Slow Cooked Whole Wheat Cinnamon Donuts

Slow Cooked Cinnamon Balls

My family loves donuts but rarely eats them.  I was excited when I saw this recipe.  A few weeks ago I signed up for Grocery Shrink and for the past two weeks have enjoyed lots of yummy recipes.  I made these last night and we ate them this morning.  They were so delicious and super easy to make!  I prepared the dough last night and put it in the crock pot.  This morning when we woke up they were ready.  Thanks Grocery Shrink for another delicious meal!

Ingredients for 4-6 people:

Dough: 

1/2 plus 1/3 cup warm water
2 tsp oil
1 Tbs honey
1/2 tsp salt, 2 cups flour (whole wheat, unbleached or a combo - I did a combo)
2 tsp yeast

Other ingredients:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs butter, melted

Icing:

2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs milk


Directions:

I put everything in my Breville Mixer with the dough hook and mixed until doughy. Or you can mix the dough in your bread machine.  I pulled apart the bread dough into 1 inch pieces, rolled into balls or made little donuts.  If you don't want to make the dough you could use store bought bread dough.  However, this dough was so delicious and easy to make, I'd suggest trying it.

Combine cinnamon and brown sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll each ball into melted butter and then in sugar mixture. Place in greased slow cooker. Place a paper towel under the lid to collect condensation. Cook on low for 3 hours. Or you can put these on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until you start to smell them cooking.

Before serving.  Mix powdered sugar and milk (2/3 cup powdered sugar, 1 Tbs milk), drizzle over top of cooked rolls.

I put everything in the crock pot last night, plugged my crock pot into my automatic light timer and let it cook while we were sleeping. My husband and I both woke up before 5am last night anyway and we checked on it to make sure it was working. They were very good and a lot healthier than donuts. Took care of our donut craving!

Before I cooked them

This morning, all done!!

Looking Back at 2012!

Overall 2012 was a pretty good year. We have had a LOT of changes! A HUGE move overseas, new house, new car, several sad losses, etc., etc., etc. Goodbye 2012! May 2013 be a wonderful year for you and your family! Here is 2012 at a glance.

January: We celebrated 8 years of marriage. We lived in a hotel for several weeks before moving from Germany at the end of the month. My husband started his new job. 

February: Stayed in furnished rental house while doing lots and lots of house hunting and waiting for our household goods to arrive from overseas. Celebrated hubby's birthday. I also joined two mommy groups in town! Blue Rock started gymnastics again.

March: We closed on our new house! We also visited my in-laws who live 8 hours away!

April: I had her 3rd miscarriage. =( We also bought our new SUV.

May: We traveled to see my in-laws. We also decided to join a church closer to our new house. This was a very tough decision as we love our friends across town. Thankfully we have made some great friends at our new church too.

June: I turned the big 3-0! Blue Rock turned 3! Fun birthday parties and we enjoyed our neighborhood's new swimming pool. I also took Blue Rock to his first movie at a movie theater. We saw Happy Feet 2!

July: We took Blue Rock to his first IMAX film. We saw Born to Be Wild! Blue Rock attended his first VBS. Our church had a day camp and I helped by teaching the lesson.

August: We took a trip to see my husband's parents in west Texas and attended my husband's 20th. high school reunion. I went to the annual MOPS (mother's preschool) convention in Grapevine and saw some friends from Germany and got to know some ladies that live in town better. Blue Rock started preschool. He has loved preschool this year!

September: Hubby and I worked together to photograph our first wedding in Austin. That was the first time we ever spent the night away from Blue Rock. We took a family vacation to California for my brother's wedding. We got to go to Disneyland and enjoyed the beach while we were there as well. I celebrated being baptized for 20 years! We also went to our friend's October Fest party which was super fun! We also started teaching Blue Rock's Sunday school class at church for the quarter. We had a blast!

October: We went to a local apple orchard, Blue Rock had a petting zoo visit his preschool, and we went to a Halloween party a friend's house. This was the first year we took Blue Rock trick-or-treating. 

November: We went to see my husband's parents for Thanksgiving and to help them move. I had bad morning sickness and was sick most of the time we were there.  Blue Rock said the prayer at his school's Thanksgiving feast. We also visited a cheese farm and chocolate factory.

December: I had my 4th. miscarriage at 10 weeks and had to have a D&C. :( I'll eventually write about it but just have been pretty sad about the whole thing.  On the positive, Blue Rock got to celebrate his first Christmas in Texas with my family. We had a wonderful Christmas and have so much to be thankful for! We also bought our first leather couches and a King Tempur-Pedic bed with an Ergo Base. I feel truly spoiled! Hopefully 2013 will bring us lots of nights of good sleep.

This year we have made many new friends and have been able to see lots of old friends. God has blessed us richly with family and friends. Life is not always easy but it is worth living. No matter what 2012 has brought to you and your family, whether it has been a great year for you or a challenging one, never give up, always have hope, and always trust God. Lean on friends and family when you're down. It's amazing how much impact a good conversation with a friend can be. Thanks for keeping up with us. Here's to the new year!  I hope 2013 brings you lots of joy!