Baked Doughnuts

This weekend I decided to try this recipe for Baked Donuts that I found on Pinterest.

I was pretty excited about the thought of a tasty, healthier alternative to doughnuts. A doughnut I wouldn't have to feel as guilty about eating.

The recipe called for simple ingredients that I already had on hand.

First I took a packet of active dry yeast and let it sit in the warm milk to activate.

Then I mixed the remaining ingredients and formed my dough.  I decided to use Splenda (instead of sugar), since I wanted these to be healthy. 

After letting the dough rise for an hour, it had gotten larger, but probably not 'double' in size.  But at this point I was so hungry I couldn't let it sit longer.  (Especially knowing that after I cut out the doughnuts they would have to rise for another 45 minutes!)

After rising for another 45 minutes, this is how big the donuts were.  (I just used a biscuit cutter since I didn't own a doughnut cutter, hence the no holes.)

After baking the doughnuts, they rose slightly but didn't really turn a golden brown, so I left them in the oven for a few additional minutes.

While they were baking I made the simple glaze for the doughnuts.

Finally, two hours later we were able to taste the doughnuts.  

The verdict?  Nothing can compare to a good old fashioned fried doughnut.  These were more like biscuits.  Overall, not too great.  My dad did suggest serving them with jelly because the texture and taste reminded him of a jelly doughnut.

Built in Dresser

While my master bedroom isn't small, it's on the 2nd floor and has slanted walls because of the roof.  This is problematic for furniture - if its too tall, it won't fit flush against the wall.  The slanted walls also create a lot of 'dead' space.  While some of the space was turned into attic storage, others were just left unused.

We saw this great idea to maximize the space and gain some much needed storage - A Built-in Dresser.

We started by cutting a hole into the wall - to see what was in there.

We quickly learned that there was No Insulation!  No wonder the 2nd floor was always so much hotter!  So we insulated the space and added plywood flooring. Then we framed the opening for support.  

Then my dad built the drawers.  He lined the outside of the box with cedar just in case there were any bugs lurking in the attic space.

Then we slid the drawer structure into the space, and it fit perfectly!

All that was left to do was 4 coats of paint! And here is the finished product.

The best part is now we have 3 more drawers of storage but it doesn't take away from the floor space!