Easter Doughnuts

Just a quick post before I head out to my friend’s house to have a little get together for our kids. I made Baked donuts. They were super easy to make. I hope they all love them. I also may cinnamon rolls or breakfast tomorrow but I will post more about those once they are baked. I picked up a Wilton’s doughnut pan at Hobby Lobby the other day. I was supposed to make cupcakes for the get together today but I think the donuts will be a nice treat for the kids.

Wilton’s Baked Doughnut

source: Recipe on the doughnut pan wrapper

makes 12 regular-sized doughnuts      

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour, sifted

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 Tbsp butter, melted

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 425°F.  Spray the 6-cavity doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk in buttermilk, eggs, and butter and beat until just combined.  Fill each donut cup until about 2/3 full.

3.  Bake 7-9 minutes, or until the top of the donuts spring back when touched.  Cool in pan for about 4-5 minutes before removing from pan.  Complete donuts with either a dusting of powdered sugar, glaze, or cinnamon-sugar topping.  Best served fresh on the same day.

I took half of the donuts and topped them with powdered sugar. Just but about a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in a plastic bag and place one doughnut at a time in the bag and shake gently. Tap the doughnut a bit to remove excess sugar.

Cinnamon Sugar topping:

2 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
2 Tbs. butter, melted

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Happy Birthday to our Little Diva

Well we celebrated Cierra’s 5th birthday this week. She had a sleepover last night and a little get together today. Her real birthday was this past Wednesday and when it’s your special day in this house you get to choose whatever you want to eat that day and your choice of cake flavors.  Cierra’s choices for her special day was powdered donuts for breakfast. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch and Chicken Avocado Soup with flour tortillas. It’s 112° here in Oklahoma. Who wants to eat soup? My crazy kid does. Well I had to make the birthday girl what she wanted but rest assured I had the fan pointing right at the dinner table and the air conditioner on for sure.

 15 Minute Donuts makes about 30 Donut Holes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 Tbsp melted butter

2 cups vegetable oil, for frying

Granulated sugar, cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar, for coating

Directions:

Preheat oil over medium heat in a 10 inch non-stick fry-pan (keeping an eye on it as it is heating).  In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together milk, buttermilk, sugar and melted butter.  Using a fork stir in dry ingredients and mix just until combine (think of making biscuit dough, you just want to incorporate the ingredients).

Once the oil has reached 350 degrees, measure out 1/2 tablespoonfuls dough and using your hands gently roll into a ball (gently rolling to keep them fluffy, think of rolling something really fragile.  Again this is like a biscuit dough you don’t want to overwork it).  Gently place dough ball into oil and fry until golden brown on bottom then flip and cook reverse side until golden brown.  Carefully remove with metal tongs or a fork and drain onto a paper towel lined plate.  Roll in sugar. Repeat this process with remaining dough (you can fit about 8 donuts in the pan at once if you can work that fast =).  Note: these are best enjoyed the day they are made.

 Source: Cooking Classy

Honey Oatmeal Sandwich Bread makes 2 9×5 inch loaves

Ingredients:

2 cups boiling water

1 cup rolled oats

½ cup honey

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons salt

1 package of active dry yeast(2 1/4 tsp)

½ cup warm water (110 degrees F)

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour*

3 ½ to 4 cups bread flour**

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons honey

handful of rolled oats

1. In large mixing bowl (stand mixer bowl if you have one), combine boiling water to oats, honey, butter and salt. Let stand 1 hour.
2. In small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
3. Pour the yeast mixture into the oats mixture. Combine wheat flour and bread flour in separate bowl. Add 2 cups of flour mixture to oats mixture and combine well. Continue adding flour mixture to mixing bowl by ½ cup increments until dough pulls together. This will happen when between 5 ½ & 6 cups of flour has been added. You may not need the last ½ cup of flour.
4. When the dough has pulled together, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Or add your bread hook to your mixer and knead for a few minutes.
5. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hr. (I preheat the oven for about 5 minutes then turn it off, make sure it’s warm but not hot and put the bowl in there to rise, this seemed to work best because for this recipe is there is much more flour than yeast).
6. Deflate the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place in 9 x 5 greased loaf pans and cover with damp cloth & let rise again until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. (I return the pans to the oven for this step too.)
7. Preheat oven to 375. While oven is preheating mix milk and honey together in mug and microwave for about 20 seconds. Brush warm milk mixture over loaves and generously sprinkle with rolled oats.
8. Bake loaves at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until top is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool before removing from pans.

** I use half bread flour and half All purpose flour, a total of up to 6 cups. Only because I don’t have wheat flour in my pantry yet.

