Easy and Delicious Doughnut Recipe

"New mysteries. New day. Fresh doughnuts."

~ David Lynch

Our art director for Victoria plans the most wonderful crafting and culinary projects for her children, and when she shared photos of doughnuts that her family made for their Friday morning breakfast, I knew immediately that I could not let the weekend pass without trying out her recipe. Using refrigerated biscuit dough makes this a super-easy endeavor, and a simple glaze adds the perfect finishing touch. Read on for the details!

Easy Doughnuts

Makes 8

Vegetable oil, for frying
1 (16-ounce) can refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough*
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk

1. Fill a frying pan to a depth of approximately 2 inches with oil. Heat over medium-high heat.

2. Open can and separate biscuits. Using a small round or heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut center from each biscuit.

3. In batches, add doughnuts and holes to pan, cooking until golden, about 1 minute per side. Remove to paper towels to let cool slightly.

4. In a small bowl, stir confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle over warm doughnuts and holes, and serve immediately.

*We used Pillsbury Grands! Southern Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits, and I plan to use Grands! Flaky Layers Buttermilk Biscuits next time.

These easy and delicious doughnuts made for a quick and satisfying quarantine breakfast before we gathered for Sunday morning worship in the living room. Over time, I look forward to experimenting with different biscuit doughs, glazes and toppings. Please let me know if you have a favorite combination to suggest!

"Life, within doors, has few pleasanter prospects than a neatly arranged and well-provisioned breakfast-table."

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

10 Years of Teacher Gift Ideas

One year we surprised our teachers with lush bouquets of peonies in crystal vases, but when the children were in elementary school, our usual tradition was to present a gift of flowers in a container that can be used long after the blossoms fade. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day, here are a few of my favorite ideas from the past decade.

We all scream for ice cream with this festive arrangement, a sundae-inspired gathering of flowers tucked into a parfait glass.

This presentation included a gift card to a favorite local spot for frozen yogurt.

For months I collected creamware pitchers and teapots for these gifts of white. The posies looked so lovely clustered in my sitting room.

I love this shapely creamer and hope it is still used often.

One of my favorite springtime gifts is a structured tote with a vase of tulips tucked inside. I have done these for teachers and graduates over the years.

A monogrammed gift tag adds the finishing touch to this favor. This gift can also be customized for a bride or mother-to-be.

Cheery bouquets of hydrangeas offered a ray of sunshine paired with sliced lemons.

Purchasing acrylic pitchers at a discount store and taking them to a local engraver to be monogrammed was an easy, economical option for this vessel.

Rustic garden buckets made charming vases -- especially when accompanied by handmade cards featuring photos of the children taken during a trip to a local garden.

Glass canisters finished with chalkboard labels made clever containers for fresh-cut bouquets.

Whether used in the classroom or pantry, these should have a long shelf life.

Finally, for a peek at periodicals tucked into magazine racks, see this post.

What could make a gift of flowers even more refreshing? Tucking the blossoms into a box of lunchtime treats. Visit this post to learn more about the menu included in this decorative hinged box. If you have creative floral gift ideas, please share them in the comments! 

"Teachers believe they have a gift for giving; it drives them with the same irrepressible drive that drives others to create a work of art or a market or a building." ~ A. Bartlett Giamatti

Flowers for Teatime

"Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A gift of tea gives pleasure long after the final cup is steeped -- especially when the container is as lovely as the one pictured above, which was a birthday surprise from the Victoria team.

This shiny tin canister, with its pretty pink label, seemed perfect for holding a posy of fresh spring flowers. (For some other pretty selections, consider the Nina's Tea L'Original Marie-Antoinette Pink Tin, Harney & Sons Royal Palace Tea Tin, or Nina's Tea Fete de Versailles.)

To make this centerpiece, I slipped a plastic cup into the canister, added water, and arranged a brimful bouquet of fresh floral stems.

Ready to be placed on the table or shared with a friend, this sweet posy doubles the pleasure of a teatime gift!

