"National Donut Day is on the first Friday of June each year. It was created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to help the needy during the Great Depression, and to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I. The holiday celebrates the doughnut (a.k.a "donut") — an edible, torus-shaped piece of dough which is deep-fried and sweetened."
To celebrate I wanted to make some homemade donuts... The only problem is, most donut recipes require ingredients like dry active yeast that require time waiting for the dough to rise, and patience I simply don't have when trying fun new recipes. There are also recipes for "baked" cake donuts, but after practicing my makeshift deep frying skills on my churro bites, I knew I wanted a classic oil fried donut. This brought me to a donut recipe with a quick and simple twist... biscuit donuts! Yup, you guessed it, donuts made out of store bought biscuit dough. I don't know where the idea originated, but Paula Deen gave these a try so I knew I had to try my hand at them as well.
Homemade Biscuit Donuts
Yield: 8 standard biscuit donuts, or 10 jr.'s
Ingredients
Donuts:
- 1 can refrigerated biscuit dough
- Oil for frying
Glazes/Coatings:
- Vanilla Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted (optional)
- 3-6 teaspoons cream, half & half or milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Chocolate Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted (optional)
- 3-6 teaspoons cream, half & half or milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Cinnamon Sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- Powdered Sugar
Directions
Open can of biscuit dough and separate individual biscuits on baking sheet. I found "jr." biscuits and couldn't resist making mini "jr." donuts, but traditional size biscuits work too.
Cut out the middles with round cookie cutter or any round shaped object you have in your kitchen (even try the twist top of a soda bottle). Use the middles to create donut holes!
Heat about 1-2 inches of oil in a deep sauce pan until it reaches 325 degrees F. Place biscuit dough into oil and fry on each side about a minute, until golden brown.
Place on a paper towel to drain.
You can choose to coat your donuts in cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, or one of the glazes. For the glazes, simply combine all of the ingredients and stir with a fork until smooth, adding more liquid as necessary. I kept my glaze pretty thick, but you can microwave it for just a few seconds if it starts getting too thick for dipping.
I prefer layers of thick, buttery glaze just like they do at Krispy Kreme, so I coated my donuts in a layer of vanilla butter glaze, then glazed the tops in chocolate, and finished them off with some rainbow jimmies!
YUM!
The inside still tasted a little like a biscuit which I didn't particularly care for, but they were definitely very simple to make, kid friendly (with adult help frying), and a fun way to turn an ordinary morning into a special occasion!
My next homemade donut mission will be to conquer the classic, yeast raised donut, and maybe even try out a baked donut recipe, to compare the 3 based on taste and simplicity.
I used the punched out centers and another roll of dough to make donut holes.
The cinnamon sugar was definitely my favorite out of all the glazes/toppings. They actually tasted a lot like my homemade churro bites!
I will warn you, make sure your oil is not too hot, especially for the tiny little donut holes, or this will happen (below) ... burnt outsides and raw insides :(
Even put these little cuties on a stick!