I don’t know about you, but when I think of the holidays, I think of a tribe of people coming to my house and eating all that is in sight. Yes, I have a big family and we like to eat, especially when we are celebrating.

Recently I traveled to Bentonville, Arkansas as part of the Walmart Moms program  that I am proudly a part of. At a certain point in the trip we had a holiday dinner, where everything from appetizers, main course, sides and desserts were served. It definitely got me thinking what I wanted to do for the holidays. For me, Thanksgiving through New Years Day is all one big time to be with the people you love most, and pour over food. I appreciate that Walmart displayed different ways to keep the holiday season festive, and I’m sure I will be exploring more of that in the food department as we get closer to Christmas, but the one thing I craved to see was donuts, and it was missing. Considering that donuts are basically the new cupcake… as far as trends go. I thought wouldn’t it be divine to walk into a house during this holiday season and see a pile of donuts waiting for you to bite into one? I’m testing this theory starting now, I stockpiled my supplies from Walmart and baked my first batch of donuts yesterday. I figured I might as well go with the season, so I made glazed pumpkin donuts. Baked not fried….. but just as delicious. The baking adds to a certain cake-like texture with a nice moistness that helps keep the donuts irresistible for a few days…. if they last that long.

Ingredients for glazed pumpkin donuts:

• 3 – eggs
• 1/2 -cup vegetable oil
• 15 – onces pumpkin puree (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 – cups sugar
• 2 – teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 – teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 – teaspoons baking powder
• 2 – cups flour
• For the glaze: 1 1/2 – cups powdered sugar
• 4 – tablespoons milk
• 2 – teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Spray a donut pan with a non-stick baking spray. Set to the side.
3. In a mixer add eggs, vegetable oil, pumpkin puree, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking powder. Mix to combine.
4. Add in the flour and mix to combine.
5. Fill the donut pans 3/4 full.
6. With the back of a spoon smooth out the top.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Allow to cool in pan in 5 minutes before removing them.
9. Allow to cool until warm on a cooling rack. In the meantime make more. 
10. Make the glaze: Whisk the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together. Then dip each donut into the glaze. 
11. Place on cooling rack for 30 minutes, then dip donut into glaze for a second time, place back on cooling rack at least an hour for glaze to set.
12. Enjoy!

The twinkling of light that glimmers through these cookies is the old magic of Christmas. It will forever remind me of days when I was only a few years into this life and Christmas was made of candy cane, sugar plums, yummy fruit cakes and stained glass cookies.  They remind me of a blizzard-like fairy tale.  They could be used for all types of reasons… for instance:

If your reindeer gets lost in the woods, let your Christmas Stained Glass Cookies lead him back to the sleigh. 
If you’re feeling sappy and don’t want anyone to hear you singing “Kumbaya” line up your cookies “camp fire style” and sing away. 

If you want to creep in on Santa as he drops off his gifts, you can look through the cookie and he would never know you’re there. You little spy, you. 

If you feel the need for an Andy Warhol factory inspired cookie photo shoot, the Christmas Stained Glass Cookies is all the rage.