"The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose." ~ George Gissing

Make Beaded Victoria Bookmarks

"The only gift is a portion of thyself." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

This has been a special year for Victoria magazine, as we have marked our 10th anniversary with Hoffman Media. To celebrate this milestone, I wanted to craft a special keepsake for each member of our staff.

I count it a privilege to work with such a talented team of creative women and thought it would be special to commemorate our shared success with a handmade bookmark.

This idea dawned when I found pretty brass and silver shepherd's hook bookmarks at Christmas Village, an annual holiday-shopping festival in Birmingham. Each one had a ring on the end for affixing a charm. Find a similar selection of styles here. Above, a completed bookmark rests on a Sasha Nicholas plate custom-made for the occasion of our 10th anniversary. See more of the celebratory festivities in our November/December issue!

I cut the miniature magazine covers from subscription insert cards and found perfectly sized frames in the jewelry section at Michaels. You could, of course, frame other ephemera or use another type of charm for the focal point. Other supplies for this project include jewelry wire and cutting pliers, crimping beads and crimping pliers, and assorted Swarovski crystal and pearl beads.

To make the bookmark, slip a magazine cover or other ephemera into the frame and adjust the positioning, if needed. Using cutting pliers, cut a length of jewelry wire a couple of inches longer than needed for the strand of beads. Bend the wire at about 1/2 inch, and loop the wire through the ring of the frame. Slide a crimping bead onto the long piece of wire, also catching the loose end; pull taut and crimp the bead. String approximately five decorative beads onto the wire, careful to cover the loose end of wire, and end with a second crimping bead. Loop the wire through the ring on the shepherd's hook, and thread the wire back through the crimping bead and two or three decorative beads. Pull the wire taut, and use cutting pliers to carefully clip remaining wire.

Making these sweet little bookmarks not only offered a delightful evening of crafting but also served as a reminder of how blessed I am to work with talented people to produce a magazine that I have loved for so many years. Here's to the next decade of bliss!

"But I'm always dreaming, even when I'm awake; it is never finished." ~ Peter S. Beagle

Teatime Parties Book Giveaway

"Whatever the occasion that finds you gathering with family and friends, we offer inspiration to make the milestone more meaningful by celebrating it with a tea party." ~ Teatime Parties

One of the benefits of working with Victoria magazine is getting to enjoy the beautiful and inspiring works produced by our sister publications at Hoffman Media. A longtime reader of TeaTime, I am always especially eager to collect the latest book in the magazine's library of tea-themed offerings. The newest volume is especially exciting to me, as one of the parties was photographed at our house earlier this year. Would you like to take a peek? 

The "First Tea Party" menu and tablescape were shot at our kitchen table. When I shared the book with my family last night, 13-year-old Mary Ashley was particularly proud to note that her chair is now "famous." I am also pretty pleased that some of my favorite china (shown with the Caroline place card) added a fitting complement to the many pretties brought by the TeaTime stylist. Test-kitchen chef Elizabeth Stringer left several treats for us to enjoy, so I can heartily recommend the recipes in this chapter.

Preview more delightful tea-party themes here, and order your copy of the book here!

For your opportunity to win a copy of this lovely new volume, leave a comment below detailing your favorite occasion to celebrate over tea.

A Dreamy Hot-Air Balloon Themed Baby Shower

"A baby dances with its feet in the air." ~ Ruth Krauss

Last month we celebrated the impending arrival of our nephew with a party for my sister-in-law Shana. This new little brother will join two older sisters, so we hosted a "sprinkle" for the family. This new trend offers a low-key alternative to the traditional shower -- giving loved ones the opportunity to pamper a new baby with items the parents might still need, especially if there has been a gap of several years since the last sibling was born or if the family is welcoming a different gender.

Read on to see how we got carried away with hot-air balloons!

