Acorn Donuts

Fun, autumn-y, and delicious, this is a variation on a recipe from  Disney Family Fun. Disney uses store-bought donut holes, chocolate frosting, pretzels, and crumbled toffee. Me being me, I made this into a semi-homemade recipe.

Donut Holes

Ingredients:
1 tube of biscuits
vegetable oil
honey roasted peanuts, finely chopped
Frosting, recipe below
Pretzels, broken into stems

Directions:
Separate your biscuits and lay them out on your work space. Rinse out an empty soda pop bottle. The size of the bottle doesn't matter. Remove the cap and press the opening of bottle into the biscuit. To get the dough out of the bottle opening, just squeeze the sides of the bottle. Repeat. Each biscuit yields 6-8 holes.

Fill a saucepan half way with vegetable oil and heat over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, submerge the donut holes in the oil. Cook until they are a golden brown, about 20-30 seconds. Place the donuts on a paper towel-lined plate and allow to cool.

Once cooled, frost the top third of the donut hole, roll in finely chopped peanuts, and insert a small piece of pretzel in the top of the donut hole to make an acorn.

Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3-1 tablespoon whole milk, optional

Directions:
Beat sugar and butter together on low speed until fluffy. Add vanilla and beat on medium until whipped. I like my frosting thick, but to get your desired consistency, add 1/3 tablespoon of milk until the frosting has the thickness you'd like. If you want to make chocolate butter cream frosting, add about 1 or 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. You can also use peanut butter instead of frosting.  

Since Eric loves donuts so much, I also made these goodies:

Cinnamon-sugar donut holes

Butter cream, chocolate butter cream, and peanut donuts

Butter cream, chocolate butter cream, and peanut donuts

Enjoy!

~Krissy 

Check Out Other Autumn Recipes:
Pumpkin Penne Casserole 
Cheese Tortellini in a Pumpkin Sauce 
Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry with Pumpkin Dip 
Pumpkin Swirl Brownies 
Pumpkin Bread 
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds 

Homemade Donuts and Elephant Ears

Being the sweet and loving girlfriend that I am, I surprised Eric with breakfast in bed. A nutritious meal of homemade donuts.

Mini Elephant Ears

Okay, that's a little bit of a lie. I am a sweet and loving girlfriend. But not sweet and loving enough to actually get up super early and make the pastry dough from scratch. I suppose the title should read Semi-Homemade Donuts and Elephant Ears. I used tubes of crescent rolls and biscuits to make my donuts.

Elephant Ears
Elephants ears are the easier of the two to make. Whenever we make crescents for dinner, we usually save two to three of the triangles in a Tupperware container so we can make them into donuts later.

Ingredients:
1 tube of crescent rolls
vegetable oil
granulated sugar
cinnamon

Directions:
Unroll your crescent roll dough and separate all the triangles. Generously coat the bottom of a skillet with the vegetable oil and heat over medium heat. Once the oil is hot use tongs to add the crescent roll triangles.

Frying the crescent rolls

Cook for approximately one or two minutes or until you notice the dough beginning to puff up. When the dough begins to puff, flip the triangles over and cook for about 30 seconds or until the dough turns a golden brown.

Remove from the pan and place on a paper towel-lined plate.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Dredge the elephant ears in the mixture cinnamon sugar or sprinkle the mixture on the donuts. Serve while still warm.

Donuts and Donut Holes
Donuts and donut holes take a little more oil and a little more work to make than the Elephant Ears, but they are just as yummy.

Ingredients:
1 tube of biscuits
vegetable oil
cinnamon sugar, optional
powdered sugar, optional
frosting, optional
glaze, optional

Directions:
Separate your biscuits and lay them out on your work space. Rinse out an empty soda pop bottle. The size of the bottle doesn't matter. Remove the cap and press the opening of bottle into the center the biscuit to make the hole in the center. To get the dough out of the bottle opening, just squeeze the sides of the bottle; it'll pop right out and you'll have donut holes. Repeat with the rest of the biscuits.

Fill a saucepan half way with vegetable oil and heat over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, submerge one or two donuts in the oil at a time. Cook until they are a golden brown, about a minute or two. Place the donuts on a paper towel-lined plate.

Eat your donuts plain or decorate with cinnamon-sugar (our favorite), powdered sugar, frosting, or glaze. I don't have a recipe for glaze yet, much to Eric's disappointment. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

~Krissy