NY Eve Away From The Strip

So this is how normal people do New Year's Eve, even in Fabulous Las Vegas:

Rather than go to the Strip and work from the Caesars Palace perch where KVBC's main anchors stand and where Miles and I ushered in 05, 06 and 07, this time out we stayed home and comforted our dogs as idiot neighbors set off firecrackers in the streets. Miles brought in Chinese food, we spent the witching hour watching the video of the most important event of 2007 to us, our wedding, pausing to see the big fireworks display on the TV.

Oh, and I made doughnuts. Huh? I had been online chatting with my niece, Courtney, in Arizona earlier in the evening and she said she was making them. So I thought, "That could be fun." I've been becoming more and more ambitious in the kitchen -- made an amazing pumpkin cheesecake from scratch for Xmas using a real pumpkin that I puree'd myself and a crust with ground pumpkin seeds! -- so this is what we did.

I did not have an icing bag or donut cutter, per Courtney's recipe instructions, so I rolled the doughnuts by hand. At first, I thought they needed to be bigger, but they expand in the pan and my first few were grotequely large and doughy. So I ended up doing them small, like this:

And here's the results! Yum! The ones to the left are the ugly huge ones. The ones to the right are the good ones.


I glazed them and sprinkled powdered sugar and sent most of them to work with Miles today. Yes, he had to work today. The (news) shows must go on! So we were in bed by 1.

Here's the recipe, courtesy of Courtney:

1 cup granulated sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour (about)
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
Canola oil

Sift together sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and flour. Beat eggs thoroughly, then stir into dry ingredients. Add the milk and melted butter. Roll about 1/2 inch thick on a floured board and cut with a doughnut cutter. Fry several at a time in 375 degrees F fat until nicely browned.

Glaze: Boil 1 cup water, add half cup of powdered sugar at a time until it thickens. Paint on hot donuts, let dry and it should look clear. Make sure the glaze is thick enough before putting on doughnuts, or else you will make the donuts soggy.

Happy New Year everyone!!!