FFF Final Recipe: Homemade Glazed Doughnuts

And don't they look good?

Mom helped pick the recipe for last week's challenge. I was nervous about taking on something like this - which to me, was very daunting! But they turned out AWESOME and were worth the effort in my opinion. Here's how it went down...

On Saturday I mixed up the dough (I halved the recipe) and got to use my dough hook attachment for the first time!


Sunday morning we got started **and for future reference, "hiring" the hubby to take pictures is a splendid idea! That's why I got so many great pictures of the process!**

So I rolled out the dough and used a glass to cut the big circles and then something Jeremiah uses to brew tea to cut out the holes-- yes, I had to get creative! My other option was tree-shaped doughnuts :o) I think they were a great size though, so I was happy with my cutter choices. Then, since our apartment/kitchen is pretty cool, I turned the oven on to 'warm' for about 5 minutes and then turned it off, covered the doughnuts with a tea towel and stuck them in the oven to rise for an hour.

Had to throw this picture in--- this is me most of the time when I'm baking new things: always reading and re-reading the recipe. Especially ones with lots of steps! (But I'm also wearing my Christmas apron!!)

I started heating up the oil because I figured it might take awhile to get it to the right temperature. I used nearly an entire bottle of canola oil!


I was very excited because when I took the doughnuts out of the oven, they had risen beautifully!




Then we waited, turned up the temperature, waited, turned down the temperature, waited, re-checked the recipe, then finally hit the mark:


Here we go **My ever-cautious, eagle scout, husband got out the baking soda, baking powder, and had the pan's lid nearby in case of a fire. Things I didn't even think about!** I dropped in the first one...

Bubble, sizzle, bubble, sizzle...

Flipped it...

Then I got fancy and started doing two at a time...

After taking them out of the oil, it was pretty important to try to get off as much oil as possible. Pioneer Woman suggests a plate with paper towels, plopping the doughnut on the paper towels, count to 5, then flip to the other side and get more off. It worked pretty well.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

Then I moved them to another plate covered in paper towels to cool a bit.

Growing up, we made doughnuts every once in a while. I always remember Mom making maple and chocolate ones. So instead of sticking exactly to the recipe **gasp!** I altered one thing-- subbing Maple extract for the vanilla extract. BEST IDEA EVER! I doubt that I will ever make the vanilla glaze because this one was SO good.


By the time I finished cooking the last of the doughnuts, I felt the first ones had had enough time to cool, so I went ahead and started dipping them right away (Plus I was running out of time before going to work at the nursery!) I forgot and totally submerged the first two -- not that that was so bad -- and then dipped one half for the rest.






Then I flipped them over and let the glaze fall over the rest of the doughnut on a cooling rack.


I also ate one right away. Yum! And kept dipping it in the maple glaze. Oh yeah! Not because it needed more glaze--- I just would have been eating the glaze plain, so I figured why not dunk the doughnut in it? :o) These doughnuts were SO, SO delicious! I will definitely recommend them to anyone. And if you think the process is daunting and tedious, well you're mostly right, but it's worth it and especially if you can have a helper! Don't be afraid-- try making your own doughnuts soon! Maybe next time I'll make some chocolate glaze too...


To life... full of homemade doughnuts-- yes!

Fourteen for Fall Review

I can't believe my challenge is so close to being over-- that means winter starts tomorrow! I want to review the recipes my mom, sister, and I have made so far, and I'll be back tomorrow with a post about how the doughnuts turned out. If I could use just a few words, I'd include: Maple, Magical, Melt-in-your-mouth :o) Excited? You should be! If you want to read any of the posts, I've hopefully set it up correctly so you can just click on the link.

Week #1. Easy Caramel Apple Cake

Week #2. Pumpkin Cheesecake

Week #3. Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze

Week #4. Indian Corn Stew and Quick Cheese Bread

Week #5. Yellow Cake from Scratch!

