Sock doughnuts and doughnut mania

When Sylvia's suddenly loved everything about doughnuts I decided it was time for a craft project.  I mentioned a while back that we had made some sock doughnuts.  Real doughnuts are delicious but they do get stale quickly.  These doughnuts really liven up Sylvia's doughnut den.  So here is a post on how we made them and a little more on everything doughnut.

Before I tell you about making sock doughnuts, let me tell you a story about my late father-in-law.  He told his daughter that it was so hard to find "fun socks" any more.  She went and found some socks with lots of crazy colourful stripes and spots.  He looked disappointed.  Apparently she had misheard him and he had asked for "fawn" socks.

I agree with my father-in-law.  Fawn socks are very hard to find.  Which makes it tricky trying to make sock doughnuts when fawn or beige socks are the first thing you need.  I ended up buying mostly fawn socks.  I didn't choose this project for the socks.  What attracted me was that there was no sewing involved.  Lots of hot glue gun instead.

So we ended up cutting the fawn legs off socks, rolling them up and then when I glued the edges on I had to pull it as tight as possible to make the holes in the middle more visible.  Then I cut out felt icing to glue on top.  Lastly we used fabric paints to put sprinkles on top.  It was great fun.  We made a dozen over a few weeks.

We experimented with a few different ways of decorating the doughnuts.  The white on chocolate was to be a lamington but the white paint was not quite bright enough.  The coloured sprinkles were the best.

Ironically after avoiding all the sewing, Sylvia has decided to start sewing a stuffed felt doughnut that I have finished off for her.  We just need to sew on the sprinkles.

While we were in doughnut sock mode, Sylvia had to do a craft project for school.  So she put some googly eyes, a red felt mouth and icy pole stick limbs on a sock doughnut.  Voila!  A walking, talking doughnut. She used some modelling clay that we bought at the Wallace and Gromit exhbition to make more little doughnut.

The sock doughnuts go in the Doughnut Den.  That is the area where Sylvia creates her own world's in our living area.  All her doughnutty things go in here.  Even her doughnut outfit.  Just so you know she is not totally obsessed with doughnuts, she does not wear her own doughnut very much.

I have scratched my head about this doughnut obsession.  It seemed to come out of nowhere.  When I think back, it might have started with purchasing some Sylvanian Families dolls house furniture and Sylvia pouring over the catalogue, as she loves to do.  She decided she must have the doughnut shop.  It took quite a while before I found it in a shop but you can see why it would make you swoon over doughnuts.  They are so so cute.

Once you start to look, there is actually quite a lot of doughnut stuff around.  Not enough for Sylvia.  But enough for my wallet.  She also says there are not enough doughnuts in movies.

So here are 5 movies/tv shows with notable doughnuts:

• The Simpsons
• Zootopia
• Adventure Time
• Wreck it Ralph
• Emoji Movie

We've been giving Sylvia pocket money so she has to make some choices about what she buys.  Then she finds a Shopkins Delish Doughnut for a bargain $1 in a department store.  Right beside her is Donatina who was bought with her savings.

There are heaps of shops selling doughnuts.  Sylvia loves collecting their business cards.  Quite a lot of them were collected at the Donut Fest.

But we have been visiting more doughnut shops than usual.  Above are some of them: from top right: All Day Doughnuts, Doughnut Time, Krispy Kreme, Donut Fest, Doughnut King and Dooughnut Time.  My favourite doughnut place is not there though - the hot jam doughnut van at the Queen Victoria Market.

Even when doughnuts aren't involved, they look like they are.  Here are some gingerbreads we made to take to the Grampians holiday home.  We used the doughnut cutter to shape them and then iced and sprinkled them.

And then we made "cheese puffs" with a doughnut cutter.  That is what Sylvia calls it when we grate cheese on a sheet of puff pastry, cover it with another sheet, cut it into shapes and baked until golden brown.

And of course we have been baking lots of doughnuts.  Mostly for social occasions.  They don't last well if not eaten on the day.  Occasionally we have just been experimenting.  Above from top right chocolate sourdough doughnuts, yeasted doughnuts, baking powder doughnuts and overnight sourdough doughnuts.  Don't ask me which are my favourites!  I love them all.  Just don't ask me to fry them.