Munkki = Doughnut

In Finland, you'd request a munkki (Moonk-KEY) if you wanted a doughnut, and Vesa loves 'em. And finding Finnish-style jelly doughnuts here is very hard with the nasty artificial filling that even the "good" doughnut shops use. So, for Ukki's birthday I made a doughnut birthday cake with both filled (seedless raspberry jam) and glazed (raspberry glaze with "essential cane" raspberry sugar sprinkles) munkki. Stack 'em up, sprinkle with raspberries, and you have a fantabulous birthday cake!

Erik loved helping cut out the doughnuts and sprinkle on "just a touch more flour, Mama," when we rolled them out. Madeline built a great barricade between the living room and kitchen when I was cooking the munkki too. Because, 350-degree scalding oil and small kiddos do not mix...

Happy Birthday to Ukki! His birthday was Friday, but what he wanted to do for his celebration was go geocaching with us and out to Mexican for lunch (the other diners at the restaurant were coveting the pretty stack o' doughnuts too.) Mmmm... They were tasty!

Oh! And, I used the recipe from right here. Under the High Chair is a great foodie blog, and Aimée (a former pro/chef in the kitchen) is now a writer, editor of Simple Bites, and mom to two preschool-aged boys. Check out her blog. Oh, and these doughnuts really were worth the trouble. Krispy Creme's got nothin' on these babies!

And finally, do you remember this? Well, this month I'm going to choose the cookie recipient by lottery... Just leave a comment on this post, and tell me what your absolute #1 favorite cookie is, and you'll be in the "hat" to be chosen by random chance to receive the April cookie giveaway! One of the kids will be drawing names or number (of the comment) from a hat on Wednesday evening, 4/21. Best of luck!!