Week #6. Pumpkin Spice Latte

Week #7. Gooey Pumpkin Butterscotch Brownies

Week #8. What did I make for week 8?

Week #9. Pumpkin Pound Cupcakes

Week #10. Caramel Apple Sticky Buns

Weeks #11 and 12. Dreamy Apple Pie and Pumpkin Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate Butter

Coming up for Week #13: Homemade Glazed Doughnuts from Pioneer Woman

Ok--- WELL, I think I got a bit confused in there with the week #s and such. At least with how I labeled them on my blog. Pretty sure the pumpkin pound cupcakes were week #8, and then everything follows in order. Because last week's recipe was the Make-Ahead Muffin Melts (included in the post with Dreamy Apple Pie and Pumpkin Bread). So we really did get all of the recipes made, I think I just mis-labeled some of them in my blog and got a little off on the numbers.

To life... full of fourteen new fall recipes!

The Stakes are Rising

Well folks, it's the last week of Fourteen for Fall! My mom picked three recipes to choose from. From those choices, I have picked: Homemade Glazed Doughnuts! I am excited and nervous and frightened and scared and hungry. I think this may be the most challenging recipe so far. It looks pretty intensive-- lots of steps, waiting, and much accuracy. But I think I'm ready. Not sure that I'll get them made by Thursday, but they will be made, and posted about. Come back to find out if I conquered the homemade doughnuts or not!

To life... full of challenging challenges.

Delinquent

means: failing in or neglectful of a duty or obligation. Yep, that's me and I apologize. I'm way behind on my posts, I've had overdue books at the library, I've only wrapped one Christmas present, and I still have shopping to do. How did I get so behind? Well, it just takes one step at a time to dig myself back out. I finally returned my overdue library books. I did make a new recipe each week, just haven't posted them, but I'm set to right that wrong right now! I must be honest, the posts will not be as detailed as I'd like because I have let these back up on me, but I still hope to try to include all that I am lacking. Anyone else having a busy December??

First up: Dreamy Apple Pie

The crust


The delicious apple filling


Before sliding into the oven


Just out of the oven


This pie was indeed dreamy and delightful! I didn't put in pecans because my sweetheart is allergic, but I do think it would have been even better with the pecans in the topping. Definitely not worth the allergic reaction though! We enjoyed it and will keep it in the pie repertoire for future days.

Also, over the Thanksgiving holidays I made...

Cracker Jack!


It was delicious, awesome, wonderful, and sweet. A great snack! This WILL be made in the future, often. I made two batches in just one week.

Also, for Thanksgiving breakfast I ventured into a new cinnamon roll variety: Orange Rolls with Craisins



They are now running a very close second to the maple ones. Man! They were delicious!

The Thanksgiving Turkey looked awesome--- and tasted it too!


Here was our spread:


We had turkey, sausage and sage stuffing, Mashed potatoes (which I made ahead of time!), cranberry sauce (sadly, not pictured), mixed vegetables, gravy, parker house rolls, and mom brought some of her pickles. It was a wonderful meal!

One more new recipe I tried over the Thanksgiving holiday: Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars. I really enjoyed them!

Let's see, after that came my sister's pick: Pumpkin Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate Butter.



I questioned this recipe at first because I wasn't sure how I'd like the combination of pumpkin and banana. But it was very good! And the chocolate butter--- yummy! I brought the big loaf to work last week and it was gone by noon. I think that says a lot. The chocolate butter was easy to make, so I may have to start making that just on it's own to put on--- everything!! :o) No, I wouldn't go that far, but it was indeed delicious.

Then last week, I had breakfast duty for work, so I brought some PW Cinnamon Rolls (maple version) and then made PW's Make-Ahead Muffin Melts. Sorry I didn't get a picture, but I enjoyed how they turned out. Probably not my new favorite breakfast or anything, but they were a good salty compliment to the very sweet cinnamon rolls.

