Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts for Groundhog Day

 
Today, 2 February, is Groundhog Day. This annual event, celebrated in the fabulous film of the same name, involves prediction of the remaining length of winter by a groundhog.  If the groundhog sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter; if it does not see its shadow, then spring is on its way.

One of my favourite scenes in the film, Groundhog Day, involves Phil Connors (Bill Murray) chowing down on a gluttonous feast of pancakes, cakes, pastries and coffee, while his horrified companion, Rita (Andie McDowell), looks on.  Rita tartly remarks, "I like to see a man of advancing years throw caution to the wind, it's inspiring in a way."  Phil, however, doesn't care; he knows that whatever he does that day won't matter, because he will start the same day all over again when he wakes up in the morning.

(Still from Groundhog Day sourced from the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema website)

In honour of Groundhog Day and one of my favourite movies, I made chocolate glazed doughnuts.  Yes folks, they are fried, not baked.  The recipe that I used was from the book, Donuts, by Tracey Meharg.  The recipe is entitled Cookies and Cream Donuts, and has been published online here.

I followed the recipe as written, but omitted the cookie cream.  I also ran out of frosting because I had a dozen doughnuts instead of just ten as stated by the recipe, so I used a small amount of CSR Berry Bliss Icing Mixture to ice the remaining two doughnuts.  To finish my glazed doughnuts, I topped them with an array of sprinkles.

These doughnuts are suitably decadent for Phil Connors to chow down on in the café scene in Groundhog Day. Bon appetit Phil, and Happy Groundhog Day everyone.