Apple Cider Doughnuts

So last week the family and I went apple picking up at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville. We had a wonderful time hiking on the mountain and picking apples and peaches, all while enjoying the beautiful mountain view. Once you have your fill of all the apple picking, hiking and hay rides, and you are ready to go home. There is a wondrous, mouth watering aroma that intoxicates you as you wait to check out; are the fresh, hot apple cider doughnuts that they have there. 

We bought a dozen, and as soon as week got to the car we dove in. One each for my family of four, to hold us over until we get lunch. All that walking and the smell of those doughnuts made us hungry. There is something about a warm, sugary doughnut that just makes me happy. We were planning on saving the rest for when we get home, but traffic brought on the munchies and we were left with a sad state of affairs, no more doughnuts.

So I went on a search to find a recipe to replicate the doughnut goodness I was missing. Have I told you how much I love Pinterest? Where else is there a greater concentration of anything you need to find. Anyway, I found a recipe from, Will Cook For Friends, that seemed most like what I wanted to make. 

One thing I was worried about when making doughnuts is that most recipes call for them to be fried in shortening, not something I use. So I was relieved that she was able to use canola oil to cook my doughnuts. The recipe is really easy but a lot of waiting, because the dough needs to be chilled. The results were great, everything a doughnut should be. My family, were extremely happy with the outcome as well. 

Apple Cider Doughnuts

adapted from Will Cook For Friends

Makes about 24 doughnuts and doughnut holes

Dough

1 Cup Apple Cider

3 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

Pinch of Ground Cloves

Pinch of Ground Nutmeg

1/2 Stick or 4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, room temperature

1/2 Cup Organic Cane Sugar

1/2 Cup Organic Light Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup Buttermilk

Oil, for frying

Coating

3/4 Cup Organic Cane Sugar

2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

Directions

In a medium saucepan bring apple cider to a boil over medium high heat. Then reduce heat to medium low and reduce to about a 1/4 cup. This should take about 25-30 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Wisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spice in a bowl. Set aside.

In bowl of mixer with paddle attachment beat butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Reduce mixer to low and add buttermilk and apple cider. Mix in flour, just until combined and ball starts to form.

Prep to two cookie sheets with parchment paper and dust with flour. Spread dough on cookie sheet, dust with flour and top with parchment paper. Using the second cookie sheet and flatten the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness.

Chill in freezer for 30 minutes. Once dough is chilled use a doughnut cutter or in my case a round cookie cutter and a cake icing tip (you gotta make it work with what you got). Place on second cookie sheet, and re roll any extra dough to continue cutting out doughnuts. When you are done, place back in freezer for another 20-30 minutes. 

At this time heat your oil. You need about 3 inches of oil to ensure that you can flip the doughnuts. Heat oil to 350 degrees using a thermometer to maintain proper heat. Remove doughnuts from the freezer and place wire rack over a towel lined cookie sheet for draining. 

Cook doughnuts 3 or 4 at a time to not lower the temp of the oil. Cook for about 1 minute on the first side and 40-50 second on the second using a chopstick or slotted spoon to turn. Remove form oil with slotted spoon to wire rack to cool for 30 seconds and move to the cinnamon sugar mixture. Turn to coat and move back to wire rack. 

You can let them cool for a minute or two before enjoying to ensure you don't burn your mouth or just dive on in. They are worth the scorched tongue and fingers. I hope enjoy these fall flavored treat with a warm cup of cider and whatever you like to enjoy doughnuts with. Be blessed and enjoy. 

Banana Crumb Muffins

I love muffins; they are a great little handheld breakfast. You can grab them and head out the door with your coffee or tea, and who doesn't like the idea of an easy breakfast. Bananas on the other hand I have not always been a fan of, but in muffin form they are so good. And when you add a crumb topping things get so much better.

These banana muffins are quick to whip up and leave your house smelling so good. If you ever plan on selling your house, have some of these baking and it will surely get you a good price. This particular recipe makes quite a large amount of muffins; 3 dozen muffins or 2 dozen and a loaf of bread. They freeze really well so you can have some for when guest stop by or if you want to send some to a friend.


 
Banana Crumb Muffins
Adapted from Designs by Kristen Ann


 
2 cups brown sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

5 mashed bananas (with cinnamon and nutmeg)


 
Streusel Topping

½ cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs, mix well, and make sure to scrap the bottom of the bowl. Add flour, and baking soda, mix until combined. Then add bananas. Set this mixture aside.