That should bring me up-to-date now. Another delinquent status removed! Now on to those presents...

To life... full of the busyness (and fun!) of the holidays!

Be thankful for

this dreamy apple pie which I plan to make this week for our Thanksgiving dessert. I don't get much out of the usual pumpkin, so when I saw this one, I jumped at the chance. Plus Hubby actually requested apple, so I say "win-win!" I probably won't be back again this week, so Happy Thanksgiving!

To life... full of so many things to be thankful for!

FFF Recipe 10

Today we will consider that a picture is worth a thousand words. Mom picked PW's Caramel Apple Sticky Buns for this week-- and I'm glad she did!











My review + my friends' comments: Delicious! Wonderful! Amazing! Good! Everything works so well together! Eat them slightly warm (I put one in the microwave for 20 seconds this morning-perfect).

My conclusion? You should make them---today!

One last picture sequence... Dora turned 3 this week! Here's how much she appreciated her birthday bow(s):













To life... full of November birthdays and sticky buns!

Week 9: Pumpkin Pound Cupcakes

Last night was pretty crazy, I had a lot of "pots in the fire", isn't that the way the saying goes? Something like that. Let me just show you-- all of this was happening in my kitchen last night:



From L to R: Pumpkin Pound Cupcakes getting ready to be mixed for 20 min; Chicken Alfredo Pizza (with broccoli) that we had for supper; back burner- chicken being cooked in preparation for the Buffalo Chicken Dip I made for snack today; front burner- chocolate chip blondies waiting to cool before being topped with peanut butter frosting! That was just in my kitchen! Off to the side at my table, my friends made puppy chow and two key lime pies! Quite the evening!!

The recipe for this week was Pumpkin Pound Cupcakes and they were topped with Cinnamon Brown Sugar Buttercream. Sound delightful? You're right- they are great! Pretty easy to make with other stuff going on at the same time. You dump all the ingredients in the mixer bowl.





And then let 'em mix for 20 min. YES! TWENTY entire minutes! I was shocked as well.





I made a half batch, so it made 12 cupcakes. They're baked for about 20 min. These didn't rise much, but I think it's probably due to the fact that they are pound cupcakes. So naturally they're more dense. They weren't much to look at and most of them didn't even reach the top of the cupcake liner.



But then I made the frosting. Wow! It was delicious. I also halved that recipe and it was just enough to cover all the cupcakes nicely.



I just made some swirls with my largest round tip. I didn't use my 1M tip since I didn't think there would be enough frosting to make it across all of the cupcakes with it.

The results? Even though they weren't much to look at, I really enjoyed them! The density of the pound cake is great. It works with the pumpkin flavor well. I've already gotten a couple of reviews and people have said they're great, good, and amazing! Those are all things I like to hear. I think another thing going for them is that they are pretty small, so they are a nice snack size dessert! You get enough of your sweet tooth craving satisfied, but you're not overloaded. I really did love the frosting. The addition of brown sugar, cinnamon, and half and half just put them over the top for me. Probably a frosting I will use for other pumpkin and/or spice cake related baked goods. Try it out and see for yourself!



To life... full of thankfulness for my kitchen-aid mixer so I didn't have to mix by hand for 20 minutes!

Fourteen For Fall : Week #9

CUPCAKES!

I'm excited to try these pumpkin cupcakes! I made some last year and the cupcake part was pretty good, but the icing was definitely not a winner. It looks like her review says that this is some pretty amazing frosting, though. So I'm excited to try them!

This week I have finally been motivated again to make good food decisions and I have had some good workouts with my friends, both Monday and Tuesday! I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is two weeks from tomorrow! How did that even happen? I'm trying to keep that in mind because I want to do well during the holidays this year. Most people gain a few pounds during the holidays, so I'm trying to stay motivated to keep working out and making good food choices during these next seven weeks. That way when January rolls around I won't feel like I'm under a mountain again... maybe just a little hill :o)

Not sure that I'll be able to put up my cupcake post tomorrow, but it should be here by Friday.

