French Crullers

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• 1 large egg white
• 8 cups canola oil, for frying
• 2 cups powdered sugar, for the glaze
• 3 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Before you cook

• Cut ten four-inch squares of parchment paper and grease one side of each lightly.
• Fit a large piping bag with a big open star tip.
• Crack the eggs into a measuring cup and beat them with the extra white.
• Set a wire rack over a sheet pan.

Steps

1. Bring the water, butter, sugar and salt to a full boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Dump in all the flour at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon.
3. Cook the paste for two to three minutes, stirring constantly, until it pulls into a ball and films the pan.
4. Scrape the paste into a mixer bowl and beat it on low for two minutes to release the steam.
5. Add the beaten eggs in four additions, beating until each one is fully absorbed.
6. Stop when the paste falls from the paddle in a thick ribbon that slowly folds back on itself.
7. Spoon the warm paste into the prepared piping bag.
8. Pipe a three-inch ring onto each greased parchment square, joining the ends neatly.
9. Heat the oil in a heavy Dutch oven to 370 degrees Fahrenheit.
10. Lower two crullers into the oil by inverting their parchment, then peel the paper away with tongs.
11. Fry for two minutes, until the underside is golden and the ridges are set.
12. Flip them and fry for another two to three minutes, until deep gold and light in the hand.
13. Lift the crullers onto the rack and let the oil return to temperature before the next pair.
14. Whisk the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla into a thin glaze.
15. Dip the top of each cooled cruller into the glaze and set it back on the rack to firm up.