March 6, 2018

Great Camping Breakfast Idea – Easy Homemade Donuts

I’ve been making these easy homemade donuts at home and for camp breakfast since I was a kid. They’re so easy to make with some simple store bought ingredients and it’s hard to beat a fresh donut. You will love how easy it is to make something so delicious. Still warm and fluffy with a perfect crispy exterior and coated or topped with icing, glaze, or cinnamon sugar. A wisp of steam escapes as you tear it open and your mouth waters as the aroma hits your nose. Sweet breakfasts should probably be a rare treat, but if you’re going to treat yourself then this homemade donut recipe is perfect. Don’t worry if you’re not camping, these are just as good and easy at home!

Easy Homemade Donuts

When I first started making these homemade donuts as a kid we went for a simple round donut with a cinnamon sugar coating. Over the years I’ve started making donut holes and filled donuts and added glaze, powdered sugar, and icing as toppings. To start I’ll show you how to make the basic donut, and then I’ll expand onto fillings and other toppings.

Ingredients

Canned biscuits – basic original biscuits, not the grand or flaky variety.
Cinnamon sugar (1/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon)
Oil for frying, vegetable or canola

I hate calling this a recipe because you’re not really mixing any ingredients, but that’s what makes this so easy.

Steps

In a dutch oven or medium-sized pan heat oil to 325 – 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You should have enough oil to be at least 1.5 – 2 inches deep. While camping I use my dutch oven on a camp stove. The cast iron cooking vessel is perfect for frying because it will help you easily maintain a consistent temperature.
Using your hands form a hole in the center of each biscuit and stretch out to a 1 – 2 inch opening. hole will fill back in slightly while frying.
Fry for 1 -2 minutes per side until golden brown.
Remove from oil and set on a paper towel lined plate to dry for 30 seconds.
Coat in Cinnamon sugar. I find tossing in a bag or rolling around in a bowl works well.

See, super easy, right? One thing to watch for is a thoroughly cooked donut. If the oil is too hot you will get raw donuts because the outside will cook to golden brown before the inside is done. This is usually how my kids request them. Just turn the temperature down a little and you should be fine.

Donut Holes, Fillings, and toppings!

Now that you’re making delicious homemade donuts let’s take it to the next level.

The first thing you can start doing is making donut holes or donut bites. In a bakery these are the inside leftovers from the donut cutter. For our biscuit variety just divide a biscuit by 3 and roll into a ball. Fry for the same amount of time. After 1 -2 minutes giving the donut hole a push in the oil with a spoon should cause it to roll over. Dry and coat in the same fashion.

In addition to cinnamon sugar you can top your donuts with anything. A simple glaze with powdered sugar and water or milk quickly became a new favorite in my house, but that was only until we started using icing. Make sure to ice while the donut is still hot so the icing melts onto the donut. Use any store-bought or homemade icing of your choice.

Fillings are a little more complicated, but not much. I usually go for an Empanada shape for my filled donuts. Flatten a biscuit completely, place a small amount of filling in the middle, and fold the biscuit over. Crimp the sides with a fork and be sure it’s completely sealed or the filling will spill out in the oil. My two favorite fillings so far are jelly or jams and marshmallows. A raspberry jam with cinnamon sugar coating will have your taste buds leaping for joy. Recently, making these at camp and pictured below, we did marshmallows and chocolate icing for a sort of breakfast smores which is probably my new favorite. Don’t let that limit you though, experiment with different combinations and do tell me the things you’ve tried and how they turned out.