my daughter would like to know why doughnuts are called doughnuts??

Answer 1

doughnuts:
1809, Amer.Eng., from dough + nut. First recorded by Washington Irving, who described them as "balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks."

That's what the online etymology dictionary says about doughnuts.
I looked up nut and it's defined (by dictionary.com) as "a dry fruit consisting of an edible kernel or meat enclosed in a woody or leathery shell." So a doughnut has a kind of shell and a softer inside, so maybe that's why it was called a dough nut.

And, from mr.breakfast.com:
There is a very popular half-truth in doughnut lore centered on a very real sea captain and his mother. In 1847, Elizabeth Gregory was known in her New England circle to make a very fine olykoek. Her secret was to add a hint of nutmeg and fill the center with hazelnuts or walnuts. She even had a special name for her creation -- dough-nuts. (A more plausible explanation of the name is far less exciting, early recipes instructed amateur chefs to create "little nuts of dough" and place these balls into the hot oil.)

Answer 2

Do you know what a nut is? A metal nut, that is. Think "nuts and bolts". A bolt is like a screw, with a flat tip, as opposed to a pointy one, and a nut is an often-hexagonal round piece of threaded metal with a round hole in the middle. Google Image Search may help, search "nut and bolt".

A doughnut is in the shape of a nut. And is made of dough.

Technically, the name for the doughnut shape is "torus" but "doughtorus" is not as catchy a name. Check my sources. They have far more useful information than I do.

Answer 3

The dough used to be tied in knots before frying and so the English used to call them dough knots. Later they were round and the size of a walnut, hence the name doughnut.

Answer 4

Midsummer - this explains it better than I could:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnuts

In some parts of Scotland, ring doughnuts are referred to as doughrings, with the doughnut moniker being reserved exclusively for the nut shaped variety. Glazed, twisted rope-shaped doughnuts are known as yum-yums. It is also possible to buy fudge doughnuts in certain regions of Scotland. In some parts of Northern Ireland, ring doughnuts are referred to as "gravy rings" due to their being cooked in oil, itself colloquially known as "gravy".

Answer 5

They are pieces of dough in the shape of a big nut. Wow that actually makes sense, now that I've typed it I think it may be correct.

Answer 6

they are basically made from dough, dont know about the nut part

Answer 7

So would I, they are made out of dough and once had nuts, I don't know.