Semi Homemade Donuts for a Lazy Saturday Morning

I was craving donuts today, but I didn't feel like going anywhere this morning.  Since I had a can of biscuits in the fridge, I decided to make the semi-homemade donuts that I first saw Paula Deen make on Food Network. You can find her recipe here.  It's a really simple way to make donuts, and you can customize the icing and toppings any way that you want.  Little Man loves it when I make these!

I start by making my icing.  My favorites are cinnamon sugar and chocolate, which is what I made today.  But I have also done just powdered sugar and powdered sugar glazed ones in the past.  For powdered sugar, just add some powdered sugar into a bowl.  For cinnamon sugar, I usually mix a half cup of sugar with a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon in a bowl.  For the powdered sugar glaze, start with a cup of powdered sugar and add a couple of tablespoons of milk.  Whisk until it is thin enough to glaze the donuts.  Be sure to add the milk a little at a time, because if you get it too thin it will just run off the donuts.  For chocolate, I just add a couple of tablespoons of dark chocolate cocoa powder to the mixture.

Start heating the oil.  I use a couple of inches of oil in one of my skillets.

I actually have a donut cutter that my dad gave me, but I have read on the internet that most people just use a large icing tip or bottle lid to cut out the center of the donuts.  Open of the can of biscuits and use whatever method you choose to remove the center of the biscuits and make a ring.  I roll the removed centers into balls and make donut holes for Little Man.

Put a metal rack on top of a cookie sheet.  Once the oil is hot enough, start frying the donuts a few at a time.  Be sure and flip them pretty quickly because if they stay in one place too long they get top-heavy and don't like to flip over.  This is especially important for the donut holes.

Once they are golden brown on all sides, place on the wire rack to let excess oil drip off.  While still warm, add the icing or toppings of your choice.  For powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar, just dip both sides of the donuts into the bowls and be sure the entire donut gets covered with sugary goodness.  For the donut holes, just drop them into the bowl and shake them around.  For the icings, dip one side of the donuts into the icing of your choice and them place back on the metal rack to let the excess drip off.

The one down-side to this recipe is that leftovers don't seem to keep well.  At least that has been my experience.  We try to eat these the same day because they definitely do not taste as good the next day.
Hope you get to try these if you are a donut lover!  Enjoy!