My Recipes // Donut Cookies (Just in Time for Valentine's Day!)

Every year, I bake Valentine's Day themed cookies or cupcakes and send them out to my 

family and friends with little love notes. It's been a favorite tradition of mine and this year 

was no exception. Whilst cruising Pinterest for inspiration, I came across a recipe for donut 

shaped cookies. Are you kidding me!? As if normal cookies aren't cute enough, they came 

up with DONUT SHAPED COOKIES! Radical.

So, last night I baked and frosted almost 50 cookies while drinking wine and listening to 

Billy Holiday. It was my own little version of therapy without the shrink. Seriously, I love 

laying out the ingredients, rolling the dough into perfect little balls and then baking and icing them 

into sweet, delicious perfection. Yes, I may have burnt my prized ham and bean soup while 

cooking the cookies, but it was worth it cause these things were GOOD!

   

Ingredients: 

1 Box Krusteak sugar cookie mix (yeah, I cheated. Sandra Semi-Homemade Cooking right hurr!)

I Cup Betty Crocker Whipped Strawberry Frosting

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

Sprinkles or sugar crystals to decorate 

Directions:

Bake cookies according to package. Let cool completely. Stamp out the middle with a round object hollow object. I used the cap from the sprinkled bottle because… necessity is the mother of invention. A round cookie cutter would have worked better but oh well! Whip together frosting and powdered sugar with a spoon. Ladle icing into a piping bag or Ziploc and pipe onto cookies. Smooth frosting into desired shape with a spoon and to with toppings of your choice. Yeah, it's that easy.

My Recipes // Homemade Twinkies

First of all, HAPPY FRIDAY! I don't know about you, but Friday sure took it's sweet ass time to get here! Hooray for the weekend finally! 

OK, so did anyone else completely wig out when they heard that Hostess was going Bankrupt. Even though I haven't had a Twinkie in years, the thought that I might never have the chance to bite into that over processed sugar puff again was unimaginable! 

True, I've avoided Twinkies for the latter part of my childhood and life because I know they are on the "no-no" eating list. Actually, they are on the "oh, hell no" eating list. Just too unhealthy. 

But now that Twinkie was on the mind, I felt the urge to have one. Instead of eating the real thing, I decided to try to recreate it myself. Here are the delicious results! Enjoy! 

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 22-24 minutes | Yield: 10-12 twinkies

Cake Ingredients:

16 ounce box golden pound cake mix

4 egg whites

2/3 cup water

Filling Ingredients:

1/4 cup crisco

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

So, you can buy legit twinkie molds on the internets, but in a pinch, some tinfoil and a spice bottle will work just fine. Cut out 12 8"x12" inch sheets of aluminum foil. Fold the sheets in half lengthwise and wrap around spice bottle to create a mold. Leave the top of the foil open so you can pour batter in.

Arrange on a cookie sheet or pan. Spray molds with cooking spray! Don't forget this step like I did! 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whip egg whites on high until stiff. Stiff means stiff. Still not sure? Dip a spoon in the egg whites and spin it in a circle. If the egg whites don't budge, it's officially stiff.

Add cake batter and water and mix on medium for 2 minutes. Divide batter evenly among molds and bake at 325 degrees until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into cake... about 22-24 minutes. Remove from the oven and loosen the twinkies onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely. 

Beat crisco and butter in mixer until creamy. Add powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat for another minute. Put the filling into a pastry bag with a tip or a ziploc bag and snip off the tip.

Flip cakes over and with a straw, poke 3 holes in the twinkie. Place the tip of the pastry bag into each incision and squeeze cream into the incisions until full. 

Turn them back over and serve! Enjoy!