We held the sprinkle in the reception room at our church building -- a wonderful option that allowed us to use the congregation's white tablecloths, as well as tables and chairs. Fresh hydrangeas added soft touches of blue and white, and leftover bunting from my custom-made hot-air balloons added festive touches, draped here and there.

I placed a framed copy of our invitation at the entrance to the room. I loved this Hot Air Balloon Clipart and allowed its storybook charm to set the mood for our other decor.

In lieu of a guestbook, a beautifully illustrated children's book offered a place for loved ones to record their sentiments. Reviewing their comments may one day be a treasured part of reading this book with the baby. (Look for book suggestions later in this post!)

Custom-made hot-air balloons hung from the ceiling seemed to float. See this tutorial for all of the details!

They also served as candle-lit centerpieces in areas that were carefully attended. My brother commented that seeing the flame, he kept expecting to see these balloons gently rise and float away!

Plastic cutlery and napkins from Hobby Lobby echoed the soft shades of blue and green that I used in the hot-air balloons. Find our clear dessert plates here.

To make the large reception room seem more intimate, we divided the space into zones. The center of the room offered a conversation grouping where Shana could open gifts, with a trio of tables nearby, including one for displaying packages and two for food and drinks. On the right side of the room, we set up tables where the adults could linger. And on the left, we offered a casual space for cousins and their friends. Read on to see our kid-friendly ideas!

I knew that my girls and our nieces, along with children of attendees, would be spending most of the afternoon at the party. To keep them entertained, we covered two rectangular tables with plastic tablecloths and offered coloring sheets. This Coloring Cafe design was perfect!

Washable markers and colored pencils ensured easy clean-up. Each kids' table included a hot-air balloon centerpiece, but we did not light the candles in these. (Battery-operated pillars would be a safe option here.) Tufts of pillow stuffing looked like fluffy clouds on our tables.

The girls seemed to enjoy having an activity that tied into our theme.

This pair of award-winning books -- a gift from my mother-in-law -- also added interest to the scene. Since they fit our theme, I tied gossamer blue and green ribbons around the front covers and displayed the books on the coffee table in our conversation area. My nieces can enjoy reading And Away We Go and Hot Air to their little brother someday soon!

Simple party fare was perfect for an early July celebration.

Hot-Air Balloon Sprinkle Menu

Cucumber Water

Sky Blue Ice-Cream Punch

Corn Salad with Tortilla Chips

Mini Quiches

Dipped Strawberries

Chocolate Cake

For an easy summertime treat, add cucumber slices to ice water. Chill for at least an hour, and serve for spa-like refreshment.

This frothy concoction, which I am calling Sky Blue Ice-Cream Punch for the purpose of this post, was my favorite menu item. About thirty minutes before the party started, we mixed one bottle of white grape juice, one-half bottle of Blue Hawaiian punch, and one 2-liter of lemon-lime soda. Mary Ashley swirled in scoops of vanilla ice cream, and as the punch began to froth, it took on the appearance of a blue sky filled with clouds. Perfectly lovely and delicious!

For savory bites, we offered mini quiches (picked up from Costco and baked at the church building before the party) and Corn Salad with tortilla chips. Corn salad works equally well as a dip -- find the recipe here.

The night before the shower, Mary Ashley and I made dozens of dipped strawberries. I melted Wilton Blue Candy Melts, dipped the fruit, and set the strawberries on a plate; she added pastel sprinkles from Michaels. We refrigerated the berries until the coating set, then placed each one on a cupcake liner, turned inside out to showcase the pattern. My sister-in-law loves chocolate-dipped strawberries, so something along this line was a must for our menu. And the extra embellishment provided a nod to the idea of the sprinkle.

Chocolate cake from Costco offered a delicious culmination to our menu. Overall, the party was a delightful way to spend an afternoon celebrating the precious little one who is actually scheduled to arrive today. We can't wait to meet this bundle of joy!

"Babies are such a nice way to start people." ~ Don Herrold

Some photos in this post by Nathan Prichard. Used with permission.