Okay, so I’ve been seeing “long johns” donuts all over my social media feeds, and they looked SO GOOD. I finally decided to try making them myself. Here’s how it went down.
Finding a Recipe
First things first, I needed a recipe. I did a quick search and found a bunch. I ended up picking one that seemed pretty straightforward, with ingredients I mostly already had.
Gathering the Ingredients
Next, I checked to make sure I had everything. Flour, sugar, yeast, milk, eggs, butter… the usual suspects for a yeasted dough. I was out of milk, so I added it to my list with the other ingredients that I needed and picked them up.
Making the Dough
This is where the work began! I warmed up the milk (gotta get that yeast happy!) and then mixed in the yeast and a little sugar. While that was sitting, I whisked together the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Once the yeast mixture was frothy, I added it to the dry stuff, along with the melted butter and eggs.
Then came the kneading. I dumped the dough onto a floured counter and kneaded it for a good 10 minutes. It started out super sticky, but eventually became nice and smooth. I put the dough in a greased bowl, covered it, and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour until it doubled in size.
Shaping and Frying
After the dough doubled, I gently punched it down. Then, I rolled it out to about half an inch thick. I used a large rectangular cookie/pastry cutter to cut out the long john shapes. You could use a knife, but the cutter was way easier.
I carefully placed the cutouts onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let them rise again for another 30 minutes, while I began heating the oil.
I heated up a big pot of oil on the stove. I don’t have a deep fryer, so I just used a heavy-bottomed pot. You want the oil to be around 350°F. I used a thermometer to check. Once it was hot enough, I carefully dropped in a few long johns at a time, making sure not to overcrowd the pot.
They fried for about 2-3 minutes per side, until they were golden brown and gorgeous. I flipped them with tongs. Once they were done, I removed them from the oil and placed them on a wire rack lined with paper towels to drain off the excess oil.
The Glaze and Filling (The Best Part!)
While the long johns were cooling, I quickly whipped up a simple glaze. Just powdered sugar, milk, and a little vanilla extract. I wanted a classic vanilla flavor.
For the filling, I filled half of the long johns and kept half empty with glaze only. I used a pastry bag fitted with a filling tip to pipe. I just poked a hole in the side of the long john and squeezed in the filling until it was nice and plump.
- For half of them I used the pastry bag with a premade chocolate Bavarian cream.
- For the other filled half, I used a basic vanilla buttercream that I made from scratch.
Finally, I dipped the tops of the long johns in the glaze and some had sprinkles. They looked (and smelled!) amazing.
The Taste Test
Oh. My. Goodness. They were SO worth the effort! Warm, fluffy, and that creamy filling with the sweet glaze… perfection! Seriously, better than any store-bought long john I’ve ever had. I’ll definitely be making these again!
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