To life... full of motivation and healthy choices!

Problem solving...

Recently I've been frustrated with my baking. Even embarrased at times... I've thought, "Am I losing my touch?" or "Am I not paying attention?" "What the heck is going on?" You see, everything I've been making the past couple of weeks has been gooey yet brown and that's just not my style. I mean, I feel like I've been getting to know my oven pretty well-- we're tight, we're buds -- I know he runs a bit on the warm side, he blows extremely hot air on my face if I'm too close when I open the oven door, and it really doesn't take long to preheat. But recently, he's been playing tricks. And I thought it was just me. You know, I try so many new recipes that I think, "Well maybe that's just how it's supposed to turn out." Several recent examples: I made cornbread for a friend. It was supposed to be made in a skillet (I don't have one), so when the bottom was still gooey I thought, oh, well maybe the point of the skillet is to get the bottom firmed up first then into the oven-- seems possible, right? Apple dumplings for my party-- another new recipe-- I thought, oh I guess I forgot it in the oven, and the bottom seemed runny but I didn't know if it was because of something I did wrong or just the 12 oz. of Mountain Dew the recipe called for. The recipe for this week -- review to come below-- was GOOEY brownies. So I, once again, thought, well maybe it's just the recipe, I mean they are supposed to be gooey, but I kept questioning, surely not THAT gooey?!?! Then last night, I made blondies. Now these I had made before. The top was a golden brown, so I let them cool because I was supposed to put frosting on top. When I cut into one to get one out for a friend-- more gooey dough! I turned the oven back on, waited, checked it, then it finally clicked: I haven't noticed the bottom heating element turn orange for a couple of weeks!!! I felt near the bottom and no heat was coming from it. Only from the top part of the oven. Crazy! So for the past couple weeks my things have not turned out right at all, I blamed them on the newness of recipes and myself-- but it's been my oven all along. Part of me says, a good baker would have noticed this much sooner. But what can I say? I finally found the problem. Fortunately, hubby has reported that the maintenance man has already come to fix the oven at home! So hopefully I can count on my oven again to turn out some good products after a couple weeks of being slightly disappointed about everything.

Whew! Well I didn't intend for this post to be long because I've been very busy at work. So the review will be many pictures with a few comments.

Put foil in your pan and grease it:





Mix up your ingredients in a bowl:





Add in the good stuff:






Some (shadowed) pumpkin...




Mix it all up then pour half of the brownie batter in the pan, followed by half a cup of the butterscotch ice cream topping:



Top with the remaining batter and bake for 50-60 min. Mine came out looking like this, much to my chagrin:





And was extremely gooey in the middle! I attributed it to the fact of the ice cream topping in the middle, but now I'm not entirely sure how gooey it was supposed to be **as noted from the first part of this post**. Regardless, my review: Once again, I will state, I'm not entirely sure how they would taste if baked correctly. But they were pretty good. Yes, you read that right. I was SO excited about these, but maybe I set my expectations too high? I don't think I used the entire amount of pumpkin, and I still felt like it was a little too much. Jeremiah said that there were too many flavors going on for just one brownie and --shockingly!-- I agreed. I think chocolate and butterscotch would be good, but adding in pumpkin as well as the cinnamon was a bit too much. I did get good reviews from work though. They seemed to really enjoy my extremely gooey brownies. One person ate 3 of them! They liked the combo of chocolate, pumpkin, and butterscotch. For that I was grateful because I had really started to get down on myself for all my 'weird' baking recently. I might make them again, but one of my favorite things about brownies is eating them warm. Sadly, when I ate these warm I really didn't like them. Even less than at room temperature! So, I might try them again with my correctly working oven. That might give me a better experience. I'll be very interested to hear mom and sister's review this time because hopefully they'll have a more 'accurate' experience!

To life... full of problem solving!