Spudnuts (potato donuts) are a cross between yeast donuts and cake donuts - fluffy, a little chewy, sugary, and a tad bit greasy (as donuts should be). These spudnuts are filled with gooey butter filling.
Mix in mashed potatoes and milk until fully combined.
Add baking powder and stir until foamy.
Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix until fully combined.
Mix in salt, melted butter and vanilla.
Fold in flour a little bit at a time, up to three cups. You should end up with a sticky dough. If the dough doesn't start to come together, add up to one extra cup of flour.
Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth.
Heat oil in a deep fryer or deep pot (like a Dutch oven) to 325 F.
Press dough down into a thick circle and cut out dough with a 3 inch round cutter. Re-form the dough circle and cut again. Continue to cut out dough until you have used it all.
Drop several circles of dough into oil and fry for five minutes on each side, flipping using metal tongs.
Transfer to a board or plate lined with paper towels to remove excess oil and continue making batches of spudnuts.
Filling Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter until fully combined.
Mix in the corn syrup and egg.
Alternately add the flour and the evaporated milk in three additions, mixing until just combined (the batter will appear slightly curdled).
Distribute batter evenly in a greased 8" square baking pan.
Bake for 25 minutes. The result will still be quite gooey, but not a liquid. The edges will be more done than the middle, so give it a stir to even the texture out.
Cool to room temperature.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round tip with the gooey butter filling.
Insert into the center of each donut and squeeze to fill.
Dust donuts with powdered sugar.
Spudnuts are best served within 24 hours.
Video
Notes
The filling may be made up to three days in advance and refrigerated until ready to use.The spudnut batter can also be made several days in advance. Bring to room temperature before cutting and frying.Store any uneaten donuts in a loosely-covered container.This recipe was ever so slightly adapted from Average Betty's recipe, whose recipe was slightly adapted from Chef Bryan Woolley's Klondike Brands Spudnut Recipe.