Mini Sugar Cookie Donuts
It’s crazy the amount of time we spend organizing, prepping, and stressing about Christmas. I do enjoy most of it, but I also enjoy when it over and I can let out a sigh of relief. The best part is seeing the look of amazement on my kids faces on Christmas morning when they see what Santa has left for them. It makes me feel like a kid again. It’s then that I know all the craziness was worth it. Now it’s time to get ready for the new year.
I still have a lot of left over baking goods in the pantry that I didn’t get to use during the holiday season. So now I am in the process of cleaning out the pantry. I had an extra package of sugar cookie mix. Yes, I do use mixes sometimes, especially for cut out cookies. I don’t seem to have much luck with these kinds of cookies otherwise. I don’t know why that is. I have such luck with all other cookies.
Anyway, I have seen a lot of food bloggers using cake mixes in their recipes, so I thought why not cookie mix. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure it was going to work, but hey, you won’t know if you don’t try, right?
Well, it worked. I was pleasantly surprised and excited. You do have to be careful not to over bake them though. I used my Babycakes Donut Maker Machine, but I didn’t go by the timer on the machine which is usually four minutes baking time. I only baked the Sugar Cookie Donuts for three minutes each batch. Anymore than that and the bottoms get too hard when cooled. Three minutes was perfect for a nice soft, fluffy donut. The bottoms did have a slight crisp to them, kind of like a Belgian waffle does, but that is just from the sugar in the mix.
I covered them in a simple powdered sugar glaze with a drop of red food coloring for some extra excitement, but you can just make a white glaze or any other color you like. You can also buy some sugar cookie icing to spread on top instead.
I love that they did come out tasting like a sugar cookie. The flavor is not as strong as it would be for a regular cookie, but the taste is there and in donut form. How cool is that? These would be great to make for a New Year’s party, or any party.
Mini Sugar Cookie Donuts
by The Sweet Chick
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes
Keywords: bake dessert sugar cookie mix birthday donuts American
Ingredients (20 mini donuts)
- For the donuts
- 2 cups dry sugar cookie mix
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
For the glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
- 1 drop red food coloring (optional)
Optional topping
- sprinkles
Instructions
For the donuts
Preheat your Babycakes Donut Maker.
Mix together milk and vinegar and set aside for a few minutes while it curdles (a replacement for buttermilk).
In a medium bowl, mix together the dry sugar mix, and baking soda.
Then add the egg , butter, oil, and curdled milk. Mix until completely blended.
Use a piping bag, a Ziplock bag with tip cut off, or a pancake pen, fill each donut reservoir with about 2 tablespoons of batter.
Bake for about 3 minutes (do not use timer on machine) or until toothpick inserted in center of donut comes out clean.
Place hot donuts on cooling rack with a wax paper underneath and prepare the glaze.
For the glaze
In a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar, milk, vegetable shortening, and food coloring until smooth.
Dip the tops of each cooled off donut in the mixture ,then place back on the cooling rack until the glaze is dry.
For the topping
Add your sprinkles before the glaze dries to be sure they will stick.
Tomato Soup
Yesterday, I was working at Starbucks (Freelancers Central) when a lady standing by the doors tipped over into a drug-induced trance.
The baristas immediately called 9-1-1, but the woman sitting next to me, the one who’d seen the whole incident go down because she’d been standing outside making a phone call when it happened, just shook her head and informed me that the lady was ‘as high as a kite.’
Now that’s a feeling I can relate to. That world-weariness. After all, I had gone to school in the most psychedelic college town in the country (Berkeley), and lived in what is probably the most homeless-friendly big city in the WORLD (San Francisco). I’ve seen it all—so what if I’m only 26?—all the different variations of drug-induced catatonia and rants and everything in between.
This old man with white hair, he’s a regular who just hangs out in the cafe all day chatting with other regulars (except me, because I avoid eye contact with strangers, much in the style of Amelie Poulain), leapt up from his seat and raced outside, wanting to take charge of the situation. He reminded me of one of those alert guard dogs, the kind that’s been bred to inspect signs of disorder, and cleared aside the small crowd that had gathered around the woman to get a closer look.
He re-entered the cafe a few minutes later. “She’s on drugs,” he said disgustedly.
A few minutes later, the lady dizzily pushed herself up and teetered away. “She’s only on drugs,” Mr. Regular repeated, shaking his head.
This was when the firemen rushed onto the scene. They pulled up in their shiny truck with their sirens blaring, and parked gracefully into the empty space in front of the building that just happened to be big enough for one regular-sized fire truck.
“Did they need to bring so many men?” the woman beside me asked. Sure enough, five firemen stepped out, clad in their heavy protective gear. Men who meant business. Men who looked like they were ready to put out a fire.
“She doesn’t need firemen,” said Regular Man. “She needs to be slapped in the face and drenched with tomato soup!”
Tomato soup, now that’s an idea.
Did he mean what he said sadistically? Was he implying that the lady should be burned with a hot, acidic liquid as a sort of punishment? Or maybe he thought it would revivify her, the equivalent of pushing her into a molten pool. Or maybe he just wanted tomato soup for dinner and had made a Freudian slip.
Whatever the case, guessing does not change the fact: these are the kinds of moments that can inspire meals. I’m very easily persuaded, and I happen to really like tomato soup.
This recipe is one I’ve been making since my student days, so you can be sure that it’s low-maintenance. And it came in handy during my time in San Francisco, a city whose 365-days-per-year fog and gloom is enough to drive a person mad. You see, you need a soup as heartening as this to keep your spirits up, lest you succumb to drastic measures. Like quitting your job and chasing summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Well, that latter part was unintentional.
I don’t remember how I came upon this recipe anymore. I copied it long ago into a little pocket notebook that I have on me at all times—we all have one of these, I suspect—and have been faithfully following the same set of directions for a long time. I’m sure its source is not as obscure as I make it seem, but I prefer to keep it a mystery, for the sake of having a “family recipe” that I can pass down for generations. Or not. I don’t think that far ahead. (But it would be cool nonetheless.)
TOMATO SOUP
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 28-ounce can of chopped tomatoes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt & ground pepper to taste
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 small carrots, diced
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup chopped basil
- 1/4 cup cream or milk, optional
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Strain tomatoes, reserving the juices, and spread onto baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with about 1 Tbsp olive oil. Roast until caramelized, about 15 minutes.
In a saucepan, heat the rest of the oil on medium-low heat. Add celery, carrots, onion, and garlic. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the roasted tomatoes, reserved juices, chicken broth, and bay leaves. Simmer until vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Add basil and cream if using. Puree with an immersion blender.