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    Home » Recipes » Plain Culture

    Old-Fashioned Amish Winter Doughnuts

    Published: Jan 20, 2022 · Updated: Jan 20, 2022 by Kevin Williams | 2 Comments

    Jump to Recipe

    Old-Fashioned Amish Winter Doughnuts

    The real name for this Old-Fashioned Amish Winter Doughnuts recipe is "lard cakes." But there are several problems with calling these "lard cakes." One, many people would be turned off from these delightful doughnuts because they would just see the name and stop. Two, I don't know that that many people are searching on Google for "lard cakes", so I would choke off search traffic. And, three, the name "lard cakes" is a little misleading because there is no lard in them.

    Jump to:
    • 🍩 Old-Fashioned Amish Winter Doughnuts
    • 📋 Instructions
    • 🍩 More Amish Doughnut Recipes
    • 🖨️ Full Recipe

    You'd think there'd have to be a better name for this recipe.  But, alas, many Amish call these lard cakes.  It's an old doughnut type recipe from the Swiss Indiana Amish and the only reason they are called lard cakes is that they can be fried in lard, but you can use any other type of shortening too.  

    I thought "winter doughnuts" was a good name for this because it pays homage to the time of year when most Amish eat these. This particular doughnut is most popular on hog butchering day, which usually occurs in late winter (February or March).  Hog butchering is hot, messy work and you don't want to be doing it in the middle of June or July, that is for sure.   So hog-butchering is usually a task saved for after the holiday and New Year's rush during one of the quietest times of year.  So I am sure these lard cakes are being fried up in some Amish kitchens right about now somewhere.

    I remember being on WHO radio in Des Moines back in the mid-90s talking about this recipe and the host just thought it was a hilarious name.  He didn't think I was serious but, I told him, lard cakes is the name.

    An Amish baker who gave me the recipe had this to say about them:

     Mom would have a bowl full of them as a mid-morning snack for those helping with the work.

    They were usually served with coffee.

    They are really more like a doughnut, and they don't require yeast. They are called “lard cakes” but they don’t have any lard in them. They are called that because they were always deep-fried in lard, although I used vegetable shortening and had great results.

    They need to be eaten quickly because by evening they will be soggy.

    The Amish Cook column ran the lard cakes recipe once back in the mid-90s.  That is when the Amish Cook made a brief one-column run in The Flint Journal in Michigan.  The food editor thought the recipe was fascinating and decided to do a contract to run The Amish Cook one time in the paper.  SIGH, I was hoping I could persuade him to carry it permanently, but no luck.

    Lard cakes get their rather unappealing name because they're traditionally deep-fried in melted lard, but this recipe works just as well with vegetable shortening. Oh well, here is this well-traveled, funny-named recipe that is basically just a doughnut.

    Old-Fashioned Amish Winter Doughnuts

    As is typical with so many Amish baked goods, this recipe is very, very basic in terms of ingredients which makes it simple to pull together.

    Old-Fashioned Amish Winter Doughnuts

    Your dough, by the time you are done, should be the consistency of pie dough. If it is too liquidy or sticky, add more flour until you get a nice, elastic dough.

    You can make these into any shape you want, cut a slit into the dough that goes all the way through, whatever shape you make them. You can roll them in sugar, but you could also try a cinnamon-sugar mixture. And, geez, I suppose you could put frosting on them. I've not seen that done, but, why not?

    Homemade lard cakes

    These are some old-fashioned Amish winter doughnuts, aka "lard cakes" in an Amish home. Sorry, the photo isn't larger. But, again, gives you a good idea of the shape.

    🍩 Old-Fashioned Amish Winter Doughnuts

    • 1½ c heavy cream
    • 2¼ c sour milk
    • 2 heaping teaspoon baking soda
    • 3 lg eggs
    • 3 to 4 c all-purpose flour
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 3 teaspoon sugar, plus sugar for rolling
    • Lard or vegetable shortening, for frying

    📋 Instructions

    1. Combine the cream, sour milk, baking soda, eggs, and flour in a large bowl.
    2. The consistency should be similar to that of a pie dough, so add a little more flour if needed.
    3. Add the salt and sugar.
    4. Roll out to a 1 /4-inch thickness and cut up into any shapes as big as you wish, or into 2 by 4-inch pieces.
    5. Cut a 2 ½-inch slit in the center of each cake. Make sure the slit goes completely through the cake.
    6. Heat the lard in a deep kettle or pan to a depth of about 2 inches until very hot.
    7. Fry the cakes in batches until golden, about 1 minute on each side.
    8. Roll the cakes in a pan of sugar while still warm.

    🍩 More Amish Doughnut Recipes

    Amish Doughnuts

    Mrs. Chupp's Fresh Doughnuts

    Easy Glazed Doughnuts

    Long John Rolls

    🖨️ Full Recipe

    Old-Fashioned Amish Winter Doughnuts

    Old-Fashioned Amish Winter Doughnuts

    a delicious, easy recipe
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Course Breakfast
    Cuisine American, Amish

    Ingredients
      

    • 1½ cup heavy cream
    • 2 ¼ cup sour milk
    • 2 heaping tsp baking soda
    • 3 large eggs
    • 3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 3 teaspoons sugar
    • plus sugar for rolling
    • Lard or vegetable shortening, for frying

    Instructions
     

    • Combine the cream, sour milk, baking soda, eggs, and flour in a large bowl.
    • Add the salt and sugar.
    • Roll out to a 1 /4-inch thickness and cut up into any shapes as big as you wish, or into 2 by 4-inch pieces.
    • Cut a 2 ½-inch slit in the center of each cake.
    • Make sure the slit goes completely through the cake.
    • Heat the lard in a deep kettle or pan to a depth of about 2 inches until very hot.
    • Fry the cakes in batches until golden, about 1 minute on each side. Roll the cakes in a pan of sugar while still warm.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
    « South Texas Rice
    Old-Fashioned Amish Crumb Cake »

    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

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    Comments

    1. Nana

      February 03, 2017 at 12:01 pm

      Lard does have a negative connotation and oddly enough it has gotten more expensive than the vegetable shortenings. My mom always fried her doughnuts in lard and lard cannot be equaled for pie crusts.

      Reply
    2. sherron melinchuk

      January 20, 2022 at 1:48 pm

      5 stars
      love, love this recipe

      Reply

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    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

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