1966 WDEC - Pennsylvania - Sour-Cream Doughnuts

I am having a hard time accepting these square cakes without holes as doughnuts. Even knowing that originally, doughnuts did not have holes doesn't help much, because doughnuts still were round. If only for those reasons, though, I had to try this Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery "Pennsylvania" recipe.

Sour Cream Doughnuts
(to make about 2-1/2 dozen)
1-1/2 cups dairy sour cream
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
4 cups (approx) sifted all-purpose flour

Combine sour cream and egg. Sift dry ingredients together and then combine with cream mixture. If necessary to roll easily, add more flour.

On floured board, roll to 1/2" thickness. Cut into 2" squares (I use a pizza cutter, as shown above, for such tasks) and prick each square with a fork. Fry in hot deep fat (360F on a frying thermometer) until golden brown; about 2 minutes on each side. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve with confectioners' sugar, molasses, or syrup.

Cooking Notes: I made a quarter of a batch, which yielded about nine squares. We didn't put any syrup or sugar on them at serving time. Everything else as written.

Eating Notes: The doughnuts came out perfectly - uniformly cooked, terrific uniform crumb, and a nicely crisp skin. But they tasted like fried cakes, not doughnuts. Perhaps if they had been toroid my brain would have accepted them as such. The taste itself is pleasantly neutral with just a bit of tartness from the sour cream, and these would go well with anything from pomegranate syrup to fresh fruit or even melted butter. I'll probably warm the leftovers with a bit of butter and a dusting of fresh-grated nutmeg for breakfast.

As an aside, I looked up doughnuts in Wikipedia and in my Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking to be sure I wasn't just out of line in expecting something round. Both agree: round or toroid; variations in shape also cause a name change (e.g. crullers, which are twists of dough). The name apparently derives from old-fashioned doughnuts being, essentially, nuts of dough. They were small round balls about the size of walnuts. Wikipedia credits Dutch settlers with bringing doughnuts to America, which probably is why the WDEC includes them in the Pennsylvania section.