Posts Tagged "baking"
In the Kitchen: Baked Donuts
I have been talking about making donuts for many moons now, so much so that I had looked into buying a doughnut pan. Naturally, I never got around to getting one even though I kept talking about these magical doughnuts I somehow was going to make. Not one to let a silly logistical matter like owning necessary baking equipment deter me, I kept my eye out for any baked doughnut recipe I came across, ignoring the vast majority that utilized yeast. I have this unfounded fear of working with yeast. Unfounded because I have never worked with it yet I’m terrified of doing so. I also have several recipes for challah bread. All of which uses yeast. Yeah, that’s some fuzzy math right there.
Lindsey was so kind enough to gift me my very own doughnut pan for Christmas. I was so excited! So much so that I immediately started tearing through the Internets looking for a good non-yeast baked doughnut recipe. I found a few but never got around to making them. Figures.
But on Thursday night I was hit was a strange and overwhelming desire: I wanted to watch The Office while eating a baked doughnut and hot chocolate. I’m still not sure where that came from but I couldn’t shake it. It had become my duty to make these doughnuts; never mind that I still had a good four hours before The Office aired. Time schmime. I am not a prisoner to time.
I halved the recipe to get six doughnuts since it was only me and there was no way I would be able to get in touch with my inner Homer Simpson. The only changes I made was to use my vanilla bean paste instead of regular vanilla extract because I’m slightly obsessed with vanilla bean paste.
Baking was quick and easy. I didn’t know that only the part that was actually in the pan would get browned. Maybe that’s not true and my oven was just being stupid but it didn’t really matter. It bakes evenly so if you’re so inclined, you can just flip the donuts over like I did.
These doughnuts had a cakey texture that was delicious. Now, they’re not light and fluffy as your conventional deep-fried doughnut but who said that was the only way doughnuts should be? There are a great healthful alternative to the deep fried version. They also kept pretty well too. Granted, they only lasted a couple days but they were delicious those couple of days!
Vanilla bean baked doughnuts
via Naturally Ella
makes 12 doughnuts
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla [I used my beloved vanilla bean paste]
4 eggs
6 tablespoons butter melted
1/4 cup milk
Icing
2 cups powdered sugar may need more to reach consistency
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla [and more vanilla bean paste]
Directions
1) Preheat oven to 375˚and spray a doughnut pan.
2) In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk, and butter until mixture is slightly frothy. Stir into dry ingredients until ingredients are just combined (do not over mix.)
3) Scoop batter into plastic or piping bag. Cut a medium size tip (if using the plastic bag) and squeeze batter into doughnut pan, filling each doughnut almost to the top (leave about 1/8″.)
4) Bake for 7-9 minutes until doughnut springs back. Remove from pan and let cool. Once doughnuts are cool, prepare icing. Icing should be not be too runny but should be stiff enough to hold to doughnut. Dip one side of the doughnut in the icing and return to cooling rack.
Read MoreWho knew love could be so tasty?
So do you remember when I teased you with that bottle of vanilla bean paste but didn’t tell you what I had planned for it? Well I finally made my secret treats and they were fabulous!
I was initially inspired by this recipe I found on Tastespotting. Then, a day or so later, I came across this and thought, THIS IS IT! I just loved the look of the frosted cookie and thought the x and o would stand out a lot better on that background. Plus, I was completely in love with the idea of a vanilla sugar cookie and extremely obsessed with getting a bottle of that amazing vanilla bean paste.
And that is why I went on a mad dash to track down a bottle of this stuff. After figuring it would be cheaper to just trek to the store to pick it up [after accounting for shipping and wait times], I went off to Williams-Sonoma to pick up a bottle, only to find it was closed for inventory! I was sad, dejected, upset because I was convinced I’d have to make yet another trip the next day to buy it but then I stumbled upon Sur La Table just around the block, who saved the day and my gifts.
