National Donut Week

So last week was National Donut Week. I decided on Friday night to try my hand at making some cake donuts. I like Cake donuts better than yeast donuts but have never really tried making cake donuts. I found two recipes and gave them a go. 

The Vanilla Donuts are amazing. I think I might try making them with buttermilk next time rather than ordinary milk. The Chocolate donuts were a little to rich for my liking. Everyone else loved them but I thought they were a little rich. I am such a bad critic on my own cooking though to be honest I am always too hard on myself and even when things turn out perfect I still can seem to find something wrong with it. So give it a try and let me know what you think! Here are the recipes:

Vanilla Donuts (Courtesy of Bakerella. Oh How I love her!)

4.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk*
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla

• Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
  
• Beat eggs in a medium bowl until frothy. Add sugar and continue beating until combined.
  
• In another bowl, combine melted butter, milk and vanilla.
  
• Add the milk mixture to the egg mixture and stir until combined.
  
• Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture stir until combined.
  
• Chill the dough for about 30 minutes to make it easier to work with. (Ha!)
  
• Generously flour your work surface and roll dough out about 1/4 inch thick.
  
• Use a doughnut cutter or two circle cutters (1 and 3 inch) to cut out shapes.
  
• Heat about 2 quarts oil (about 3 inchees deep) in a large, heavy pot to about about 360 degrees.
  
• Fry 1-2 doughnuts at a time about a minute on each side. (I didn't actually time this, but it wasn't too long)
  
• Remove and place on a paper towel-lined tray.
  
• When cool, sprinkle powdered sugar or dip them in a vanilla glaze.
  

Makes 12 doughnuts and 12 doughnut holes.

Here are the chocolate ones (Which I found in a Cookbook. I know who uses those anymore.... Me I guess :)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
6 to 8 cups vegetable oil for frying
Mocha glaze, (optional) recipe follows
Instructions:
1. In a bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and melted butter to blend. Stir into dry ingredients until well blended. Chill until cold, at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours.

2. Scrape dough onto a generously floured surface. With floured hands, pat dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. With a 3-inch doughnut cutter, cut out doughnuts. Pat together scraps of dough and cut again. (Alternately, shape dough into ropes about 5 inches long and 1/2 inch thick; join rope ends to form doughnuts.) Place doughnuts on a well-floured baking sheet.

3. Meanwhile, fill an electric deep-fryer to the fill line or pour about 4 inches of oil into a 5- to 6-quart pan; heat to 375°F (190 C) (see Fry Right). Place one doughnut at a time onto a wide spatula and gently slide into oil, frying up to three at a time. Cook, turning once, until puffy and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes total (to check timing, cut first one to test). With a slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to paper towels to drain. Repeat to fry remaining doughnuts.

4. When cool enough to handle, dip the top half of each doughnut in warm mocha glaze and place on a plate. Let stand until glaze is set, about 5 minutes.

Makes about 16 (3-inch) doughnuts.

I Made a Glaze for all my donuts. When I make glaze here is what I use approx because I dont really measure much:

2 c. Powder Sugar

1 Tbsp Butter

1 tsp. Vanilla

Milk (Until the consistency I want it to be)

I just cream all together in the order listed.

Here are a few pictures of my donuts:

My Kitchen Counter. I was making homemade Pizza at the same time so it was a MESS!

Fry Baby!

Getting ready to Glaze

Glazing

Mmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Homemade Pancakes

This morning I made pancakes for breakfast but since we didnt have any mix I made it from scratch. I decided to try a new recipe then the one I have and this one is so delicious I thought I would share it with everyone. Plus by putting it on here I can always find it again. The measurements are British but I will try to transfer it into American for all the Americans too. These are so fluffy and honestly are so good!! A fantastic find!

135g /4 3/4 oz / 3/4 c. Plain Flour

1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Salt

3tbsp caster sugar (I dont recall ever seeing caster sugar in the states use granulated)

130 ml / 4 1/2 fl oz / 1/2 c. milk

1 large egg lightly beaten

2 tbsp melted butter (allow to cool) plus extra for cooking.

Directions:

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl. In a seperate bowl or jug wisk together milk and eggs then add melted butter. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes. Heat a non stick frying pan over medium heat and add a knob of butter. When it's melted, add a ladle of batter. It will seem very thick bit this is how it should be. Wait until the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen to about 1 cm (1/2in) thick.

Serve with butter and maple syrup or whatever you prefer. 

Quiet often when making pancakes I will add a bit of cinnamon and applesauce to the batter. I also love to put bananas on top with the maple syrup or mach bananas up and put them inside the batter. My dad always likes to put peaches and whipped cream on top. Sometimes we add fresh blueberries as well. So many different things you can do with pancakes it is unbelievable.  We Love them anyway.