Groundhog Doughnuts

It's time for my favorite regional nonsense holiday - Groundhog's Day!  Next week marks the date on which all weather persons and scientists eagerly await so they can give accurate predictions about the upcoming seasonal changes.

Look, between you and I, I'm well aware that groundhogs can't actually predict when spring will come, but when you live in a place where the weather is pretty miserable from October to April, and you're facing the post-holiday doldrums, sometimes a little nonsense holiday is exactly what you need.

So we go all out on the nonsense here - we're 3 hours behind Punxsutawney PA where the official groundhog shadow watch takes place - so I record it to watch with the boys when they get up.  ANd we have some sort of crazy groundhog breakfast while we watch - groundhogs made of chocolate bars, or pancakes, or graham crackers.  This is one of the boys' favorites because it involves doughnuts.  We're very very rarely doughnuts for breakfast in this house, so that makes the day even more special for them!

Groundhog doughnuts

2 doughnuts (I like mine "dirt" colored, so chocolate or cinnamon, or old fashioned)

3 mini brownies

1 tootsie roll

royal frosting

1 pink starburst

candy eyeballs

1.  Take 2 of the mini brownies and roll them each into a small ball.  Shape the ball so that it is slightly narrower at top, like an egg.
2. Place each of these brownies in the hole of the doughnut.  Crumble the third brownie and use it to simulate dirt on the plate.
3. Cut the tootsie roll into 5 pieces.  Flatten 4 of the pieces and cut lines on one end to simulate toes and place on the doughnut.
4. Cut the last piece of tootsie roll into 4 pieces and place them as ears on each of the brownie balls.
5. Cut off a corner of the starbust and cut that corner into two pieces.  Roll each piece into a small ball.
6. Use royal frosting to stick the starburst in the middle of the "face" for a nose, and then use the royal frosting to place the candy eyeballs above the nose.