When was the last time you made breakfast for dinner? I’ve been trying to make it more often, just because it’s quick, simple, and budget friendly. I usually make eggs, bacon, biscuits, and potatoes. This week I decided to make doughnuts.

You heard me.

I made doughnuts for dinner. No eggs, no bacon. Just doughnuts. My children think I am the best mother ever. Or, at least they did, while they were eating, but then I shouted at them to clean their rooms not too long after dinner and I went back to being mean mommy. It was nice while it lasted, though.

Doughnuts definitely take a bit of time and effort, but that first delicious bite you take makes it all worth it. These aren’t difficult, by any means, just a bit more involved than I usually like. There was the rising, the flouring, the rolling, the cutting, the rising, the frying, the topping, and then, finally, happily, thankfully, the eating.

I know a lot of people are scared of yeast, but don’t be. If I can make yeasty treats, so can you. Besides, watching my flat little doughnuts magically puff up made me feel like some sort of superhero. A Superhero of Yeast.

The hardest part was getting the risen doughnuts into the hot oil without deflating them. Deflating. Is that the right word?

I found that it was best to stick my thumb through the hole and gently lift them up. It took me quite a few tries before I really got it.

I like variety, so I made glazed doughnuts, cinnamon and sugar doughnuts, and doughnuts with chocolate frosting. I’ll share the frosting recipe with you tomorrow. It’s the frosting my mama puts on brownies and I’ve been wanting to share it with you since the day I started this blog. It’s good. It’s real good.

Anyway, the glaze recipe that I used was bit chunky for some reason. They still tasted good, but they looked kinda funky.

I snapped this picture, shouted for my kids that their dinner was ready, and then, in just a matter of seconds, this is what my plate full of doughnuts looked like:

Crispy and Creamy Doughnuts
Recipe from allrecipes.com

• 2 (.25 ounce) envelopes dry active yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 quart oil, for fying

Pour the warm water into the bowl of your mixer and sprinkle in the yeast. (I always add a pinch of sugar to feed the yeast at this point. Not sure if that actually does anything or not, but I like to think it helps.) Let the yeast mixture stand for 5 minutes or until foamy.

Pour in the warm milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix on low for a few minutes. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Put the dough into a greased bowl and allow to rise until doubled in a warm place (your turned off oven works great for this!).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. Cover with a towel and let rise until double.

Heat oil in a deep fryer or large pan until it reaches 350 degrees. Carefully place doughnuts into the oil and fry on each side until they are golden. Drain on a wire rack.

Glaze

• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 4 tbsp hot water (as needed)

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat and add water, as needed, to thin the icing out.

I can pretty much guarantee that now that I have discovered the beauty of scones that you will all get sick of them and wish that I would stop posting scone recipes. Please, just indulge me for a bit longer okay? I need to thoroughly explore the world of the scone and I promise to only share the very, very best scones that I make. These fit in that very, very best category.

Bacon. Cheddar cheese. Green onions. Those are a few of my favorite ingredients and each one of them is hidden away inside these delightful little scones. Well, okay, so these weren’t “little” scones. They were big. Big and hearty and filling. They’re perfect for breakfast, but I think they’d go just wonderfully with a bowl of soup for lunch.

These were a bit fussier than my last recipe for Chocolate Chip Scones, but they were so worth the extra effort. We’ve been grabbing scones for breakfast every morning this week! They are quick to reheat in the microwave, but they are even tastier heated up in the oven for a bit.

Just look at these! They’re like a clean, compact little breakfast sandwich! In fact, I think I might go eat one now. For dessert. Don’t even try to stop me.

Bacon and Cheddar Scones
Recipe from The Pastry Queen

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3/4 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Fit your mixer with the paddle attachment and add flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper to the bowl. Mix on the low speed. Slowly add cubes of butter to the flour mixture and keep mixing until it is crumbly and your butter is in small pea sized pieces. Add the grated cheese and mix until blended in.

(If you don’t have a mixer just stir dry ingredients together and cut butter in with a pastry cutter or two knives and then stir in the cheese.)

Add the green onions, bacon, and 3/4 cup of buttermilk to the flour and cheese mixture. Mix by hand until all the ingredients are incorporated. Do not overwork the dough! If the dough is still to dry to hold together, add in more buttermilk 1 tablespoon at a time, until you can form the dough into a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a ball. Using a well floured rolling pin, flatten the dough into a circle about 8 inches wide (mine was closer to 10 inches) and 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough into 8 to 10 equal wedges depending on the size of scone you want.

Whisk egg and water together and brush the tops of the scone with the egg wash. I sprinkled a bit of kosher salt on the tops because I’m wild and crazy, but the original recipe didn’t call for this.

Place scones on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes or until they are golden brown and no longer sticky in the centers. Serve warm!

I know I’ve mentioned on here before that  we are a cold cereal for breakfast kind of family, but today I decided to bend my own rules. I can cook breakfast if I want! No one can stop me! Let them try! I’ll just…I’ll just…I’ll go back to bed and snuggle in under the warm covers, that’s what I’ll do!

Sadly, no one tried to stop me from making breakfast this morning. I really could have used the extra sleep, darn it.

Ah, well. These cinnamon squares woke me right up. They’re full of sugar, you know. In fact, the more I think about it, these probably aren’t even breakfast food. When I came across the recipe I thought “ooh, these will be just like cinnamon rolls, minus all the work!” Well, looking back over the recipe, I’m pretty sure these are supposed to be served for dessert. Whoops!

These really tasted like a brownie made with cinnamon instead of chocolate. They were darn good, is what I’m saying.

These were quick to come together, forming a crumbly dough that you press into a cookie sheet. I love simple recipes like these.

I pressed the dough into the pan with my finger tips and then smoothed it out with the back of spoon. Brush the dough with egg whites and sprinkle with some chopped nuts. It doesn’t get simpler than that.

You bake these for about 20 minutes, let them cool, and then enjoy your breakfast. Okay, okay. You can serve these for dessert if you insist. My kids were pretty happy with me this morning, though.

Cinnamon Squares
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg, seperated
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15×10x1 -inch pan. Beat together sugar, butter, and egg yolk until creamy. Mix in flour and cinnamon. Press dough in pan. Beat egg white and water together until frothy and brush over the top of the dough. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake for 18-23 minutes or until light brown. Cut into squares immediately. Cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes.

When I think of coffee cake, I think of a crumbly cake, preferably with a streusel topping, that you serve with coffee (much like this one).  I do not think of pastry dough and rolling pins, but this Raspberry Coffee Cake has shown me the light. The crust is so flaky and tender and the inside is just oozing with red raspberry preserves. It’s a raspberry lovers dream come true, but you could also make this with just about any other type of preserve you wanted. You could also use a seedless raspberry jam (which I usually buy, but my husband did the shopping this week) if you are scared of all the seeds.

The dough is a mixture of flour, butter, cream cheese, milk, a little salt, and some baking powder. It’s so simple! You just cut in the butter and cream cheese, pour in the milk and give it a quick mix, and then knead it just a tiny bit until you have this scraggly lump of dough.

Don’t be intimadated by this pastry dough! I had zero problems and the dough came out perfectly light and flaky! If the girl who relies on store bought pie crusts can master this dough, so can you.

Roll the dough out, transfer it to a baking sheet, and spread the middle third of the dough with preserves.

Slice the outer thirds of the dough diagonally, careful to leave a bit of space around the preserves, in about one to two inch thick strips.  Start on one side of the dough and flip one strip of dough over on top of the preserves.  Switch sides and just keep alternating back and forth until all the strips of dough are covering the preserves and you have a fancy braided looking coffee cake.

This bakes in just 12 to 15 minutes.

I forgot to line my pan with wax paper and my kids are really going to hate me for that when it comes time to wash the dishes. Oh well, I’ll just give them a big chunk of this as an apology.

Whip up some powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla and drizzle it over the top. You won’t regret it.

Mm! Perfect for breakfast, brunch, with coffee, or as a dessert. Heck, I might even eat this for dinner.

Raspberry Coffee Cake
Recipe from The Luna Cafe

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (recipe says unsalted, but I used salted butter)
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves (or preserves of your choice)

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Cut in the butter and cream cheese. Pour on the milk and stir just until combined. Turn out on a floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times. Do not overwork the dough! Roll the dough out on wax paper into an 8 x 12 inch rectangle. Transfer dough to a lightly greased (or wax paper lined) baking sheet. Mark the dough with a knife lengthwise into thirds. Spread preserves down the center third of the dough. Make diagonal cuts every couple of  inches on the outer thirds of the dough. Do nut cut into the preserves. Fold strips over the preserves, first from one side, then from other until you have folded over all the strips of dough. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, until dough is fully cooked and lightly browned on top.

Icing

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Stir together and drizzle over the coffee cake.

(The recipe posted on Luna Cafe does show how to fold the dough over to make the braided shape if you need a visual!)

I’m going to make an educated guess here and say that you love muffins. I mean, come on. Everyone loves muffins! They are easy to make, delicious to eat, portable, freezable, and delectable. Delectable. I don’t think I’ve ever used that word before. I just really needed another “-able” word to round out that sentence. Forgive me.

Now, these muffins. I came across them in an old Taste Of Home magazine and I ripped the recipe out and stuck it in my To Bake Soon pile. All of my recipes are in the To Bake Soon pile. I don’t bother ripping out recipes that I don’t want to make as soon as possible. I’m wild and crazy that way.

Enough about the piles of papers littering my house, let’s discuss these muffins.

They did what every muffin should do, and that’s bake up nice and tall. I hate when I make a muffin that doesn’t achieve that beautiful round top. Flat muffins are bad, man. My kids loved these muffins, but I had one complaint. The orange zest in them gave them a bit of an odd flavor. Next time (and, yes, there will be a next time) I will make these without the orange zest. These were still very good and I still ate more of them than I care to tell you, I just found myself wishing I had left the orange zest out. If you choose to make these (and why wouldn’t you?), go ahead and add the orange zest if it sounds good, or leave it out if it doesn’t. The world will keep on spinning either way. True story.

This muffin recipe mixes up like most others, wet ingredients and then dry. Easy peasy.

I was supposed to end up with twelve muffins, but I had enough batter for twelve regular muffins and twelve somewhat skimpy mini-muffins.

The streusel topping is just flour, brown sugar, and butter. Cut the butter into the flour and brown sugar and sprinkle a little (or a lot) of the topping on the muffins before baking. You could also add a bit of rolled oats to the streusel topping if you want to feel all healthy and virtuous.

Bake these guys for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees. Your house will smell lovely.

Let the muffins cool on a wire rack and try your darnedest to keep your kids away from the streusel topping. Something about streusel topping just begs kids to pick it off.

Look at how tall and round and perfectly muffin-like they are?

I love muffin-like muffins. Am I still even making sense? Did I eat too many muffins and now I’m in the midst of some sort of pumpkin muffin overload and it’s causing me to type things without even caring if they make sense?

It’s totally possible.

Pumpkin Steusel Muffins
adapted from Taste Of Home

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

STREUSEL TOPPING:

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cold butter
• 2 tablespoons rolled oats (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, molasses, and orange peel. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix into the batter. Stir just until combined. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin tins 2/3 full of batter.

For topping, combine the flour and brown sugar and oats (if using)  in a small bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly. Spoon streusel topping over the muffins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Enjoy!