Thanksgiving week is finally here! We’re celebrating with friends this year since we are not leaving town, and I can’t wait! Dave and I’ll be making pie, green bean casserole, bread and a crudité platter – totally manageable, though I haven’t decided on a kind of pie yet. Hmm.

I’m also excited because today I spent an hour designing the invitations for our annual holiday party. I LOVE how they turned out! We’re sending them to our friends tonight. I even turned on some Christmas tunes for inspiration, and I’m pretty sure that’s why they turned out as well as they did.

Is this a getting old thing? I am so ready for it to be Christmas. I’ve bought presents for three people this week so far. I woke up on Saturday morning feeling Christmasy, and that’s why I decided to go the gingerbread route for these donuts.

Here’s what you need – this recipe makes about 14 donuts:
3 cups AP flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Heavy pinch of kosher salt
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup packed brown sugar
6 Tbsp. melted butter, cooled
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. molasses
1 1/4 cups milk

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. to 1/4 cup heavy cream, depending on your texture preference
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In one bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar. In another bowl, mix the cool melted butter, oil, eggs, applesauce, vanilla, molasses and milk.

Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and fold gently to combine, using as few stirs as possible so as not to overmix. Spoon into donut pans and bake for 8 minutes at 400 degrees, then turn the temperature down to 350 and bake for another 8 minutes. When done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes before removing the donuts to a wire rack to dry the rest of the way.

When the donuts are totally cool, use a whisk or fork to combine the sugar, cream and vanilla to create a glaze in a wide bowl. Dip donuts in the glaze and allow to set up before serving (or don’t ).