Birthday Donuts

Happy Thanksgiving! and Happy Birthday!

J* is pretty lucky...every year for Thanksgiving he also gets presents, for his birthday of course! While this year was different than the way we normally celebrate both Thanksgiving and his birthday, we still had loads of fun.


Normally, we would spend the holiday weekend visiting family in North Dakota. J* always gets a special party (in joint with his mother who has a birthday early next month) aside from the festivities of Thanksgiving. It's always fun as we are surrounded by family, what better way to spend the holidays?

Living so far away, this year was a little different. J* and I got to host Thanksgiving dinner which  included a grand total of 10 people eating around two dining room tables built for 4. Two other women and I pitched in to make all the food (which was delicious!) and we had a fun time watching football and playing games. I was planning to take pictures of everything, however I forgot in the rush to get everything on the table. However, I did learn several things from this experience:

1. Great Gram spends a lot of time making pickle rolls, and I am glad she likes to do it so we have never had to!
2. Cooking is much easier when other people bring some items, and when you do some of it the day before.
3. I do not know how to count (I forgot to count J* and I when setting the table.)
4. There are only three serving utensils that came with the goldware set we were given, and I do not have any other nice serving utensils.

Thank you everyone who came to our home for Thanksgiving! It was so much fun.

Now, on to J*'s birthday...

On a normal birthday, I would wake J* up with a "surprise" donut. I say "surprise", because it happens every year and really isn't a surprise at this point in life :) Anyway, this is a tradition in his family that I was given instructions to continue to pass on. Well, as you guessed, this year was a little different. Being pregnant, I have not slept as well at night. This also means J* has not slept as well at night because of my tossing and turning and constantly getting up. So I decided sleeping in would be a much better choice, and I would just MAKE donuts for breakfast!!

"What?" you may be saying. Yes, you read correctly. I made my husband donuts for his birthday breakfast instead of buying them at the store. I found the recipe here, and have been wanting to try them! This was the perfect opportunity, and they were so incredibly easy.

All you need to make these is a package of Grand's Homestyle Biscuits, some hot oil to fry, some sort of glaze or frosting, and a rolling pin.

First, you roll out one of the biscuits and cut a hole in the middle with a small biscuit cutter (or something similar).

Next, add the donuts to hot oil and fry on each side till golden.

Then, drain slightly on a paper towel, dip in glaze, sprinkle and allow to cool. Done!

For my donuts, I used a homemade chocolate glaze that I poured over the top of the donut instead of coating the whole thing. It is good to place the glazed donuts on a wire rack so the extra glaze can run off. You can also make donut holes out of the circles you cut from the middle.

Result: Happy, well slept Birthday Boy!

They weren't quite like the store bought version; they were closer to a fry bread consistency. Still delicious! Eventually I think I would like to try and find a homemade dough recipe that would be just as easy, but for now the store bought is great! I liked these more than a regular donut just for the fact that my stomach didn't hurt after eating them!