Super Easy Homemade Donuts Recipe

Tonight I had not planned very well for Sunday dinner.  So we were left dessertless and wondering what we could whip up with what we had on hand.  I ended up making homemade donuts with whipped cream and raspberry preserves to dip in...and they were amazing!  AND amazingly easy...which is my kind of recipe.

Here's what you need:

For Donuts:
1 can refrigerated biscuit dough
vegetable oil (for frying)
cinnamon
sugar

For Whipped Cream:
whipping cream
powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)
vanilla extract

I used a deep fryer to cook the donuts, but you could just as easily heat 2 inches of oil in a cast iron skillet and it would work great.  While my oil was coming to temperature (350 degrees is ideal) I took each biscuit out of the can and cut a hole in the middle using a Christmas cookie cutter I had lying around.  (Happened to be in the shape of a heart, which made the donuts look really cute!)  As soon as the oil is hot enough, just drop the donuts in.  Let them cook to golden brown on one side (just about 2 minutes in the oil) and then use tongs to flip them over.  Cook the other side to golden brown as well.  Have a paper plate with paper towels ready to soak up the grease and bring the donuts right from the oil onto the paper plate.  I had a bowl all ready with cinnamon and sugar mixed together and immediately after draining the donuts I rolled them in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  They came out perfectly and it was ridiculously easy!

For the whipped cream, I simply take one small carton of whipping cream, add what I think is the appropriate amount of sugar, plus about one teaspoon vanilla and whip on a high setting in my stand mixer for a while.  (By the way, you can just as easily use regular, granulated sugar for whipped cream.  I did this today because I was out of powdered sugar.  Tastes the same, you just have to whip it a little longer.)  When the cream starts to form peaks I check the sweetness and add more sugar if needed before continuing to whip it until it is perfect.  I served each plate of donuts with a big dollop of the whipped cream and a spoonful of raspberry preserves.  Oh my...I could gain a bit of weight on this recipe.  Easy, delicious and fattening.  Dangerous.  Very dangerous.