Biscuit Dough Powdered Donuts

This recipe comes with a warning: You will find yourself dreaming of ways to somehow make and eat these, a whole recipe of them, without your family members finding out.  I haven't figured out how yet, let me know if you have any ideas.

A can, or 2, 5, 8, of those tiny baby biscuits (usually 10 per can).
oil
powdered sugar or icing


Flatten a biscuit on your hand and tear a small hole in the center.

Place in hot oil (between 4 and 6 on my burner).  When you can tell the oil side is becoming toasty (around the edges) flip the donut.  You do not want them to be dark-at all!

Place yummy donuts on paper towels.

Variation of colors: the middle one on the left column is way too brown.  I think the perfect one is the bottom right corner :)

 Cover in powdered sugar or your favorite icings.

Incandescently perfect.

The Peach Pioneer

So it's Spring Break, and being in the Floridian 80+ degrees, we developed a hankering for some peaches. Our friend Meagan, with whom we are staying in the Tampa Bay area, had a great recipe to try, and her husband fetched us some fresh peaches from the store. I was amazed that they had peaches already, but Meagan said these technically came from Chile. Either way, it was great to taste a real peach. We made this recipe for a breakfast dish and it went great with coffee. I think it would also be good to try using apples and some cinnamon.

What You'll Need:
Cake & Filling
2 cans crescent rolls
1 8-oz. package cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
1 can (21 oz.) peach, cherry, or apple pie filling
Fresh peaches! (Or cherries, apples)
Nutmeg to taste

Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Unroll crescent dough. Separate into 16 triangles, reserving 4 triangles for decoration. Arrange 12 triangles in a circle (on a round stone pan if you have one!) with wide ends toward the outside edge of baking stone and points toward the center (Points will not meet.) Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll dough into a 14-inc circle, pressing seams together to seal. There should be a 3-inch diameter opening in the center. Form a slightly raised rim along inner and outer edges of dough.
2. In a batter bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg yolk and vanilla (& nutmeg if you'd like!); whisk until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over dough to within 1/2 in. of edge. Spoon pie filling evenly over cream cheese mixture. (We added fresh peaches with the pie filling. Good move.)

3. Using a pizza cutter, cut each remaining dough triangle lengthwise into three strips. Arrange dough strips evenly in spoke-like fashion over the filling. Press ends to seal at center and outer edges. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven; cool 15 minutes.

4. For glaze, combine powdered sugar and milk; mix until smooth. Drizzle evenly over cake. Cut into wedges. Serve warm.


Yield: 12 servings. (290 calories each)

(from Pampered Chef)

The Best Blueberry Scones in the World!

I found this recipe here (source: Ben Millett) a few months ago while I was preparing to host my first extra fancy tea party (I love all things tea parties).  I've modified the instructions a little; feel free to use either mine or his.  They are simply divine.

Ingredients:

2 sticks of frozen, unsalted butter -you actually only use 10 tbsp
1 1/2 C fresh or frozen blueberries (or whichever fruit you prefer)
1/2 C whole milk
1/2 C sour cream
2 C unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for work surface
1/2 C sugar, plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp grated lemon zest (optional)

1.  Preheat your oven to 450 F
2.  Remove 1/2 the paper from your sticks of butter, grate the unwrapped ends (total of 8 tbsp) into a small bowl.  Freeze grated butter until ready to use.  Melt and set aside an additional 2 tbsp butter.

3.  Whisk together milk and sour cream in bowl, refrigerate until needed.
4.  Whisk flour, 1/2 C sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in large bowl.  Add frozen butter to flour mixture and toss by hand until butter is mixed well.

4.  Add milk mixture to flour mixture and fold with spatula until just combined.

5.  Liberally flour a work surface and knead your dough 6 to 8 times.  Add flour as needed to prevent sticking.  Roll dough into a 12 inch square.

6.  Sprinkle blueberries evenly over your dough and press them into the dough.  Loosen the dough from your work surface, you may have to use a metal spatula.

Roll your dough into a tight log then lay it seam-side down and press into a 12 by 4 inch rectangle.
Using a sharp knife, cut the rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles, then cut each diagonally to form 2 triangles.

I actually went back and smushed it all together and followed my directions, made 8 instead of 6.

7.  Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar.  Bake until tops and bottoms are golden brown, 18-25 minutes.

*Please don't judge that I used my countertop, I do not have a fancy work surface ;)  Also, please forgive that I only edited the last picture-too lazy and excited to finally post this!

*If you are making these ahead, you can freeze them.  Wrap them individually in aluminum foil and skip the butter/sugar sprinkle step and you should do this immediately before baking (freezing the scones with butter on top will make them gooey when they bake).  You can bake frozen scones on 375 F for 25-30 minutes.