Ha! I couldn't help it. I know I'm being cheesy. But it's true. I do love doughnuts. And these are baked, so they're healthy, right?
Actually I think I'm experiencing sugar-induced punchiness. Okay. Let's start over. We made doughnuts this morning using this recipe at 101 Cookbooks, found via the ever-inspiring SouleMama. Luckily Justin and Nathan were here to help make (and eat) them. I figured doughnuts ought to be made when we had reinforcements so I wouldn't be inclined to eat them all.
I gave each kid a ball of dough to roll out and some circle and heart-shaped cookie cutters and let them go at it. The heart shapes were because I only had one pair of circle cookie cutters (and they were loaners). I figured hearts might be a little easier to make than, say, dogs or Christmas trees.
After the kids put their shapes on the cookie sheet, I took the mini heart and circle cookie cutters and cut the center holes out of each.
We also discovered another way of making doughnuts besides the cookie cutter method. The kids rolled the dough into snakes, then squished the ends together to make a circle. It worked well, especially for the leftover dough pieces that weren't big enough for a cookie cutter shape.
They all loved making these, but 2-year-old Nathan really got into it. He stayed at the table far longer than either of the others although his method was a bit different. He refused to put any of his shapes on the cookie sheet and, in fact, snuck doughnuts off the cookie sheet to smush and add to his expanding pile of dough. One more reminder that for little kids it's the process, not the product!
The doughnuts were baked rather than fried, making them both easier, in my opinion, and possibly healthier. Although the next step was to dip each doughnut in melted butter and then a cinnamon sugar mixture, so the health benefits of baking were possibly negated. (I'm choosing to ignore that part for the moment.)
They were ready by the time Rachel came for the boys and we all sat down for some milk and warm doughnuts. So yummy!