 
For the streusel topping, cream butter and sugar together (the butter should be very soft). Add flour and combine completely, the mixture should look like a crumble. You want to have some texture to the streusel, so with your hands you can clump it together while mixing. Add just over half the streusel to the muffin mixture and lightly fold in. There should be waves of streusel in the mixture, you do not want to over mix this!!


 
Scoop the muffin mixture into the liners, going about 2/3 up. This recipe should make about 3 dozen muffins. Sprinkle the remaining streusel on top of the muffins generously. You can pat it down slightly to make sure it sticks. Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes.

 
These are a really great way to get some fruit in to your kids without them knowing. My kids love them and I hope yours do to. Be blessed and enjoy.



Links to:
Sweet for Saturday @Sweet as Sugar Cookies

Crumb Cake

Crumb Cakes hold a special place in my heart. Now, I am a Jersey girl always and forever. I was born there and spent half my life there. I don’t get to go back as often as I like, as a matter of fact I haven’t been there since my little man was 1 (he just turned 7). But, wherever I get a chance to go there is always one place I HAVE to go is Pinho’s Bakery. I worked there in high school up into the time I moved to VA. I loved it; during the summers I worked the morning shifts and there is nothing better than the smell of fresh warm pastries. Every morning bring the big sheet pans of crumb cake and other warm baked goods; did I mention the best perk of my job whatever I ate on the job was free. So my breakfast would include a warm square of crumb cake with a double shot of espresso (Don’t judge. 5:30 is early for a high schooler, especially during the summer).

Back to the crumb cake; I loved the soft tender cake, to the thick crumb topping with the powdered sugar. So when I went to my favorite place, my local library, and found the crumb cake recipe in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook I had to get it. There are actually quite a few recipes I will be trying from this book so be prepared. If you don’t know what a crumb cake is let me explain; it is a coffee cake with a thin layer of cake and a thick layer of crumb mostly found in the New York and New Jersey area. A quick tip: I made the Crumb Topping first and placed it in the fridge until cake batter was done. This way you will get better clumping of the crumb. I also don’t have a pastry cutter so I just used my hand held mixer to bring the crumb topping together.

Classic Crumb Cake

From Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

Crumb Topping

3 cups all- purpose flour

1 cup light brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 ½ tsp coarse salt

3 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt; cut butter in using a pastry blender or hand held mixer, until large, moist clumps form. Topping can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Cake

1 ¼ sticks (10 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups sour cream

Powdered Sugar for dusting (Optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter and flour your 13x9 pan or us a baking spray like Pam. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. Add eggs on at a time until incorporated after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture and sour cream; beat until just combined.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, and smooth with an offset spatula. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter. Bake, rotating halfway through until cake is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean, 40-50 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Before serving sprinkle with powdered sugar, if using.

This crumb cake is great to have in the morning with your cup of Joe, in the afternoon just because or in the evening with a nice cup of tea. Any time of day is good for enjoying this treat, be careful of crumb snatchers like the ones in my house. I hope you enjoy this wonderful treat, maybe for brunch this Easter Sunday. Be blessed and enjoy.

Nutella Stuffed French Toast

I woke up this morning and felt inspired to make a real breakfast. Now I "make" breakfast every morning, and by make I mean a bowl of cereal or oatmeal. But this morning I wanted some more. I looked around my kitchen for some inspiration; I have eggs (ok), milk (alright), bread (I might be on to something) and Nutella (Eureka; French Toast). Now if you don't know what Nutella is, I will help you out. It is a chocolate hazelnut spread that is the yummiest thing ever. Whether on a piece of toast or right out of the jar, which is how I usually enjoy it, I just love it. So I decided I would make French Toast, but I would take it up a notch and stuff it with Nutella. Just thinking about it while I'm writing is making my mouth water for more.

I gathered all my ingredients, got out my trusty flat top griddle and got to work. If you don't have a griddle you can use a non stick pan and be just fine. The recipe is a simple French Toast recipe, so I put my own little spin on it by play with flavorings. I have been looking for a way to use Nutella in a recipe for a while, and this was my chance.

You can also try using different extracts, I used vanilla because that's what I had, but you can use almond or if you have hazelnut extract that would work nice as well. Just remember that recipes like this you have lots of room to get creative.


 
Nutella Stuffed French Toast

Recipe Makes 6 stuffed French toast

2 eggs

About a cup of milk

1 tsp cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

Splash of vanilla extract

12 slices of whole wheat bread (that makes it healthy)

A jar of Nutella

Butter


 1.  Preheat griddle to 350. Mix eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, sugar and vanilla together well.

 

 2. Lay out 6 slices of bread and smear on the Nutella (use as much or little as you like), then top with remaining slices of bread.

