Puttin' on The Mitts: Let's celebrate National Donut Day!

Since Friday is National Donut Day, Chelsey and I thought it would only be appropriate to celebrate it the best way we know how-with doughnuts, of course!

If you've come to learn anything about this food column over the last year or more, I'm the one who wants the easiest and quickest recipes possible. It fits best with my family and our schedules.

I've also confessed to not being a baker so the thought of making doughnuts frightened me to my core. But when in doubt, I turn to Pinterest, and sure enough, I had pinned a super easy doughnut recipe in the past, one made with buttermilk biscuits from the tube. Now that's my kind of recipe.

Not only was this recipe easy, but I cannot believe how good they were. My family was thrilled with the results and because it wasn't as scary as I thought, I'll definitely be making these again-maybe even this weekend.

CANNED BISCUIT DOUGH DONUTS AND HOLES

(Recipe from Paula Deen, The Food Network)

• 2 cans large buttermilk biscuits
• Peanut oil for frying
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sugar

 
Heat 2 inches peanut oil in a large pot, frying pan or Dutch oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl or a freezer bag, combine sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

Separate the biscuits on a cutting board or cookie sheet.

Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit.

Set the dough holes aside for frying as well.

Drop the biscuits into the oil and fry until golden brown and then flip them over using a tongs and fry the other side until golden brown.

Remove and place on paper towels. When slightly cooler, toss in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

-- DeLynn

Neither of us are offering true doughnut recipes this week-although you should expect by now that we tend to diverge from the norm in our approach to food. The recipe I made this week is definitely more of a muffin than a doughnut, but it does offer some of the traditional flavors one would expect from a sugared jelly doughnut.

Although my muffins turned out pretty, the jam was not really supposed to be visible-acting more as a surprise in the center like one gets from a jelly doughnut. I've adapted the recipe to account for that below, suggesting filling the cups just halfway instead of two-thirds of the way, as suggested in the original recipe.

The jam issue did not affect the flavor, however, and these muffins make a nice little decadent treat-although if I'm honest, I'd suggest not linking them to the idea of doughnuts when serving them, because they're really not even close.

There are a multitude of creative doughnut recipes online I was tempted to try, although I settled on these muffins in favor of a less complicated offering as part of this column. Search "doughnuts" on www.foodblogsearch.com for everything from the traditional to the really wacky. If you have a favorite doughnut recipe for homemade breakfast treats, drop us a line at themitts@brainerddispatch.com .

JELLY DOUGHNUT MUFFINS

(Adapted from Bake or Break food blog)

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 to 6 teaspoons jelly, jam or preserves

For the topping:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease or place muffin liners in 10 slots in a muffin tin.

In one bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, combine milk, canola oil, egg and vanilla extract.

Mix together the wet and dry ingredients until just combined.

Fill the 10 cups halfway with batter.

Place 1/2 teaspoon jelly or jam in the center of the batter.

Cover with the remaining batter.

Bake for 18-24 minutes, until golden brown on the edges.

While the muffins are baking, combine sugar and cinnamon in one bowl and place the melted butter in another bowl.

After removing the muffins from the oven, while they're still hot, brush with butter and roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

-- Chelsey