Really, eating these was like a touch of heaven. It all started when I needed to come up with two gluten-free donut holes, glazed orange, to substitute for the kid’s pre-school Halloween goodie snack today. I didn’t know of any commercial gluten-free donut holes. So I had to make some.

After some research, I came up with this highly technical, but not impossible, recipe published in one of my favorite magazines, Living Without. (“Adapted from the Culinary Institute of America’s recipe” might suggest something about the technical particularities involved.) Mine didn’t come out looking like the picture at all. But they did turn out delicious.

Think: warm, yeasty, light, slightly sweet, soft donut, dusted with cinnamon sugar. Wonderful. Heavenly. Surprisingly yummy. Worth the 4 hours on my feet in the kitchen. Satisfying. Especially for those who can’t just run to the nearest Dunkin’ to get their fix.

A few notes about this recipe.

• Don’t be afraid, it really does take 7 1/2 teaspoons of yeast. It works.
• Dip your finger in canola oil and smooth the “tips” of your  donut holes, or the seams of the rounds.
• Makes way more than the 2 dozen 3″ donuts it says it will.
• The frying takes at most 45 seconds a side. (Certainly not the 2-3 minutes the recipe calls for.) Don’t walk away, flip these quickly, or else they’ll burn. And really, 45 seconds a side does cook these all the way through.
• The recipe says dip them in sugar when still warm. Scratch that. Remove donut from the oil, let stand on multi-layered paper towels for about 10 seconds, and then lift with a fork and dip in sugar while still scorching hot.
• Slip the paper and the donut into hot oil, paper side down. Make sure some of the oil gets onto the paper. This will release the donut from the paper. Remove the paper with a tongs and flip the donut. Flip the donut once more to finish browning evenly.
• Don’t stack finished donuts. They flatten and deflate a bit.
• The chickpea flour in the dough really smells strong. The flavor mellows and blends into almost imperceptible after frying.
• These don’t look like the recipe picture. At all. But they still taste great.

If you have never had fresh, homemade donuts, try it once. It is a bunch of work. But the experience, the taste, and the texture, are like nothing you’ve had at home before!

Finally, I apologize for my intermittent absences here on the blog. I do love blogging. Talking…writing and photographing. But there is a reason. An important one. And I’ll tell you on Monday. Goodness, I’m bad! Happy Halloween!!