Doughnuts are small sweetened cakes, prepared by deep frying dough and covering the resulting cake in sugar or icing. The doughnut derived from a Dutch dish, olykoeks, made from scrap dough that was deep fried in oil and coated in sugar. The word doughnut derives from the combination of the American English words “dough” and “nut”. The doughnut is traditionally prepared as a round ring of fried dough, that is glazed or powdered, and can be finished with a variety of toppings.http://www.mrbreakfast.com/article.asp?articleid=8

Doughnuts are traditionally prepared by deep frying rings of yeast, flour, sugar, and eggs, though variations of the food have been developed to include recipes that do not use yeast, resulting in cakey texture. Although a simple glaze is the most traditional method used for topping a doughnut, the versatility of the cake allows for a number of flavored toppings like sugar and cinnamon, or butterscotch glaze.http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/yeast-doughnuts-recipe/index.html

Although there are a variety of doughnuts, with many cultural influences, the doughnuts enjoyed today date back to the Dutch practice of using leftover bits of dough from other dishes, forming the scraps into rings, frying them in oil, and rolling the fried dough in sugar, called “olykoeks”. This recipe was carried over to North America by the Puritans, who later learned that Native Americans too had a recipe for a sweetened fried bread. The first account of the distinctive hole is highly disputed amongst historians, with ship captain Hanson Gregory claiming credit for the creation in the United States, in the mid 19th century.http://www.wentz.net/donut/history_of_the_donut.htm Throughout the 20th century, doughnuts grew in popularity, becoming associated with a sweet snack or breakfast food.http://www.mrbreakfast.com/article.asp?articleid=8

When preparing doughnuts at home, cooks have a variety of recipes to work from. One can choose between either a yeast or cake doughnut recipe, and top it with a common glaze, or a more unique finish. The most popular doughnut flavors include: glaze, chocolate, glaze, plain, powdered, cinnamon and sprinkled doughnuts.http://www.the-top-tens.com/lists/best-doughnut-flavors.asp There are a number of recipes for these flavors of doughnuts, and each can be customized to include a number of ingredients and suit any taste. More unique flavors of doughnuts have been created using traditional doughnut recipes as their base, and adding ingredients to create different flavors. These include: bacon and maple doughnuts, mojito, pork, garlic, exotic fruits like lychee and grape.http://www.uniquely-portland-oregon.com/voodoo-doughnut.htmlhttp://acidcow.com/pics/10581-weird-donuts-from-around-the-world-14-pics.html