Bonuts — Fried Dough, Porch Light, and the Sweet Side of a Hard Week

Fourth of July. Cookout at the cabin. Smoked ribs. The grandkids ran through the field. Connie and I sat on the porch and listened to fireworks from town drifting up the hollow.

The creek was running clear Sunday afternoon. I watched a kingfisher work the riffle. Did not move for an hour. Some Sundays the watching is the worship.

Connie made jam Saturday afternoon. Wild blackberries from the patch up the hollow. Twelve jars. The pantry is filling for winter.

Read the paper at breakfast Tuesday. The county news is not great. The mines have not come back and they will not come back. The young people leave. The hollows empty. We stay.

Connie cut my hair on the porch Tuesday afternoon. She has been cutting my hair for forty years. The barber in Pineville cannot do what Connie does, which is also love.

Travis sent a photo of Earl Thomas riding on the mower with him at a job site. The boy is wearing a Hensley Landscaping T-shirt that's too big. Three generations on a mower. I saved the photo.

The neighbor up the road — Old Roy, eighty-seven, lives alone — had a small heart scare. We took him soup beans Tuesday. Cornbread too. He cried a little when he ate. We all cry over soup beans eventually.

Drove to Pineville for parts Wednesday. The hardware store man knew me. We talked about the weather and the price of feed. Forty minutes for a five-minute errand. That is rural Kentucky.

My back was tight after the wood-splitting Saturday. Took an Aleve. Slept eight hours. Got up.

Worked on a basement remodel job in Lexington. The work was good. The pay was good. The body is tired.

Sunday service at Harlan First Baptist when we go. Pastor preached about Ruth and Boaz. The choir sang. Connie wore her gray dress.

I checked the truck oil Saturday. The mileage on this truck is criminal.

The dog — old Beau, fifteen years old — slept by the wood stove all afternoon Tuesday. He used to be a hunting dog. Now he is a heating pad with opinions.

Connie read aloud from a novel Tuesday evening while I worked on the bench. Some Appalachian writer she had picked up at the library in Whitesburg. The voice was the voice of where we live. We listened together.

Amber sent the kids' school photos this week. Nadia is taller every year. Marcus has Amber's serious face. Little Betty has Mama's eyes.

I went up to Earl's grave at the Evarts cemetery Saturday. Brought a beer. Drank half. Poured the rest on the dirt. Some traditions are mine alone.

I sat on the porch with bourbon at sundown Friday. The fog rolled into the hollow the way it has every fog of every year. The porch was the porch. The bourbon was the bourbon.

Drove the truck to the dump Saturday afternoon. Saw three deer crossing the road on the way back. The mountains have been giving back this year.

I split a half-cord of wood Saturday. Slowly. The back does not let me work fast anymore. It got done. The wood was for the smokehouse.

I sat at the kitchen table Tuesday night working on the recipe project. Mama's soup beans. I cannot get the words right yet.

I sat at that kitchen table Tuesday night trying to find words for Mama’s soup beans and could not get them right — some things are too close to name cleanly. But I kept thinking about Connie’s blackberry jam cooling on the shelf, and Travis’s boy in that oversized T-shirt, and Old Roy crying over a bowl of beans, and I figured this week called for something warm and sweet and a little bit ridiculous, the kind of thing you make because you need to feel the good of your hands doing something simple. These bonuts — biscuit dough dropped in hot oil, rolled in cinnamon sugar while they’re still hot — are exactly that: humble, fast, and worth every bit of the mess.

Bonuts

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 can (16 oz) refrigerated biscuit dough (8 biscuits)
• Vegetable oil, for frying (about 2 inches deep in pan)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Heat the oil. Pour vegetable oil into a heavy-bottomed skillet or Dutch oven to a depth of about 2 inches. Heat over medium to 350°F. Use a thermometer if you have one — the oil is ready when a small piece of dough dropped in sizzles immediately and floats.
2. Prepare the sugar coating. In a shallow bowl or paper bag, combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Stir or shake to mix. Set aside.
3. Cut the biscuits. Separate the biscuit dough into individual rounds. Use a small round cutter or the cap of a water bottle to punch a hole in the center of each biscuit, making a donut shape. Save the holes — those fry up fine too.
4. Fry in batches. Working in batches of 2–3 at a time, carefully lower the biscuit rounds into the hot oil. Fry for about 1 to 2 minutes per side, until deep golden brown. Do not crowd the pan or the oil temperature will drop.
5. Drain and coat. Remove bonuts with a slotted spoon and drain briefly on paper towels — just 30 seconds or so. While still hot, toss each one in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until fully coated. Repeat with remaining dough including the holes.
6. Serve immediately. Bonuts are best eaten hot, right off the paper towel. Set them on a plate and do not expect them to last long.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 370mg