homemade donuts

First off let me nip something right in the bud, my fingers and nails are STAINED again. I spent the day before harvesting 3 kinds of basil, cleaning, stripping leaves off stems, and prepping it all to be dried. Yes basil stains and anyone who does any kind of work like this can relate. With that being said! Here is my homemade donut entry for the old ways summer of giving cookoff challenge. This one is very special to me because it was my dads recipe which I only made one change to. The cookoff challenge is going on until September 15th to help raise money for living expenses and daily needs for two precious people, Teresa and Junior. Life has thrown some major changes and difficult challenges at @OldWaysGardeningandPrepping and her other half. He is now disabled and no longer able to work because of health issues. They finally found a hospital that was able to do the surgery that saved his life and there may be more he has to have down the road. I wish for them abundant blessings. #oldwayssummerofgiving #cookoffchallenge Here is the recipe. Makes 3 dozen For the sponge: 1 stick of softened butter 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of yeast dissolved in 3/4 cup of warm water 3/4 cup of mashed potatoes 2 cups of all purpose flour a small pinch of cream of tarter Mix enough for ingredients to come together, cover and let stand for 4 to 12 hours. For the dough, add to the sponge: 2 cups all purpose flour 2 eggs 2 tablespoons of milk powder 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon salt 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of yeast in 3/4 cup of warm water Thoroughly mix ingredients together, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Let stand for 10 minutes. Turn mix out onto a heavily floured surface and knead until dough comes together and is soft. Pat the dough out to about 3/4ths inch thickness. Cut with a donut cutter and place on bakers paper or freezer wrap of choice. Let sit for 20 minutes. Fry in shortening (suggested temp is 375) until light to medium golden brown on both sides. Cover in glaze and let drip for a couple minutes then set aside to dry. For the glaze: 2 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1 teaspoon of extract of choice (our favorites are lemon and vanilla) a pinch of salt Slowly add hot water while whisking until thin enough for glazing.