Potato & Raisin Donuts - Fluffy Bites

I had this type of donuts twice in Monique's Friend's Birthday Parties earlier this year - Italian families, loads of food and those home made donuts, with raisins in them, super fluffy soft ones.  Extremely unfriendly to waistline, but super super yummy.  Because they are bite sizes, and lots of them on the platter, we simply couldn't stop eating.

I did ask for the recipe.  Unfortunately, the nonas who made them (different nonas, but very similar donuts) were not there to tell us what was in them.

A few weeks ago, the Italian Cousins in My Kitchen Rules made some Italian Potato Donuts, not with raisins and were different shape.  But I was thinking, maybe I could try something similar with raisins?

I forgot to check the MKR recipes, but since I was making gnocchi last night and end up with too much mashed potatoes, I thought I could give the donuts a go.

I can't say it's exactly the same Italian donuts I had, similar, but honestly, it's just my made up recipe and it's as close as I can get without nagging the nonas for recipes.

They turned out to be rather yummy.  Even though they might not be Italian enough.

Ingredients:

450g plain flour (take or add a bit, depending on how wet the potatoes are, I added 350g flour to start with, but slowly add more as the dough was way too wet)
1 egg, lightly whisked
75g butter, room temperature
1.5 cup mashed potato (through potato ricer, really fine, as used in gnocchi)
4 tbsp raw sugar
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp all spice powder
7g yeast
250g warm milk

Method:

Heat up milk and bring it slowly to boil, take away from heat and cool till lukewarm.  Add yeast, wait until it becomes frothy.
Add flour, sugar, the spice powders and mashed potato and salt, make it into a rough dough.
The dough should be quite wet, work the dough till it's all mixed and combined properly.  It's a very sticky dough and there's no need to wait for it to be smooth like the bread.  Fold in the raisins.
Set in a clean bowl with cover to let it proof, for about an hour, the dough should be double in size or bigger.
Fill up the deep fryer or a deep sauce pan with 2-3 inches of oil, I usually use canola oil as it's flavourless.  Use a table spoon to scoop a bit of dough, shape it roughly and scrap it into the frying pan, one by one.  It will puff up and becoming more round in the oil.
It's a slow process, I certainly didn't enjoy the deep frying bit (never liked deep frying, but I don't think this will work as well if baked).
Once all finished, pile it up, I didn't count how many donuts I made, they are 1.5-2" in diametre - I'm pretty sure home made food wise, family wouldn't really care if one is bigger than the other.  Plenty to go around.
Dust with loads of icing sugar.  The actual donut dough don't contain a lot of sugar.

Definitely a crowd pleaser, and I think I will probably use it in my next party!  It's the best when it's just made, like all donuts, but it's still nice and fluffy when it's cold.