Homemade is great!

One of the reasons I love food storage is because there is a great deal of peace of mind when the weather is unpredictable. Yesterday was a good example. When I headed out to get the kids I realized I wasn't going anywhere else for the rest of the day. Now, in this situation I knew that today the sun would come out and the power would probably not have any trouble. However, I've been in ice storms before in which the power did go out for a while and the store shelves were empty. It is such a relief to know that if we got stuck at home we would be fine for a week or more without any additional store trips. I would be a busy bee because everything would be made from scratch but it works.
So yesterday's scratch meal was hot chocolate (from the Cannery, that they do not carry anymore) and homemade donuts. I'm constantly amazed at the variety of food items that you can make with flour, sugar, and fat. With a few added ingredients your possibilities are endless.
This donut recipe is a favorite. It doesn't make a huge batch but just enough for us to have a snack and the kids took one in their lunch today. It makes a crispy outside and a cakelike inside. Covered with cinnamon and sugar and nice and warm.....MMMM!





Best Ever Doughnuts

Makes 1 dozen (I found this high, I only got like 8)

3 cups unbleached flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsps butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
oil for frying

For dipping:
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a separate bowl until light and smooth. Add butter, milk and vanilla to the egg mixture and whisk well. Add the dry ingredients, mix just until smooth. Turn out the dough and knead a few times, then roll and cut. I don't have a donut cutter so I just used a biscuit one and cut out the center with a child's medicine cup :) The dough is soft but easy to work with. I found that rolling the donuts thicker rather than thinner was better. The recipe says 3/4 of an inch exactly! I had some that were thinner than that and they were fine. The thicker the dough is the more chance there is of them not being done when you fry them.

So once the dough's rolled out and the oil is good and hot you just drop them in. I was actually pretty surprised at how fast this went. I always think that frying things is this huge ordeal but it wasn't bad. This is definitly a healthier alternative to store bought donuts and it was a comforting and warm snack after fun in the snow.


The kids also thought it was so cool that we could make our own donuts. I concur!