I’ve had a hankering to try to make donuts. We were sick a few weeks ago and my first food was a cinnamon sugar donut. And it was the best thing I ever tasted. But they are not always available and the nearest bakery is thirty minutes away.

I actually never fry anything. I even tried a <a href="http://<a href="http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/443″>eggplant parmigiana recipe from Lidia, “>recipe from Lidia’s Italy where the eggplant slices were cooked directly in the sauce (no breading, no frying) and it was good.

But alas, I had that hankering so I invested in shortening and oil. I found a recipe for buttermilk donuts at Cook’s Illustrated and away I went. I thought my little linzer tart cookie cutters would work but they were too small so I improvised with a drinking glass and a shot glass from the Royal Caribbean cruise line.

As with all my dishes, there’s a story behind that shot glass. When I took my first cruise with my kids, I forgot my contact lens case. So the first night I had at least two shooters and earned my containers for the rest of the trip.

Next missing equipment was an oil thermometer so the first batch was scorched. But by the last batch I had it.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with my leftover oil. Maybe I need an oil consuming car.

And back to the munchkins. The waste from every donut is the hole. For some reason, I never really thought about it. Bagels don’t have munchkins. If only I could figure out how to sell my trash! Or is that what eBay is for.