Homemade Doughnuts

 I got this recipe from our family cookbook from my Aunt Carol.  It's their family tradition to make doughnuts on the first snowfall every year.  I have been wanting to create some family traditions of my own, so I thought I would adopt theirs and try it out. My sister tried them and loved them and I am so glad I did too, because they are delicious! 

These have a wonderful texture and I am guessing it comes from the potato flakes they have in them.  I know... potato flakes in doughnuts?  Strange, but good. 

Homemade Doughnuts

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup instant potato flakes

2/3 cup instant powdered milk

2 1/2 cups hot water

1 Tbsp. Yeast

2 eggs, beaten

5 1/2-6 cups flour

cooking oil

In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, salt, potato flakes and powdered milk.  Pour in hot water.  Sprinkle in yeast over top and allow to get foamy.  Mix in beaten eggs.  Mix in flour (just enough to make a stiff dough).  Cover bowl with clean towel and let rise until doubled in size.  When it's double in size punch it down.  Let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  Roll out dough onto a well floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick.  Cut out with doughnut cutter or do like I did and find things to use as a doughnut cutter like these....

  an ice cream sundae cup and a baby bottle for the hole!  It worked perfect!

 Let dough rise again uncovered.

Heat cooking oil to about 375 degrees.  I happen to have an electric deep skillet and it tells me exactly what temperature it is, but you can just use a pan on the stove.  You can test to see if the oil is hot enough by dropping in a small amount of dough.  It should float if it's ready and should brown in about 60 seconds. 

Only fry 2 doughnuts at a time.  Fry in hot oil until golden on both sides, turning once.  

I would suggest doing a test run with your first doughnut to make sure you are cooking them how you like them.  I didn't really do this at first and so the first few doughnuts weren't cooked to my liking as you can see below some of them were kind of burned!  If the oil is too hot they will be doughy on the inside, if the oil temperature is too low than they can be really greasy.

When the doughnut is golden on both sides, take it out with some tongs and allow the excess oil to drain back into the skillet.  Place on a plate with several layers of paper towels underneath to help soak up the extra oil. 

 Now for the fun part...icing the doughnuts.  You can frost them however you would like. We made a vanilla glaze, chocolate frosting, and also added some toasted coconut on some and sprinkles on the others...yummy!  The vanilla glaze recipe came from my Aunt and the chocolate frosting I think I found from allrecipes.com.  Both recipes couldn't be more simple.

Chocolate Satin Frosting

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

6 tbsp. buttter

1/2 tsp. vanilla.

I just put everything in a pyrex bowl (big enough to dunk the doughnuts in) and microwaved it in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until it was smooth...easy, easy, easy!

Vanilla Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together and pour over doughnuts.  Easy, easy, easy!

I'm all about making food look pretty if I can.  I know, I'm crazy and if you are crazy like me then make sure you just dunk your doughnuts into the chocolate frosting rather than using a knife to spread it on so you have that pretty smooth finish!  :)

 Once the chocolate cooled a bit I then dunked them into a pile of toasted coconut.  If you want sprinkles then add it while it's still warm so they'll stick.

 ooooh doughnuts....

 The vanilla glaze I just poured over top.  I am usually a chocolate girl but I think these were actually my favorite!  So simple but so good!

Aren't they pretty?  These would be fun to make them for the neighbors and take them over while they're still warm.  It's a good thing the first snowfall only happens once a year otherwise these things could be lethal.  I believe in all things in moderation....including doughnuts!

I'll be linking to some of these places.  Check them out for more fun ideas.

Wordle Subway Art

Have you discovered Wordle? It's a website where you can make subway art for free and you don't have to be all tech savvy or anything to use it?  I made this one in a couple minutes.  I'm not actually going to use this one for anything, but I just wanted to try it out.  

This website would be perfect if you're into Subway art for seasonal decorating.  Wouldn't it be fun to make a Christmas themed one and put it in a frame? 

Make sure you check out the FAQ section before you do it.  It explains how to make one word larger than the other and how to save it.  It's super simple....SWEET!

Christmas Card

Here is a Christmas card I made last year.  It's almost embarrassing to post cards on here because I am not into scrapbooking at all, so mine are never anything too fancy compared to some of the one's you see out there.  I did however break down and buy a stamp and some glitter stuff (what's that stuff called, embossing?) for this one because I couldn't resist the thought of a sparkly snowflake!

I just can't get into scrapbooking.  If I scrapbooked, I think it would take me all day to make one page and I would spend a small fortune on each page so I just don't do it!

I'm hoping to make a few more cards this year to make up for my lack of handmade gifts.  I know, can you believe it? I have a craft blog and I am not going wild with making everybody something handmade.  Hopefully a few things will get done at least...we'll see.

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

I love these things! I think they are surprisingly delicious.  I make them to take to parties and things around this time of year and I think everyone passes by them thinking they are plain old almonds but once they taste them they are always surprised and love them!  Without fail someone asks for the recipe. They remind me of the nuts they sell in the mall around Christmas time.  I buy my almonds in bulk at Costco because I know we will be making lots of these at this time of the year.  The best part about them is they are quick to make.  My oven takes ten minutes to preheat and in that amount of time I can have these ready for the oven from start to finish!  The original recipe came from allrecipes.com but I made changes to just about everything it calls for and added more ingredients as well.  I hope you love them like I do!   

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

1 egg white

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups whole almonds

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

 Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Lightly beat egg white, add vanilla and beat until soft peaks form.  Add nuts and stir until well coated.  In a gallon size zip-lock bag shake together (you may want to seal the bag first :o) the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until well mixed.  Add almonds and seal bag again and shake up until the almonds are all coated.  Spread almonds evenly onto a lightly greased cookie sheet (I cover my pan in tin foil first and then grease it so there is no clean up!) .  Bake for one hour stirring every fifteen minutes or so.

These make great neighbor gifts because they're something a little different.  I used plastic icing bags and filled them up and tied them off with a ribbon and they're the perfect size.  Not too much and not so little that you look cheap!  Ha ha.  Tell me if you try them because I know you will love them!

I will be linking up to some of these places.  Check them out for more fun ideas! 

Origami Gift Box

This is a little gift box I made last year.  It just takes two, 12x12 sheets of paper and a little cardstock and some ribbon to finish it off!  It's the perfect size to to store homemade caramels or something yummy.  Go here for the tutorial!

I will be linking up to some of these places check them out for more fun ideas.