minutes.

9. You can leave the doughnuts as rounds or push a hole in them and then spin the round into a doughnut with your fingers right before frying them.  Test the oil with a small piece of dough. It should turn brown in about 1 minute. Fry 2 or 3 doughnuts at a time turning them once they turn brown on the sunken side. Set fried doughnuts on top of paper towels to drain and roll around on plate with sugar or powdered sugar while still hot.