Special thanks to my husband, Ken, for this wonderful recipe. On Valentine’s day, he made these for me and my girls and let me just say….YUMMY!

So, next time you want fresh donuts or are wondering what to do for your someone special, give these a try. A cup of hot coffee or tea, some OJ, fresh homemade donuts and the Sunday paper. Wow! You will earn some serious points there!

Cake Donuts:

2 cups all-purpose flour – $.50
1/2 cup white sugar – $.20
1 Tbsp baking powder – pantry
1 tsp salt – pantry
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon – pantry
1/2 cup milk – $.20
1 egg, beaten – $.13
2 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled – $.15
2 teaspoons vanilla extract – pantry
1 quart oil for deep frying – $.89

Optional – Topping

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon – pantry
1/2 cup powdered white sugar – $.25

COST: $2.32

Before you start, make a few preparations. For draining doughnuts, lay out newspapers or a brown paper bag and top with paper towels. Next, flour a clean kitchen counter or bread board for kneading doughnuts. Prepare a shallow bowl or plate with an inch of flour.

Heat oil in deep fryer to 375 degrees F. If you don’t know the temp of your oil, just try a few donut holes as testers before frying actual donuts.

Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix in butter until crumbly. Stir in milk and egg. With floured hands, lightly knead the smooth dough. Turn onto area prepared with flour. Pat dough into 1/4 inch thickness. Dip either doughnut cutter or two biscuit cutters (one 1-inch and one 3 or 4-inch) in flour. We used a kids plastic cup to cut our the donut and then a medicine measuring cup for the center. It worked perfectly!

Carefully drop doughnuts into hot oil, only a few at a time. Fry, turning once, for about 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on prepared paper towels.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar or cinnamon-sugar mixture. We didn’t have any powdered sugar, so ours were plain, just the way I like ’em! You could top with chocolate glaze and nuts too. Whatever you choose. This is definitely a recipe to experiment with. I know we will!

GRAND TOTAL: $2.32