brooklyn19 “really? i thought one of the criteria for something to be hamotzi is that it’s afuy – baked. i think when something is fried it’s automatically mezonos.”
You are right, that is the Halacha. However, Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 168:13 brings a machlokes that Rabbeinu Tam holds anything that is a thick dough and not a thin batter is hamotzi even boiled or fried. Shulchan Aruch concludes that one who has Yiras Shomayim will satisfy both opinions by only eating it during a meal. Our doughnuts are even more problematic, since they are eaten as a desert they would not be included in the hamotzi and it would not even help to make hamotzi first. Therefore, other more creative solutions are required. While this is only a chumra, it is one endorsed by the Shulchan Aruch.