Making Doughuts

When Mom and Dad came to visit last weekend, we made our traditional Halloween doughnuts.  Do you know why we make doughnuts this time of year?  Well, when Dad was a kid, his dad would buy plain cake doughnuts at the store, and then the kids would frost them with either orange or chocolate frosting.  And when Mom was a kid, they only had a few neighbors, so instead of trick-or-treating, they would go to their Grandma's house and she would make them yeast doughnuts with cinnamon sugar.

At our house, everyone has their own specific jobs.  Mom mixes the batter, rolls the dough and figures out when the doughnuts are ready to fry.  Dad mans the fryer.  I do the glazing (although I miss having Becky help!)  The girls help pat the dough flat and then they cut out the doughnuts.  This year they were pretty good about placing the cutters close to the edge instead of right in the middle of the dough. 

  

While the doughnuts were rising, the girls and Dad invented a game where Dad had to put all the alphabet worm puzzle pieces in the puzzle with his eyes closed.  Amelia thought Grandpa needed some help!  She tried making it harder, too, by hiding some of the pieces from him.

They thought frosting doughnuts was hard, but Amelia invented a new way of frosting the doughnut holes - by completely immersing them in the frosting.  She decided it was a little messy, but she liked the idea of a lot of frosting.

Dad suggested that we cover the doughnuts with crushed M&Ms, and the girls thought that was a fantastic idea.  They were happy to help dunk the holes in the M&Ms or in orange sprinkles.

And at the end of the day, they were delighted to taste some doughnuts!

Don't they look cute in their new matching red dresses?  Mom picked them out - the girls love to match!