Making Doughnuts

We all love a freshly made doughnut, no matter how unhealthy they may be. However, it can be a pain making that trek to the grocery store or bakery every morning. Fortunately, doughnuts can be easily made at home. Then, you can sit down with your hot doughnuts and coffee as you study for your online courses.

Here is a simple, easy-to-follow recipe for basic doughnuts:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2/3 cups milk
• 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Oil for frying
• Powdered sugar for topping
• Granulated sugar for topping

Mix two cups of flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a bowl.

Combine the butter or margarine and milk into a different, medium-sized bowl

Add eggs, sugar and vanilla extract into a large bowl and beat the ingredients together until they’re thick.

Add the milk mixture to the egg mixture and beat the ingredients together. Combine with the dry mixture. Add the last cup of flour and mix well. Cover and chill the dough for two hours.

Roll the dough out a half-inch thick on a floured surface and cut it with a floured doughnut cutter.

Fry the doughnuts in oil at about 375ºF. Cook until each side turns a golden color. Drain the doughnuts on a paper towel and let them cool on a rack.

You can decorate the doughnuts with either powdered sugar or granulated sugar by placing warm doughnuts in a bag filled with sugar and shaking them. You can also enjoy them plain if you desire.

To learn more about online education, such as online culinary schools, check out www.onlinecollegedegrees.net.

Sources

eHow (2012)

HubPages (2012)

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Apple Pear Pudding Cups

Delicious things do come in small packages.  Take these dainty bread pudding cups for instance.

Makes 1 dozen

• 1/2 loaf sliced bread, cubed
• 1/2 can (about 1/2 cup) sweet condensed milk
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 large pear
• 2 braeburn apples
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• pinch sea salt

Peel and dice the pear and apples.  Toss with cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl.  Mix in the bread cubes.

Combine the eggs, milk, condensed milk, salt, and vanilla in another bowl.  Pour over the apples and pear and bread.  Toss until well distributed, don’t worry if the bread disappears.  It’s more of a structural component anyways.

Fill muffin cups, preferably silicone for easy removal, and bake at 350ºF for 45 minutes.  Let the cups cool slightly and firm up before popping them out of the muffin cups.

Serving size portions of warm, soft apple/pear bread pudding should be accompanied by ice cream and dulce de leche (see plating above).  And yes, that is a chip in my ceramic knife!  I wish everyone was a little more careful in the kitchen.

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Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Remember how I was trying to think of ways to use up my bag of Teff flour?  Well, I did it again.  This time I made muffins with a boost of fiber from the sneaky addition of Teff to the batter.  The neat thing about Teff is that in small portions it is easily incorporated into any recipe with all-purpose flour, including these lemony blueberry muffins.

Look good enough to eat, eh?

Here’s another tip for you… If you are like me and don’t like soggy areas of muffin around the fresh berries, use dried blueberries instead.  Dried berries are always in season and you won’t have to wait for them to thaw.  The best part is no soggy muffins!

• 1 cup dried blueberry flavoured cranberries
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Teff flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 12 paper muffin cups
• turbino sugar for sprinkling

Note: My typical recipe includes 2 or 3 mashed bananas, the lack of extra moisture should have been more apparent to me.  This recipe would be improved with the addition of a 1/2 cup of plain yogurt or applesauce.  I didn’t have anything else on hand.

Pre heat the oven to 325ºF.

Mix the wet ingredients with the lemon and blueberries and set aside.  Combine the dry ingredients (except the turbino sugar) in a large bowl.  Make a well in the dry mix and pour in the wet mix.  Stir until the flour disappears, the consistency should be lumpy but evenly moist.

Divide the batter between 12 regular sized muffin cups in a metal tin.  These would also be cute as mini muffins for a brunch or coffee table.  Top with about 1/2 tsp of the turbino sugar.  Turbino sugar is coarse and will not completely melt during baking, this leaves a crunchy topping to the muffins.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotate the pan half way through.  The middles should be set and the edges lightly golden brown.

