Meteor-Bites

I had some buttermilk that needed to be used, so I made some makeshift donut holes. I actually wrote down what I did this time:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/3 cups buttermilk (give or take)

4 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp corn starch

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

4 tsp fake vanilla extract (1/2 that if using real vanilla)

4 Tbsp melted butter

2 Tbsp melted lard

Mix the dry ingredients, then gently mix in the wet ingredients by hand until it's a clumpy, sticky mess. I used a spring-loaded scooper, tablespoon size (I think, although it might be slightly bigger), to scoop up the clumps of mush and drop them in clean, hot cooking oil. Since I did not have enough oil in the pan to fully submerge them, after a couple of minutes, I turned them over with a holed spoon (but a deep fryer would probably work just as well here). 

Once they were brown on all sides, I drained them on some paper towel, then rolled them in sugar. After that, I put them all on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, which I placed in the oven for about twelve minutes at 375°F. They cooked rather quickly in the oil, so I just wanted to make sure that they were heated all the way through. This last step may or may not have actually been necessary. 

They were somewhat misshapen, hence the name, but they were good: crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and they tasted and smelled a lot like churros. Then again, it's fried dough rolled in sugar. It's pretty hard to go wrong.