Baking doughnuts

I am too lazy to fry my doughnuts.  I don't want the mess of oil or the chance of burning myself.  So the Wilton doughnut pan is a great alternative.  Basically you are making a muffin in a different shape.  The recipe is much like a muffin, although I tend to make everything a little more hearty and less buttery and sugary etc.

Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts
Recipe adapted from The Kitchn

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup ap flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/3 cup apple cider
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt or you can sub more apple sauce

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray your doughnut pan with Pam spray.  In one bowl mix flour, b soda, b powder, salt, and cinnamon.  In another bowl mix egg, sugar, apple sauce, vanilla, cider and yogurt if you have it.  Pour dry into wet and mix just til combined.  Pour into doughnut pans, don't fill higher than the top rim of the mold or when they bake they will over-flow and it won't look like a doughnut!!  Bake for about 11 to 13 minutes- less time if you are using the mini-mold.  When the cake bounces back to the touch remove and let cool.   Knock out your doughnuts and enjoy!!

Lemon Poppy Seed Doughnuts with Maxine

Today my friend Maxine and I made Lemon Poppy Seed Doughnuts. It's a basic muffin recipe that we baked in the Wilton doughnut pan. The original recipe called for sour cream but we just subbed extra milk instead. We also changed the milk from whole to 2% since that's what my aunt Nan left in the fridge. Here is the link to the original recipe.

Maxine is so good at zesting lemons!! She also helped me make lemon curd for a cake I'm making later this week. We're planning on baking again this Thursday and I'm thinking pumpkin granola bars. I have to remember to buy pumpkin. And an assortment of nuts. Look for Maxine in the future, we're thinking of making this collaboration a regular thing.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoon 2% milk
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

For the icing:
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 400.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In large bowl, or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar, until light and fluffy - about 1 minute. Add egg, lemon zest, and poppy seeds. Beat to combine, scrapping down the bowl as needed. Then add milk to mixture and then add flour and beat just til combined. Do not over mix.

Grease your doughnut pan and fill the cups just below the rim. Bake about 12 to 15 minutes or until they bounce back to the touch. Knock them out of the pan and let them cool.

Combine powdered sugar and lemon zest into bowl with whisk and drizzle the icing over top of the doughnuts.
Enjoy!!

My First Pie

Today I am attempting my first pie. I just made the dough and it is chilling in the fridge. Her is the recipe I used- it's a combo of some stuff I found on the interweb and my mom's pie recipe.

Ingredients:

2 Sticks Butter

1/3 C Ice Cold Water
2 Egg Yolks
3 Tbsp White Vinegar or Lemon Juice

3 1/2 C AP Flour
1 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Sugar

Method:

Cut the butter into 1/2 squares and throw then back in the fridge/ freezer to keep cold. Then measure the water and break the yolks right into the measuring cup and add the vinegar in there too- save yourself some dishes. Put the wet in the freezer to keep cold until you're ready to use it. Then SIFT the flour into the bowl of your stand mixer and throw in the salt and sugar. Mix it real quick just so the dry is combined. Then throw in your butter and mix for a few minutes (flour might get all over you)- until the butter has broken into pea-sized pieces and flour has turned a little yellow. Don't over mix!! Then take the wet out of the freezer and add to the mixer on low. Mix and stop and mix and stop for like 20 sec intervals until it has juuuuuust come together. We had to add about 2 Tbsp more cold water to get it to come together. For real though, don't over mix this. It has to just come together when you squeeze it with your fingers. Once combined- dump the dough onto saran wrap and divide it into two discs- don't handle it too much or you'll melt it damnit. If you're going to bake today, throw the discs into the fridge for 1/2 hour. If you're going to bake at a later date throw them in the freezer and they will last indefinitely.

Next post after I get back from the gym: the filling (strawberry and apples), rolling out the dough, and baking.

Baked Banana Doughnuts

So my Wilton doughnut pan finally came in the mail this week and I made my first ever baked doughnut. I chose banana bread doughnuts from Wilde In The Kitchen to christen my pan. So I learned not to overfill the pan or they will look odd, and unlike doughnuts. You will have to cut the hole out with a knife and eat the middle part- actually not that bad of a mistake. I have a mini pan so they cook quick- like 8 mins or so.

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 medium, overripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat to the oven to 425 and coat your donut pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, beat together oil, sugar, egg and vanilla extract with a whisk. Beat for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture lightens in color. Add bananas and mix. In a smaller bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, add all at once to the liquids and stir until combined.

Fill the donut shapes about 2/3 full with batter and bake for 9-10 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing and cooling on a wire rack. Make the glaze while the donuts cool further. Fill your donut pan with more batter and bake, continue until you run out of batter.