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Put some Teff in your Step

On a whim I bought a bag of Teff Flour.  Well it was more of a curiosity than a whim.  Teff is the smallest grain and contains higher percentages of bran and germ, and coincidentally a good amount of protein with very little gluten.  It is often found in Ethiopian flat bread.  I tried the recipe for peanut butter cookies from the rear of the bag, not the best cookies so they have not grazed the pages of my blog.  Because of that failure, I was feeling stuck with this whole grain flour.

Waffles were a good place to start experimenting.  Waffles can take some punishment in the culinary ring and come out edible.  At least Pepper likes them if the kids won’t touch the Frankenstein waffles.

I substituted 1/4 cup of regular flour for the Teff flour, and otherwise made my regular recipe.  The kids didn’t notice a difference.  I had one waffle and couldn’t fathom a second (as I usually have two, plus Little Sisters’ left overs if there are any).  They were surprisingly light but filling.  An excellent addition to my experiments-gone-right box.

What else could use a little Teff pep?  I’m on to the next idea in the kitchen.

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Whipped Cream Makes Everything Better

Just one of those weekends with extra whipped cream begging to be friends with breakfast.

Heavy cream is the best.  I avoid the carbonized cans and frozen hydrogenated oils.  Stick to the good stuff.  No imposters on my waffles please.

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Vegan Goodies for a Friend

Update: I tweeked the recipe a little more, enjoy!

I made these raspberry bars for a friend to make her feel better.  Who wouldn’t smile at this?

Since neither of us can eat tree nuts, and gluten-free oats are not always gluten-free, I modified the original recipe to the following:

Crumb:

• 1  cup rice flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca starch
• 1 cup shredded coconut (toasted)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups quinoa flakes
• 3 Tbsp cane sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2/3 c coconut oil

Filling:

• 3 cup frozen raspberries (two bags organic frozen raspberries), thawed and drained
• 1-2 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cardamom

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Toast the shredded coconut as the oven warms up, just until lightly golden, about 5-10 minutes.  Set the berries to drain in a colander (save the juice to make fruit syrup for your waffles!  Also good added to seltzer or ginger ale.).  Line a square (preferably metal) 8×8″ pan with parchment paper, this will make it super easy to get the bars out later.

Combine the dry ingredients of the crumb mixture with a whisk.  Add about 1/2 cup of the coconut oil and work it into the flours and spices.   Using your hands, rub and mash the mixture until it resembles a coarse damp sand.  Add a tablespoon of the coconut oil at a time until you like the texture of the crumb.

Pat about 2/3rds of the crumb into the pan.  You want it to stick together but hold yourself back from compressing the bottom layer too much.

Take the raspberries to a bowl, keep the juices collected in a clean jar in your fridge until you can make something with it.  Don’t waste anything!  Stir in the other filling ingredients.  Spread the berry filling evenly over the bottom crust in the pan.

(option: add a bit more cinnamon to the remaining crumb mixture and some honey)  Lightly sprinkle the remaining crumb on top of the filling.  Bake for 30 – 45 minutes (it will depend on the type of pan and your oven).

Let it cool completely before removing it from the pan, you can put the whole pan in the fridge to cool the pan before picking up the parchment ends to remove the bars.  Cut into squares or bars and keep refrigerated up to 3 days (if they last that long!).  Best served the day you make them.

Chef’s Notes: With the quantities of quinoa and coconut listed in this version, it seemed like there wasn’t enough of the crumb to go around.  Next time, I will use 2 cups of quinoa flakes and 2/3 cup shredded coconut.  The toasted bits of coconut give hints of a nutty flavor and crunch that is missing due to the absent oats.

Pepper was eyeing herself a raspberry bar too.

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Valentine Breakfast

I made a heart-shaped pancake and coffee as a Valentine’s Day breakfast for Hubby. He said it was the best pancake he’s ever had.  I told him it’s the cream cheese and blueberry preserves that made it special!

You can find silly pancake makers that will form a heart for your loved ones’ breakfast, or if you have a big cookie cutter you can do it yourself without the superfluous kitchen gadget.  The cookie cutter must be metal and have your oven mit on stand-by.  Grease the inside surface of the cutter and heat it up with the pan on medium heat.

