Ye Olde Doughnuts

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A few years ago, I picked up an old cookbook dating back to the 1800s called "The Art of Cookery" by Hannah Glasse. In it there's a quaint recipe for "dough nuts". So I thought I'd try them out, with a slight modification:
Ingredients:
450g flower
100g melted butter
100g sugar
2 tbsp. instant yeast
350ml warm milk
1 tsp salt
Cinnamon sugar for dusting
Oil for frying (instead of lard, canola, peanut, or sunflower are also good)
Putting it all together:
Combine dry ingredients, then add butter, then milk (see note #1).

Mix to form a nice, soft dough. On a lightly floured surface, gently roll the dough out to around 1.5cm thick. Cut the dough into about 4cm squares (see note #2).
Cover with a damp cloth and let them rise for a couple of hours, or better still, overnight in the fridge (see note #3).
In a pan, add enough oil to make it about 5cm deep and heat it to around 180c. Fry the squares until they're a nice, deep brown.

Remove from oil onto a paper towel to get rid of any excess oil, then roll in cinnamon sugar.
Best served while still warm.
Notes:
  1. The hot butter may kill the yeast, so don’t put it in too hot, and follow quickly with the milk. This should cool it down somewhat.
  2. I find that flat squares cook quicker and more evenly than balls, plus they’re a little different.
  3. They don’t rise up much, but don’t worry, they’ll puff up nicely when you fry them.

If you're interested, here's the original recipe: