Ups and Downs and Doughnuts

Well, Hell Week Day One is officially over. And I was all set to sit down last night and blog about how the first of many 12-hour days had gone really well and how the week was off to a great start.... And then my phone rang. Now, I love my little brother to death, but his time management? I'm not so fond of that. He calls me at 9:30 because he has an assignment due for his online Chemistry class at midnight and he needs help with it. Which is fine, I don't mind helping him, but when it's two hours before the assignment is due and he is trying to explain charts and graphs over the phone to me to have me help him interpret them... Well, it's a little trying. Thankfully, though, while I was getting marginally frustrated with my brother, Darrell was cleaning the kitchen and then surprised me with chocolate covered strawberries. So, I guess the night still ended on a high. 


Today got off to a miserably cold start though--and I was cranky about it because I was hoping to get a late start. I'm pretty sure it's at least as cold as it was last week when all the schools in the area were closed, but there wasn't even a late start to be heard of from anybody. I think a windchill of thirty-five degrees below zero should warrant at least a little extra time under the covers (for teachers, at least. I'm fully aware that other professions have to go to work no matter what the windchill is).


As I alluded to on Sunday, I decided to start our week off by making doughnuts--healthy ones that aren't fried! Don't they just look delicious?

Of course, my intent to use them as a quick breakfast or easy mid-morning snack was pretty much defeated on Sunday, since we devoured nearly all of them that morning before church. Oh well--they're so good and totally worth it. I might have to make another batch next weekend (and then maybe show a little more self-restraint and not eat the whole batch....maybe). Here's the recipe (followed by a couple of my notes/modifications):


Doughnut Muffins
(I don't remember where I got this recipe from, sorry!)


Doughnuts:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup margarine, melted
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease 24 mini-muffin cups. 


Mix the sugar, margarine, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Stir in the milk, then mix in the baking powder and flour until just combined. Fill the muffin tins about half full. Bake until the tops are lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.


Coating:
1/4 cup margarine melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon


While the muffins are baking, place 1/4 cup melted margarine in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Remove muffins from their cups, dip in the melted margarine, and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Cool and serve.


My Notes:
For starters, it's very important to watch the muffins closely while they are baking. I had a hard time telling if the tops where getting darker (I'm still convinced they didn't really darken at all), but when I finally pulled them out the bottoms were definitely overdone. So pay attention to the sides of the muffins as well as the tops to determine when to remove them from the oven. I also modified the toppings (as you can see from my picture). I didn't see the need to coat them in an additional 1/4 cup of margarine, so I only melted a tablespoon, and lightly brushed it onto the muffins I was going to top with cinnamon sugar. It allowed the coating to stick just fine. I also used more than 1 tsp cinnamon, but I'd say mix the two until you find a flavor/combination that you like (I prefer mine to be more on the cinnamon side than not). I coated them by putting the cinnamon sugar mixture into a bag with the muffins and shaking. I did the same for the muffins I coated in powdered sugar (no margarine coating necessary with these!), although Darrell and I agreed that the cinnamon sugar doughnuts were much better than the powdered sugar ones. 


Here's to Hell Week Day Two--two hours down, only ten more to go until I'm home again!