The deep-fried cakes we know as doughnuts or donuts enjoy a long European history and an even longer Middle Eastern legacy. Arab cooks fried up small portions of dough and drenched them in surgary syrup. In Ancient Rome and Greece the fried pastry strips were coated with honey. Called oily cakes or fried cakes, they were introduced to the Western hemisphere by Dutch immigrants in New AmsterdamThe deep-fried cakes we know as donuts enjoy a long European history and an even longer Middle Eastern legacy. Arab cooks fried up small portions of dough and drenched them in surgary syrup. In Ancient Rome and Greece the fried pastry strips were coated with honey. Called oily cakes or fried cakes, they were introduced to the Western hemisphere by Dutch immigrants in New Amsterdam, now called Manhattan.
Egg yolks were later added to the dough along with holes in the centers to aid even cooking of our now famous donuts. How lovely for National Glazed Doughnut Day to land in January, when so many people are trying to trim waistlines by avoiding sweets! We need a sweeeet sense of humor!