I used Bridget’s recipe and decorated it like I saw in Meaghan’s original blog post for my Valentine’s gifts this year to the bf, my sisters, and my nieces and nephew. I was super excited to make these and now I’m super excited to make them again. And in case you were wondering, this dough freezes really well. I made one batch and baked up a dozen or so for the bf, cut the rest out, and then froze them until I needed to bake another batch right before Valentine’s Day. It did take longer to bake them straight out the freezer but the frozen baked cookies tasted just as delicious as the fresh baked ones so don’t hesitate to make and freeze for a later day!
This is seriously all the ingredients you need for this. No, really. I looked over the recipe a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything.
This is why I am so in love with vanilla bean paste: you see those little black flecks? That is the vanilla bean. Get a bottle of this stuff; it’s a lot more cost effective than buying vanilla beans. Sure I spent $11 for a 4 oz bottle but compare that to almost $3 for 2 beans at Cost Plus – where I would have used probably one whole bean for this recipe. See, math CAN be fun.
The finished cookie, fresh out the oven. I’m also a huge fan of parchment paper now because I no longer have to sacrifice a cookie to the cookie pan. If you’re still on the fence about buying a silpat [or don't know what one is], definitely use parchment paper whenever possible.
This was my first attempt at lining and flooding with royal icing. I love how easy it was and am already thinking of other ways I can decorate cookies. This has really opened up the possibilities! And see! More vanilla bean flecks! And the final product? Delicious AND cute. And utterly addictive. Just ask Lindsey, who nearly finished a dozen in less than a day.
Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies
via Bridget at Bake at 350
3 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar
2 sticks butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (Bridget’s original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp of pure vanilla extract and 1/2 pure almond extract)
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix.
Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.
Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Royal Icing*
via Meaghan at The Decorated Cookie
4 tblsp meringue powder
1/2 cup water
6-7 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup Crisco
Whip the meringue powder and water on high speed for a looooong time, several minutes, until it’s fluffy and peaks form.
Gradually add the rest of the ingredients to desired consistency.
Store at room temperature in a sealed container for up to a month.
*I halved the royal icing recipe and that was enough for roughly 5 dozen of these cookies with leftovers.
Read MoreA little jar of mystery…
Have you seen this before? This wonderful little thing called vanilla bean paste? It’s a much more cost effective way of incorporating the look of the expensive vanilla bean into practically everything.
Anywho, I bought a jar today with plans of using it in a little recipe that I’ll be revealing at a later day and time. Sorry for the tease but it is a matter of national importance. But I can’t wait to bust this out and try my hand at some vanilla bean buttercream frosting, oooh! or even vanilla bean cupcakes!
So yes, I have a plan for this and I’ll let you know just how it goes. Soon my friends. Soon.
Read MoreA cupcake for your thoughts?
Three day weekends are such teases. But man was it a glorious three-day weekend.
Let’s see, so my cupcake trial. I had high expectations for it actually. In fact, I was so gung-ho that I had planned to make two different kinds of cake: a vanilla cupcake and a banana cupcake. All was well until I got home after work. After going hard all day [a few of us are shuffling offices so I had to help my boss pack up his office. Let’s just say there was a lot of stuff crammed into a fairly small space], I was surprised to find myself exhausted by the time I got home. So much so, I was only able to muster up the energy to make vanilla cupcakes. Good thing too because I ran out of cupcake liners as well!
Cough it up to poor planning [especially since I was just at Target staring at cupcake liners!] but it is what it is. I ended up with 17 edible cupcakes [the remaining seven fell victim to the no-liner zone. Poor cupcakes.
I ended up making the frosting the next day to unmiraculous. The consistency was fine on the sides of the bowl but not so in the middle. I was disappointed but thankfully I still had a tub of store bought frosting hanging out in the cabinet after the first failed attempt at banana cupcakes earlier in the year. I whipped that out, added some almond extract and called it a day. My failure at buttercream [yet again] was a minor set back but hey, not everyone makes everything perfectly. Not even Martha Stewart.
