Arnie the Doughnut.....Tuesday Book Look and National Donut Day

June 4th is National Donut Day.
According to wikipedia:

National Donut Day is on the first Friday of June each year and follows on the Donut Day event created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers during World War. The holiday celebrates the doughnut (a.k.a "donut") — an edible, ring-shaped piece of dough which is deep-fried and sweetened.

In honor of National Donut day, I've naturally chosen a book about a donut. Arnie the Doughnut was written by Laurie Keller. It's a really fun and silly book that the kids will love. Here's the official book description:

Arnie is proud to be chocolate-covered, with bright-colored candy sprinkles. His first day on the planet is a big one. He is 1) cut into a ring 2) deep-fried 3) cooled 4) iced 5) sprinkled and 6) named Arnie. What he doesn't realize is that step 7 is being eaten by a human. So, when a customer, Mr. Bing, starts to put him in his mouth, he screams, "What are you doing?" Arnie is further crushed when he calls the bakery to warn the others only to discover that all the other pastries are "aware of this arrangement."

As you can see, Arnie is just the book to read on doughnut day. The kids will love the idea of a doughnut that doesn't want to be eaten.
The perfect activity to accompany this book is, of course, making doughnuts. The simplest way to make "donuts" with kids is to make Biscuit Donuts. I've made these with kids numerous times and they are always a big hit.
This is a good video about making Biscuit Doughnuts. A recipe follows the video.


Biscuit Doughnuts
ingredients:
2 cans of large buttermilk biscuits
oil for frying doughnuts
cinnamon sugar, sprinkles or icing to decorate

Directions:

1. Heat 2 inches peanut oil in a large pot or Dutch oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board 
3. With a cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit. 
4. Fry the biscuit/donuts in the oil until golden. Use tongs to flip the donuts over.
5. Don't forget to fry the donut holes. 
6. Drain the donuts and the holes on paper towels 
7. Now you can sprinkle the donuts and holes with cinnamon sugar or put icing on them and decorate with sprinkles.