Baking & the Big Screen: Donuts and Boogie Nights
Welcome to easily the weirdest Baking & the Big Screen combination I’ve ever done - and probably will ever do: Boogie Nights and donuts. I found an adorable little donut pan at Target and then decided to find a movie that featured donuts - and somehow, someway, Boogie Nights was at the top of the list. Looking back, considering this movie is about the pornography industry, I should have been slightly more cautious and suspicious as to how donuts played into it, but luckily that wasn’t the NSFW part - though it was in a weirdly Tarantino-esque scene. So thanks to a strong desire to make donuts, I finally ended up seeing the star-studded insanity that is Boogie Nights.
Boogie Nights
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Luis Guzmán, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, Heather Graham, William H. Macy, Joanna Gleason
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Released in 1997
Available to watch on HBO Max
I feel like I should have looked into this movie a teensy bit more before deciding to link it to donuts for this blog, because despite not exactly being prudish, I paused at the idea that I would have to write about this one for my friends and family to read. But then again, when will I ever be able to create this baffling of a connection? So, Boogie Nights it is! And it’s been days since I watched it and I’m still sorting out how I feel about this movie. The entire plot is pretty much based around the fact that Marky Mark is packing….and finds his calling, if you will.
What I wasn’t expecting was how truly dark this movie is. There is a laugh-out-loud-funny runner about William H. Macy’s character and his wife, but even that takes an incredibly twisted turn. What seems like a weirdly jovial movie celebrating promiscuity and the porn industry and the glamorous lifestyle success could bring actually turns into a story about how nothing is as it seems and that there isn’t always gold at the end of the rainbow, but rather some pretty brutal reality. I’m not sure I’ll ever watch this movie again, and I’m not even sure if I can recommend it, but I’m kind of glad I finally watched it and can cross it off the list. And it’s all thanks to the fact that Don Cheadle’s character decides to stop by a donut store in the last fourth of the movie.
One thing I can fully recommend is this donut plan. It’s cold outside, so it’s the perfect time of year for a hot cocoa, cider, coffee or tea, so pairing that drink with some cute little donuts is an even better idea. I love that these didn’t have any greasiness to it since they’re baked and not fried, and they’re actually pretty customizable. I bought a few fancy sugars with different flavors to them (maple latte, gingerbread and peppermint vanilla) and changed up the cinnamon sugar dusting to these, and they turned out great. They can be a teensy bit dry, but heating them up a little and having them with one of those aforementioned drinks makes the perfect winter combo. No joke, I have plans to make them again the day after this article goes live!