Pulsar Watches sent me one of their newest solar light-powered watches to try out and help me celebrate “Life in Real Time.” This new campaign is about savoring each and every moment in time. With our new family addition on the way, I was totally onboard with this idea; savoring these quiet moments while we have them has been a new priority for me. It’s so easy to get caught up in my full inbox, and ever growing to-do-lists, but my husband and I have been making it a point to slow down a bit more on the weekends, live in the moment, and appreciate the time we have together as a family of two.
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Guys! It’s National Donut Day! Why didn’t I take the day off of work to celebrate? Silly me! I’ll celebrate this momentous occasion by rounding up three of my favorite mini-donut recipes from blog posts of the past — hope you enjoy some of my favorite sweet treats today and celebrate too!
- Apple Cider Donut Cupcakes. These are addictive, and what I would consider my favorite Fall donut recipe (that’s a thing, right?).
- Donut S’mores Pops. I’m a genius for dunking chocolate mini donuts into melted marshmallows and crumbled graham crackers, right? I’m a MAD genius for then putting them on a popsicle stick and making them into donut-pops.
- Mini-Donut Birthday Cake. I made this for my donut-loving girlfriend for her birthday (a fun story, I thought it would be a great idea to carry this cake on my lap in the car ride over to her house without a cake carrier, things almost ended in a major chocolate-covered disaster, but it was delicious nonetheless!)
Ready for this little sweet-treat mash-up? I was scheming up something to bring to a birthday party this weekend and saw The Faux Martha’s recipe for apple cider baked donuts. I wanted to try the recipe out so I decided to make a batch of mini-donuts and pop them on top of classic vanilla cupcakes (I used a box mix for those, no judging!). In case you were curious if topping cupcakes with donuts was a good idea, let me tell you: it was a great idea. And a few leftover donuts for breakfast the day after weren’t too bad either. 
I hope you’re sitting down while reading this, because I’m about to share a recipe with you that combine donuts… and s’mores. Yup, you read that right! With National Donut Day later this week, I knew I had to put my thinking cap on to take my love for donuts to the next level. What I came up with is the easiest of easy recipes with just four tasty ingredients: donuts, marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs, and butter. I took store-bought mini-chocolate donuts and skewered them with cake-pop sticks. Then I melted about a half a bag of marshmallows with 1 tbsp of butter over low heat (stirring constantly) until it had a smooth consistency. Dunk those chocolate donuts into the melted marshmallows, and then while it’s still hot, dip them into the graham cracker crumbles. Then set them out on a piece of parchment paper until they cool (or feel free to sneak a bite of a hot one, I won’t judge you). How cute is that? I am definitely bringing these to BBQs this summer — it’s a tasty little treat that’s perfect for us city-dwellers that don’t have a fire for s’mores making!
The theme of this weekend can be wrapped up in one word: Carbs. My mom and sister visited for the weekend, and let’s just say we’re a bit of bad influence on each other in the eating department (and I will admit, I’m the ring-leader of the tasty indulgence brigade). We had so much fun and stuffed ourselves to the brim with delicious homemade pasta in the North End, sweet strawberry butter on piping hot popovers, and we rounded out the weekend with a donut tasting from my favorite donut shop – Union Square Donuts. You can go ahead and roll me straight to the gym after work tonight! But it was so very worth it!
One of my best girlfriends has a birthday coming up, and we have a mutual passion for donuts — I wouldn’t be exaggerating by saying we exchange at least 2-3 emails a week about donuts. Which is why I thought it was completely acceptable to make a cake, and then add donuts on top of it for her birthday celebration this weekend. Conveniently, I had recently purchase a mini-donut pan, and followed the recipe that came with the pan (from Williams-Sonoma). They were surprisingly simple to make and totally jazzed up my box-mix cake I made for the occasion. So remember: the next time you’re making a three layer chocolate-chocolate cake and you ask yourself “Is this enough?” the answer is no, no it’s not enough, and then add donuts on top of that cake.
I had a quintessential fall day this weekend full of cider donuts and apples and gorgeous New England weather. It felt nice to need to bundle up a bit and pull out the jackets and scarves! How did you spend this fabulous fall weekend?
