The easiest donuts you'll ever make

Yesterday kicked off my spring break. I celebrated by getting up at the same time I normally do and making some donuts.


I saw the idea on Pinterest, and I thought, "Heck, I can do that."


So I did.


Ingredients
1 tube of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
Vegetable oil
4 tbs butter
Cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. Remove the biscuits from the tube and cut out the center using a cookie cutter or other round object. (I improvised and used a shot glass.) Save the middles, because they make the perfect bite-sized donuts. 
2. Fill a large skillet with about half of an inch of vegetable oil. Heat until it is nearly boiling. Place the donuts carefully into the oil using tongs. 
3. Use the tongs to check the undersides of the donuts. After a few minutes, they will turn golden brown. At this point, carefully flip each of the donuts over. 
4. After the bottom is golden brown, remove the donuts from the oil and place them on a plate lined with paper towels. Allow the oil to drip off. When they are cool to the touch, brush them with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Be sure to sprinkle the top and bottom of the donuts.
5. Voila! Enjoy. Store the leftovers in an airtight container, and they'll keep for a few days. 

Snow Days

Snow days don't have quite the same appeal as a teacher as they did as a student, or at least as an ag teacher with 50 things to get done this week! Having an inservice Monday and twosnowdays has thrown a wrench in the schedule, but alas, I am enjoying being home and getting lots of projects done around the house. Look for a future blog on my adventures with the sewing machine. Today, though, I want to share with you some goodies I whipped up in the kitchen.

I love cooking and baking. I don't take nearly enough time to do, and I'm never quite as adventurous as I should be, but nonetheless, I like spending time in the kitchen. I can't say enough good things about Pampered Chef products and how easy they make my life. Today's recipe was a Pampered Chef creation, as a matter of fact, and I used tons of their products to make it. If you're not using P.C., check it out!

Mini Carrot Cake Cups

• 1 pkg (9 oz) yellow cake mix
• 1 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 medium carrots, peeled, divided
• 6 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup thawed frozen whipped topping
• Chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray each well of a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

For cups, combine cake mix, allspice, egg, and oil. Stir until ingredients are moistened. (Mixture will be thick.) Grate carrots and stir 3/4 of a cup into the batter; set aside remaining carrots for garnish. Divide batter evenly among wells, filling about 2/3 full. Bake 11-13 minutes or until the cups feel firm to the touch.

Meanwhile, whisk together cream cheese and sugar until smooth; fold in whipped topping. Spoon cream cheese mixture into a resealable plastic bag; secure bag and set aside.

Remove pan from oven and set on cooling rack. Press tops of cups with a ligh

tly floured mini-tart shaper to make slight indentations. Cool in pan 3 minutes. Carefully remove cups from pan; cool 5 minutes. Trim corner of cream cheese-filled bag; pipe filling evenly into cups. Garnish with chopped walnuts and reserved grated carrots, if desired.

My notes:

• Most cake mix packages are 18.5 oz. I used the full package and doubled all of the other ingredients.
• Pampered Chef has awesome Cinnamon Crunch Sprinkle. I substituted that for the allspice.
• Usually when I make carrot cake, I use my food processor to grate the carrots. This time I cheated and bought pre-grated carrots for the first time. They were big. The next time, I'll go back to using the food processor.

Here's the process:

Ingredients mixed. Note that the mixture will be thick.

I may have over-filled the mini-muffin pan. Try to stick to the 2/3 full that the recipe suggests.

Using the mini-tart shaper to make indentations. If you don't have a tart shaper, a spoon would also work.

Finished product, garnished with walnuts.