I Cheated on Mother’s Day… And it was Awesome!

I totally cheated! I’m not even going to pretend about it… I cheated on mother’s day breakfast and it was rad.  I was sitting in my office yesterday wondering what to make my mama for breakfast this morning.  I really wanted to make her donuts, but if you check out my post on that, you’ll realize what a crazy undertaking it is.  It was then that somewhere in the damp, dark caverns of my long term memory, something popped into my head.  A donut miracle!

My first job was at this fancy little grocery store in the suburbs of Santa Cruz.  Well, more specifically, the Peets Coffee bar inside that fancy little market.  This market had a deli.   And the people who worked in the deli sometimes got bored and used their minimal cooking equipment to make little snacks.  Mmm deep fried avocados… I swear this story has a point.  One day, a boy from the deli came over to my coffee bar with a gift. Fresh donuts! How was this possible!!?? They were tasty, fluffy even! So cinnamon and sugary, I couldn’t figure it out.  Of course, since I was 16 and (dare I say…) a tad, uh, ditzy at the time, that deli boy found it so funny to refuse to honestly answer my queries as to his method of creation.  Disbelieving (well, not completely… I was/am pretty gullible) his tales of complex yeasty dough making and whatever other nonsense he flung at me, I had to get crafty.  Soon after that day, I asked this boy from the deli to make donuts again.  He agreed! I strategically took my lunch break and spied on him as he gathered ingredients from the store.  And guess what…  his tales of complex dough making WERE false! The secret to the deli donuts was Butter Tastin’ Biscuits.  I confronted the blue-aproned, donut-making deli boy, and now that the Butter Tastin’ secret was out he was willing to share his technique.

According to the deli donut master:

The biscuits MUST be the Pillsbury Butter Tastin’ ones.  Not any other kind, only Butter Tastin’.

The centers are cut out using something small and round.

They are fried at around 300′.

Before they are set on towels to soak up the excess oil, they are tossed with cinnamon and sugar.

So this morning I tried it out.  I had a minor melt down at the store yesterday when I realized that the specific Butter Tastin’ Biscuits are no longer stocked (it’s been awhile since I was 16).  After an internal debate about whether I should proceed using “Grands” or abandon the mission altogether, I decided to go for it.  There is a very, very probable chance that my leg was being pulled when he said that ONLY Butter Tastin’ Biscuits could be used.

I filled a pot with canola oil and turned on the heat.

I popped open that biscuit cannister.

I used one of the metal tips for my pastry bag to cut little holes out of the center of each biscuit.

I warmed my oil to roughly 300′.

I threw those suckers in.

I flipped them over.

I took them out and lay them on a fluffy, absorbent bed of paper towels.

I made a special mother’s day glaze.  A lot of powdered sugar, a little milk, a little vanilla…

And a secret weapon! Rose syrup. Not rose water, rose syrup.  Left over from rose pastry cream, which I will tell you about later.

I dipped those crispy lovlies in the glaze.  Then I dipped them again, because it was just that good.

I poured a couple cups of coffee, brought them to my mamacita, crawled in bed, and we proceeded to shove our faces.

She was impressed which made me happy. Her tummy was full of rose glazed (kind of)homemade donuts, which made her happy.

If you can’t make your mom real donuts, go ahead and cheat.  And if you can’t even make her butter biscuit donuts, call her and tell her you love her because moms are awesome. Especially mine.