I made the batter (Aunt Jemima Buttermilk) rather thick, adding only about 3/4 of the water needed.  This would help the batter slowly expand when I poured it into the mold.

Cook as usual and carefully lift your cutter once the edges are done, then flip.  You can flip the whole thing, then remove the mold.  Your call.

I decorated the pancake with soft plain cream cheese and red gel “Luv”.  Warm blueberry preserves were on the side for dipping.

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

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Giant Cinnamon Raisin Yeast Rolls

From The Great Holiday Baking Book (Ojakangas) comes the first cinnamon bun that wasn’t too dry.  I’ve had rough times with the rolled up buns, usually too dry or over baked.  I did tweak the recipe to refrain from pecans and increased the butter a little, I think that was the ticket for a moist cake-like roll. Those in accredited online culinary colleges would agree that this was the key.

Adapted from Giant Cinnamon-Pecan Rolls by B. Ojakangas

Dough

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tpo salt
• 1 Tbsp yeast
• 1 1/8 cup milk
• 3 Tbsp butter

Filling

• 2 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp bread crumbs
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup raisins

Pre-heat oven to 375ºF.  Prepare a baking dish with brown sugar and butter, about 2 Tbsp in small pieces scattered over the sugar.

Warm the milk and melt the butter.  Mix the dry ingredients and add the milk and butter.  Stir until a ball forms then leave it covered for 10 minutes.  Turn out on a floured surface and roll out the dough.  Smear with butter.  Sprinkle with filling.  Roll and cut even size pieces.  Snuggle the rolls into the pan and cover to rise until doubled, about 25 minutes.  Bake for 25-35 minutes.  Test that the center is cooked with a skewer.  The texture of this roll is a hybrid of yeast bread and cake, I might of let it rest too long in the initial stage that made it more like cake than bread.  But hey, it’s goooood!

Optional icing as shown was from a can, you can leave it off if you like.

This recipe was added to the Sweet As Sugar Cookie link party here!

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Feeling French Today

Bonjour!

Without realizing it, or even planning it, today ended up being on the Frenchy side.  For breakfast, I made crepes filled with fresh blueberries and whip cream.  Lunch was a vichyssoise made with out cream and served warm with home made rolls.  The carnivorous Hubby was slightly miffed there was a severe lack of meat thus far.  Tough bananas baby!

Blueberry Crepes

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• sprinkle salt

Whisk.  Pour into a pan with melted butter, swirl.  Brown on one side.  Flip.  Cook until done but not browned.  Fill with whipped cream and fresh blueberries.

Vichyssoise Lite

Adapted from Cooking with Herbs & Spices by Craig Claiborne

• 1 bunch leeks
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 3 russet potatoes
• 2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• chives (garnish)

Special equipment: blender, immersion blender, or food mill.

Trim the green part of the leeks off, save for making stock.  Thoroughly rinse the whites, cut in half lengthwise to release the layers and the sand between them.

Jullienne the leek and onion.  In a large soup pot, add the oil and butter over medium heat, add the leek and onion and cook until it begins to brown.  Add chicken stock and potatoes.  Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes.  Blend the soup and return to the pot.  Add the milk, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Serve garnished with chives.

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Egg McMidnitechef

Do you ever get home in a mad, famished state?

That was me today.  A very light lunch consisting of butternut squash soup, frozen from my last batch and saved, and some left over birthday cake for dessert.  By the I was home with the kids bouncing at my sides I needed to fix a quick snack.  Enter the egg McMidnitechef.

Make it simple or fancy with fresh tomato and avocado slices.

Toast some English Muffins.  Sear some black forest ham.  You know, I was thinking about how I used to think that black forest ham meant it was related to the cake.  But that’s not exactly right, now is it?  It occurred to me that this name probably has more to do with the Black Forest in Germany.  Germans love their pig.  And chocolate with cherry liquor.  Um… where was I?

The eggs!

Scramble 1 egg for each McMidnitechef plus one extra, in my case I used 3 large eggs for two servings.  Add some sharp cheddar cheese and let it melt.

Stack tomato slices, ham, avocado, then the cheesy eggs on the warm muffins.  Enjoy with your favorite beverage, I suggest coffee or orange juice.

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