  

 
3. Rub a teaspoon of butter on the griddle. Coat each sandwich in the egg mixture until completely coated.

 

4. Place on griddle and cook until golden brown on each side.

  

 

5. Slice on a diagonal to show the chocolatey goodness. Dust with powdered sugar; serve with your favorite breakfast sides and enjoy.

  

 
I must say that these were soooo good that I didn't even need any syrup. I can wait for you to try this and let me know how you like it. Enjoy and be blessed. I think I'll go get another helping.


 

 

 

Cinnamon Rolls

 

 

 
There are a few things I crave when the sky is gray and it looks like rain. One of them is a big bowl of chili; the other is a Cinnabon cinnamon roll. Since it is raining out, and my hubby is not a big Chili fan I decided to go the Cinnamon Roll route.

I had quite an obsession for Cinnamon Rolls, specifically Cinnabon Rolls. I remember, back when I worked for a particular airline based out of Charlotte, whenever I went there for training I would have to stop by to feed my obsession. I mean they were just so good, as soon as I got off the plane and made my way through the terminal and, if I ever caught a whiff of the sweet cinnamonny, buttery goodness. I would just have to get one or four. Yeah, that happen a lot.

Nowadays, since the closest Cinnabon is about 20 minutes away and current gas prices are almost $4.00 a gallon, I decided to try my hand at making these wonderful confections myself. I'll admit I was a bit nervous at first, because working with yeast can be tricky. If the water is too cold the yeast won't bloom, and if it's too hot you'll kill it. But with my trusty thermometer (and prayer) I got it right on the first try. The recipe I adapted my happiness from called for hand mixing the dough, but I'm not in to manual labor. I broke out my best friend, the KitchenAid mixer. Now if you don't have one, drop everything you are doing and get one now, or just use a wooden spoon.

The next thing I started thinking about was the icing. Cinnabon uses a cream cheese icing (so they say) but I do not like cream cheese… at all. The mere mention of it gets my face to turning up in all kinds of directions. I don't like the taste, the smell… I'm just not a fan. Usually when I make the icing I will simply use my good old Buttercream recipe, but since I have 3, 3lb containers of cream cheese in the freezer I figured I would give it a try.

A quick heads up before you get started following along with me; this recipe calls for Bread Flour. I know not everyone keeps a 50lb bag of bread flour in their kitchen like I do, but cinnamon rolls are breakfast bread so it is needed. There are plenty of good, no expensive brands you can find in the store. Pillsbury and King Arthur's are both good brands.


 
Cinnamon rolls


 

 
•1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

•2 eggs, room temperature

•1/3 cup butter, melted

•4 1/2 cups bread flour

•1 teas salt

•1/2 cup white sugar

•1 pkg yeast (1/4 ounce or 2 ½ tsp if you buy in bulk like me)

For the Filling:


 
•1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

•2 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

•1/2 cup butter, softened

For the Icing:


 
•3 oz cream cheese, softened

•1/2 cup butter, softened

•2 cups confectioners' sugar

•1/2 tsp vanilla extract

•1/8 tsp salt

Directions

1.   Dissolve, yeast in warm milk in a large bowl. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour. Mix well. Knead dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour otherwise you will be pick dough off your hands for hours. Put in a bowl and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size. Now here is the great thing about making any kind of dough. If you aren't ready to use it, go and let out some aggression and punch down the dough. I call it dough therapy. Do this until you are ready to move to the next step.

2.In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.

3. Spray work surface, whatever it may be (counter top or grandma's antique table) with cooking spray or sprinkle flour on it otherwise get out your chisel to get the dried dough up.

4.     Roll dough out  into a 16x21 inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread dough with 1/2 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture and pat it down. 

5.  Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls (or smaller rolls). Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled. This should take about 30 minutes. 

To roll the log, start in the middle and work your way out until you get a long log.

To make sure you get even rolls. Using a serrated knife and slice log in half, then line the halves next to each other. Score tops of dough to ensure even size then slice through.

6.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 18–20 minutes.

7. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on while they are still warm so that it melts into the roll.

Doesn't that look good.

 

So the verdict on the cream cheese frosting, still not a fan. My compromise, add more butter (butter fixes everything especially pants being too loose). It is the perfect blend of butter and cream cheese. If you happen to be a fan of cream cheese, simply lower the butter to a ¼ cup. I hope you enjoy these yummy treats as much as I did. Be blessed.