*One of Mary Myrick’s best recipes*

Pronounced (ma-la-sah-daz), these are Portuguese doughnuts without holes.

Ingredients:

• 2 packages active dry yeast
• ½ cup warm water*
• 1-½ cups warm milk*
• 5 eggs (at room temperature), beaten
• 5 Tbs. sugar
• ½ stick (¼ cup) real butter, softened
• ½ tsp. salt
• 5-5 ½ cups flour
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Sugar, pancake syrup, jelly or preserves

*(110-115 degrees)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add the warm milk, beaten eggs, sugar, softened butter and salt; beat until smooth. Stir in flour to make a soft dough. Do not knead. Place dough in a large bowl greased with oil and, turn one time to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until dough doubles in size (about an hour). *Michael’s note: You can also use canned biscuits, cut in half or thirds.* Heat vegetable oil (about 2-2 ½“) in a large heavy frying pan or electric skillet to 375 degrees. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough, 4-6 at a time, into the hot oil and fry on both sides until a deep golden brown. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Roll while warm (or shake in a brown bag) in sugar (with cinnamon added if desired) or serve with pancake syrup, jelly or preserves. Always serve warm.

This was one of my favorite treats as a child. They were sometimes served as a meal, at which time, my mother usually made them from the plain bread dough (before the second rising) she had mixed up for a week’s supply of bread. When making them from the bread dough, which is a bit stiffer, she would pinch of golf ball size pieces of dough and pull and stretch the pieces to a kind of fat disc shape so that they would not have partially cooked centers (although, one of my brothers would try to find the ones that did). We, the kids would take turns shaking them in the brown bag with the sugar. These are not as sweet as regular doughnuts, but, definitely comfort food. I sometimes take the refrigerated canned ready-made biscuits and fry them. Not, quite the same, but, not bad.