Peppermint Mocha Donuts

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DelightfulMoments #CollectiveBias

There’s a quote by William Shakespeare that is just one of those “sticky” quotes. You know the kind I mean? You hear it and it stays with you. Maybe the fact that it’s short and sweet and easy to remember, yet still makes an impact is one of the reasons I hear it on repeat most days. “… A light heart lives long.”

And here’s the thing, as a mama, my most important job of course is to love, nurture and raise my babies in a way for them to be prepared for life in this world. I want the best for them, now and always. I want them to know what it means to have a light heart through it all. And sometimes I feel like a way to prepare for life is to learn how to handle the ups and downs… how to process and be okay through the highs and lows, the good and the bad. Making space in our home to celebrate even life’s littlest moments, like a weekend morning together as a family is a way to enjoy the good and set a place for those good “stick with you” memories to be made. It’s just one of those ways to keep the heart light, and life together long. And when you’re able to celebrate all the good things, no matter how big or small, the rest kind of just rolls right off, because there is always something good around the corner, another reason to celebrate on it’s way.

After we had our first donut baking day, it’s definitely a treat my little ones request often! They just loved that we could mix a few ingredients and pull a fresh, warm batch out of the oven to enjoy. With the holidays coming up, we’re already planning where our tree will go, have been making hot cocoas more often than not and infusing some of the seasons fun and festive flavors into our kitchen! So with a weekend morning where we didn’t have to be anywhere but home bright and early, we used our time to celebrate the moments we have being a family together, and one of our favorite tastes of the season… peppermint.

I used International Delight® Peppermint Mocha Coffee Creamer to infuse a bit of this taste in our morning donuts and then of course, it was also the perfect addition to my morning cup of coffee… because if you know me at all, you know I like a creamy cup of joe. We actually have quite a few of their festive flavors in our refrigerator right now, because my husband went on a bit of a shopping spree when he thought of me in the dairy section of Walmart and filled the cart with about four of their new holiday flavors. It was kind of a pleasant surprise when a couple of days later International Delight® asked me about using their creamers to make a recipe. Well, yeah! We’ve already got a fridge full that we’re sipping on like it’s egg nog on Christmas Eve.

So back to those donuts. With a simple base recipe for baked chocolate cake donuts, a ganache topping infused with Peppermint Mocha Creamer and a few crushed up peppermint bits on top, my kiddos were in donut heaven. And since the creamer looked so delicious going into my cup, we let them use their choice of creamer in their milk bottles. Brayden loved the Peppermint Mocha Coffee Creamer while Aliyah’s favorite was the International Delight® Sugar Cookie adding a bit of sweet to her milk.

Have you made donuts at home before, or tried cooking with a unique ingredient? I LOVE the whole process of baking (okay maybe not the cleaning up part), there is just something about the warmth and the scents that fill the home. I’d love to hear your favorite baking recipe! Shout out in the comments below.

 
When the hubby sends you pics like this because he’s excited to have found some new creamer flavors for you to try in your morning cup, you know he’s a good one. 🙂