Unexpected company show up for breakfast or brunch? In 15 minutes you can have a hot plate of doughnuts on the table! Pair with cold glasses of milk and fresh fruit for a perfect – albeit last minute – meal!

I regularly make many things from scratch, however time is always an issue for me. There are a lot of shortcuts I rely on to make meals easier – and especially breakfast time.  

I have lived most of my life in the “dairy state,” and so a lot of my meal inspiration comes from dairy products.  I shop the perimeter of markets, and the final stop in my circle is the refrigerated dairy section.

Some staples I always grab are; milk (of course!), shredded cheeses, jalapeno hummus (MarocBaba’s favorite), ricotta cheese, Greek yogurt, pre-sliced hashbrowns, and eggs.  One of the items I occasionally pick up is refrigerated biscuit dough.  

It’s so affordable and can be used in hundreds of ways – besides making biscuits! I flatten biscuits to make pizza roll ups for my kids, or cut in half and press into a muffin tin to make taco cups.  But, my favorite use of biscuit dough is to make these doughnuts.

Making doughnuts from scratch takes way more than 15 minutes and can be finicky.  Buying doughnuts can cost as much as $1 each.  By using biscuit dough, I’ve made 8 for about $0.30 each.  

Not only do you get the doughnuts but little doughnut holes too! To shape them, I use a melon baller to take out the centers.  On a plate, the dough is then rolled in cinnamon and sugar – and baked. Of course you can use any number of toppings to flavor these.  It’s just a start!

15 Minute Doughnuts

Yield: 8 doughnuts

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 22 minutes

An easy way to make doughnuts using ready-made biscuit dough.

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Ingredients

• 1 tube of biscuit dough
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sugar

Instructions

1. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat and preheat oven to the temperature indicated on the biscuit dough.
2. On a plate add the cinnamon and sugar and mix to combine.
3. Open the biscuit dough and use a melon baller to cut out a center of each biscuit.
4. Roll the centers in cinnamon and sugar.
5. Coat each doughnut in cinnamon and sugar and space out on cookie sheet. (Note – the biscuits won’t spread much).
6. Place centers in open spots on cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10-12 minutes until doughnuts are cooked through.
8. Eat hot with a big glass of milk!

Notes

You'll also need the following tools;

• melon baller
• parchment paper or silpat
• cookie sheet

I can’t believe how fast April is flying by!  We’ve been busy and I have to say I haven’t been cooking a lot.  It’s been easy things that I can pull together fast or relying on meals I’ve prepped and stored in the freezer. Speaking of which, I’ll be sharing a post next week to fill you in on freezer cooking.  

It’s part of my real food on a budget series and I have to tell you, this has been revolutionary for me.  I have another batch of meals to prep this weekend so I’ll be taking you with from beginning to end. Make sure you’re following me on Instagram as I post pictures through the process.  If you’re not on Instagram, don’t worry I’ll be posting pictures in the post Wednesday too.

In the chaos that has been our life lately, breakfast has been really hard for me to squeeze in.  I’ve never really liked to eat breakfast so it’s a stretch for me to get anything in.  As weird as this may sound, I also struggle with eating regularly in general.  

After having my weight loss surgery, I also lost most of appetite. I have to force myself to eat.  It might sound like a great problem to have but I assure you – it’s not. My sister always gives me  a hard time about not eating and/or drinking protein shakes.  I admit if eating doesn’t sound good, drinking is even harder.

She shared this recipe with me for protein balls to help me boost the amount of protein I get, and to have something around that I can just pick up and eat when I walk by the fridge. We affectionately refer to them as mommy balls.  (It’s a long story!) They feel like a snack and with the addition of protein power I can get some extra nutrients too.

Really, these are perfect for anyone who needs a breakfast or snack to grab and go.

Peanut Butter Protein Balls

Yield: 16 balls

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

This is a simple recipe to make a snack using protein powder and other simple ingredients.

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Ingredients

Protein Ball Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp PB2 powder
• 4 Tbsp all-natural peanut butter or other nut butter
• 1 cup protein powder of choice (plain or vanilla works best)
• 1/2 c quick cook oats
• 1 Tbsp flax seed meal
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 4-6 Tbsp raw honey

Instructions

• In a bowl, mix the PB2 powder with water until a paste is formed. It will look like regular peanut butter
• Add to the bowl the nut butter, protein powder, quick cook oats, flax seed meal, chia seeds, and honey.
• Mix all of the ingredients together, you can use a spatula but your hands will probably work the best. You may need to adjust the honey and/or add a little water. If it feels too wet, add a little more oats, if it feels to dry add a bit more honey or water.
• Roll into balls, whatever size you like.

Notes

You can mix anything you'd like into these. Sometimes I add mini chocolate chips or baby mnm's.

Using this recipe, I rolled 16 balls and each ball has about 5g of protein.  Not bad!  You could increase the amount of PB2 and decrease the actual nut butter amount to lower the fat content.  

The total protein will vary depending on the brands that you use and the size of each.   To store, keep in an air tight container or a ziploc bag in the refrigerator. I really love these and I hope you will too!