Cake Donuts with Creamy Dipping Sauce

My latest venture was making doughnuts from scratch. I get to make dessert for school lunch on occasion, so it was a great opportunity last week to try my hand at it, and not be left with dozens of tempting doughnuts in the house!! I found this recipe on the internet, and it sounded like "the one". I really wanted to mimic O'Charley's doughnuts and dipping sauce, but could not find a copy cat recipe for the dip, so I kinda guessed at it, and it was actually very close to the taste I was searching for!! It's quite a process, not something I'd do every week or even month, but definitely worth the effort for a "once in a blue moon" recipe!! Enjoy!! :)

2 lg. eggs
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup sour cream
3 tblsp. melted butter
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Vegetable oil or vegetable shortening for frying

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs with sugar until mixture is thick and light. Add sour cream, butter, and vanilla and combine the mixture well. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredient mixture to wet ingredients one cup at a time, stirring after each addition until dough is just combined. With wooden spoon, stir in more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, just until dough begins to leave the sides of the bowl. (The dough will be sticky!) Turn dough out onto a generously floured surface, dust it with more flour, roll or pat it out to 1/3 in. thickness, and let it rest for 15 min. With a 2 1/2 in. cutter dipped in flour, cut out rounds. With a 1 in. cutter dipped in flour cut out the centers from the rounds, reserving them, and cut 1 in. rounds from the scraps, reserving them. (The doughnuts will be tough if gathered and rolled out again.)
In a large deep fryer heat 3 in. veg. oil or shortening to 365 degrees and fry the doughnuts in it, 4 at a time, for one min. on each side, or until golden brown, transferring them to paper towels to drain as they get done. Fry the doughnuts holes 6-8 at a time until golden, draining on paper towels as they get done.
Eat plain, or dip in creamy sauce, or shake in brown paper bag with cinnamon sugar OR powdered sugar. YUM!!!!!

Creamy Dipping Sauce
1 brick cream cheese
1 stick butter
2-3 tblsp. sour cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
milk to desired thickness

Cream butter, add softened cream cheese and combine, beat in sour cream, then add powdered sugar and vanilla. When combined, add milk, about a splash at a time, until desired thickness is achieved. Dip doughnuts and doughnut holes in this creamy goodness!!

Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake

The kids spent the night and Papa and Moo-Moo's, so my husband and I decided we needed to celebrate with some chocolate!! hahaha I had a few ingredients laying around, and this is what became of them! You will definitely need some fresh coffee handy for this one, Dunkin' Donuts coffee, if you're serious about REALLY enjoying it, LOL Enjoy!!!

20 chocolate sandwich cookies
3 tblsp. melted butter
1 (8 oz.) brick cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup baking cocoa (unsweetened)

Grind cookies in food processor to size of bread crumbs. Add melted butter and pulse until combined. Press mixture into 8 or 9 in. pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min. Set aside.
Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and sugar until completely combined and smooth. Add egg, vanilla, and sour cream, and beat until smooth. Add cocoa, and beat on low until combined, then beat on high until silky and smooth. Poor cream cheese mixture into crust and bake on 350 for about 30 min. or until center is almost completely set. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight, OR place in freezer (after it comes to room temp.) for about an hour. Serve cold. This is a very rich dessert, so serving sizes are small! One cheesecake should serve about 10-12.