I did get some tips from Tam though. Apparently I’m supposed to sift the powdered sugar? She said this as if it were common knowledge. Ahem, but it was not written into the recipe I was following! Bakers.
I’ll try the frosting again because I really want to figure this out. It’d be nice to be able to whip up my own frosting instead of having to remember to buy a tub at the store.
There will be more cupcaking [mis]adventures to come. I’m really amped on nailing this recipe. So much so that I’m even contemplating buying a banana crème flavoring oil to add to my frosting. Ooooh, or maybe the cake! See, the possibilities are endless.
I could go for a cupcake right about now. A vanilla one would be awesome.
Read MoreIn the Kitchen: Cinnamon Rolls
It’s another baking edition! Go grab yourself a glass of milk. I’ll wait.
Okay, just kidding. So I had been fiending to try my hand at making cinnamon rolls for sometime. Then while I was visiting the bf, his sister busted out one of those Pillsbury cinnamon rolls tube thingys and while it was tasty [it was the Cinnabon inspired one] it tasted more like a biscuit than a roll. Maybe it was the whole coming from the tube thing.
Oh, my point. I had bookmarked a couple promising recipes but was disheartened by the time it took to make them, considering that the recipes incorporated yeast meaning I’d have to let it rest and raise before baking which means it takes all freaking day to make some cinnamon rolls and I was not having that.
But then while perusing Tastespotting [oh how I LOVE that site] I stumbled upon a recipe for cinnamon rolls that didn’t require any rising time. Perfect!
So with my last weekend before classes start again, I finally got myself into the kitchen and baked to my hearts content.
I used two separate recipes, one for the rolls and one for the frosting.
Cinnamon Rolls
via gas.tron.o.my
makes 8 rolls
For filling:
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
For dough:
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups buttermilk [if you don't have buttermilk, like I didn't, just measure out a cup and then add a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice and let it sit for 5 minutes]
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1) Heat the oven to 425°F. Generously coat both a 9-inch nonstick round cake pan and a wire cooling rack with nonstick cooking spray.
2) For the filling, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and melted butter together in a medium bowl until the mixture resembles wet sand. Set aside.
3) For the dough, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the buttermilk and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter together. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until absorbed (the dough will look shaggy), about 30 seconds.
4) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 1 minute.
5) Pat the dough with your hands into a 12 by 9-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the brown sugar filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Press the filling firmly into the dough.
6) Using a bench scraper or metal spatula, loosen the dough from the work surface. Starting at a long side, roll the dough, pressing lightly, to form a tight log. Pinch the seam to seal. Roll the log seam-side down and cut it evenly into 8 pieces. Turn the pieces over on their flat sides, and with your hand, slightly flatten each piece of dough to seal the open edges and keep the filling in place.
7) Place one roll in the center of the prepared pan and then place the remaining 7 rolls around the perimeter of the pan. Brush the rolls with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Bake until the edges are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
Hint: Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper before you flip the rolls onto the wire rack. It’ll save you TONS of cleaning time. Trust me now, thank me later.
Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting
via picky cook
4 oz room temp cream cheese
1 c powdered sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter room temp
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 vanilla bean – seeds scraped out
I made a couple changes. I don’t have vanilla beans so I just doubled the amount of vanilla extract. I also wasn’t sure what half a stick of butter was so I just used the entire stick since mine are the smaller half sticks. Now that I think about it, it probably meant half of that stick. This is why I need exact measurements. Ha. Oh, and the other change I made was added in some lemon zest. Not sure how much…just eyeballed it. Oh, and you’ll only need about half of this frosting for the rolls.
Combine ingredients in mixer until smooth. Spread over the top of warm rolls.
The recipe says to bake for 20 to 25 minutes. I baked mine for 22 minutes and they came out pretty baked. Since I like my rolls to be a bit softer, I’d probably bake it for about 20 minutes or so the next time I make these. Oh and I only got 7 rolls but that’s because I suck at spacing without a ruler.
And in case you’re wondering, I ate 2 within 10 minutes of frosting.
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