Chicken Avocado Soup source: My friend Christina

1 1/2 TBS olive oil

1 white onion, diced fairly big

8 cloves garlic, minced

2-4 jalapeno, sliced

1 Qt. chicken stock

chicken breast, diced; or I use leftover chicken and shred it

1/4 c fresh lime juice

1 tomato, diced

1 avocado, diced

salt and pepper to taste

cilantro for garnish

Directions:

Saute jalapeno and onion for 3-4 minutes and garlic and saute another minute or so. Stir in chicken stock, chicken, lime juice, salt and pepper. Gently simmer until chicken is done. In the last few minutes of cooking add avocado and cilantro. Add more salt and pepper if desired. Serve with flour tortillas.

Flour Tortillas:

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c All purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 c Hot water

1/4 c shortening, butter, or lard (using butter tastes better than shortening but tortillas get hard quick)

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients into a bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry cutter until flour mix resembles a coarse mill. Add hot water mix until just combined.Knead for 3 minutes. Dough should be fairly stiff but easy to work with. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Divide dough into 12 equal balls. Roll each ball out super thin. Cook on a dry nonstick skillet over medium high heat. When cooking tortillas bubbles should form on top, once top starts to form bubbles flip tortilla and allow to cook until light brown circles form on the 2nd side. Place cooked tortillas in a tortilla warmer or in a clean kitchen towel wrapped in foil. Serve immediately while they are warm.

For her party I made 4 different types of pizza, cheese, pepperoni, sausage and buffalo chicken along with a side salad. She wanted a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and roses on her cake. This is what I came up with. I am pretty proud but let me tell you buttercream frosting is not my friend in August. It was so soft that I had to put it in the freezer to cool it down enough just so I could frost the darn thing. It was good and oh so pretty if I do say so myself. Cierra loved it too, that’s all that really matters anyway right?!

Strawberry Layer Cake

Yield: 3 x 8″ round layers

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups (12 oz/350 g) granulated sugar

1 (3 oz/85 g) package strawberry flavored gelatin (such as Jell-O)

1 cup (8 oz/227 g) butter, softened

4 eggs (room temperature)

3 cups (10.5 oz/300 g) sifted cake & pastry flour

1 tablespoon (15 mL/17 g) baking powder

3/4 teaspoon (3.75 mL/5 g) salt

1 cup (236 ml/8 liquid oz) whole milk, room temperature

1 tablespoon (15 ml) pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup (2 liquid oz/4.5 oz/130 g) strawberry puree made from frozen strawberries (puree itself should be closer to room temp, not frozen or icy)

Method:

1. 1. If you’re making your own strawberry puree, remove frozen strawberries (about 2 handfuls) from freezer and place in a single layer in a flat dish to thaw slightly. Place into food processor and puree the strawberries until smooth. Stir to ensure it is nice and smooth and not icy. Measure out 1/4 cup for cake and 3 tablespoons for frosting, and freeze the remaining puree for another use.

2.Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter, line with parchment, and flour three round 8-inch pans, tapping out the excess. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl or measuring cup, combine and stir the milk, strawberry puree, and the vanilla. Set aside.

4. Sift and whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, and set aside.

5. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the sugar, gelatin, and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy–about 5 minutes.

6. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with spatula.

7. Add the wet & dry ingredients to the creamed mixture by alternating–beginning and ending with dry ingredients and mixing just enough after each addition to incorporate, but not overmix.

8. Divide the batter in three, spreading it evenly with a small offset palette knife. If you have a kitchen scale, weigh each pan filled with batter, to ensure 3 even layers.

9. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes clean when inserted into the center. Be so careful to not overbake. Check cakes at 20 minutes, but not before, and once you feel it’s almost ready, set the timer for 2 minute intervals. Let cool on racks for 10 minutes before loosening the sides with a small metal spatula, and invert onto greased wire racks. Gently turn cakes back up, so the tops are up and cool completely.

10. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days, refrigerator for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 2 months. Best eaten day one.

Whipped Strawberry Frosting (or, shall we call it Strawberry Ice Cream Frosting?)

Ingredients:

3 sticks + 2 tablespoons (13 oz/375 g) unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

4 cups sifted (18 oz/500 g) confectioners’ sugar (icing, powdered)

1 tablespoon (15 mL) milk

1 1/2 teaspoon (7.5 mL) pure vanilla extract

pinch of salt

3 tablespoons strawberry puree made from frozen strawberries (if you want the frosting seed-free, you can put the puree through a sieve before adding to frosting)

Method

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter for 8 minutes on medium speed (I use “4” on my KitchenAid). Butter will become very pale & creamy.

2. Add remaining ingredients, except strawberry puree, and mix on low-speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. Frosting will be very light, creamy, and fluffy.

3. Add strawberry puree (can be cool, but not frozen or icy) and mix until incorporated.

4. Best used right away, but can be covered in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or so.

*I colored my frosting with Winton gel dye. A mix of red and pink.