Baking for ABBY (chocolate doughnuts)

This is our niece Abigayl (AKA Crabbygayl) . . .

 

She just turned 4.  So instead of making Robby a dessert, I made one for Abby.  (She works hard, she deserves it!)

If there is one thing to know about Abby it is that she likes chocolate doughnuts. 

 I tried once convincing her that a bunch of chocolate munchkins were bunny poop around Easter time, but she is too smart for me.  She knows a doughnut when she sees one.

For anyone who is afraid of making doughnuts, or frying things, don't be!  It is super fun and easy . . . . OK easyish.

Doesn't it look oh so 4th birthday?

Abby's Chocolate Doughnuts

(adapted from Robby's Chocolate Doughnuts)

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

Mix together all wet ingredients (including melted butter) in bowl.

In a separate bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in 3 parts mixing to combine after each addition.

It should look like this . . . 

Refrigerate dough for at least an hour.

(Make sure you do this otherwise the dough will be too wet and loose to handle.) 

While dough is chilling fill up your fryer/pot with canola oil and set to 375 degrees.

When dough is firm coat counter surface (clean counter surface of course) with a generous dusting of flour.  Press dough out on surface with floured hands to be about 1/2" thick.

 

Next you have to cut out the doughnuts.  It is a lot like making biscuits now that i think about it.

I use one of Robby's water glasses and my cannoli form, but you can use whatever you want.

 

Coat the rim of the cutters you are using with flour and cut cut cut, adding flour when the cutters start to not come out cleanly from the dough.

 

Place all of the dough-doughnuts on a piece of parchment.  Save the holes!  

Form the rest of the dough into a ball and press it out again.  Repeat until you have no dough.

(If you get sick of this process just roll it up into a bunch of little balls/fake holes.)

Now comes the super fun part . . . the frying!

(WARNING: BEEEEEEE CAREFUL with the hot oil.)

(I'll have to get my legal team working on a disclaimer.)

When the oil reaches temperature lower in 3 dough-doughnuts at a time.  They should bubble up right away.  Like this:

 

If they don't bubble up immediately and quickly start to float than the oil is not hot enough.

Cook for 1-2 minutes until color lightens and they are floating around vigorously.  Flip over with fork. (Flip away from you!)

Raise from oil.

Can you see the steam coming from the hole?

mmmmmmmmm

Using tongs lift doughnuts onto paper towel to drain.

I like to eat them hot and crispy like this.

Continue to fry in batches of 3 at a time. 

Finish by doing all the holes.  

(When frying the holes you will have to lift and shake and lower a few times to get them to cook evenly.)

While all those crispy little devils cool prepare the glaze.

I used a buttermilk glaze of 1 part buttermilk to 3 parts confectioners sugar.  If you want it thicker add more sugar.

    

Whisk the sugar and milk until it is very smooth.  Don't get lazy and leave lumps. We are not making mashed potatoes here!

 

 

Dip each doughnut in glaze and swirl flip, or do whatever you need to do to coat them.

 Place on piece of parchment while you complete the dipping.

When finished dipping, flip doughnuts onto cookie cooling rack and sprinkle wet side with desired sprinkles.

 

and don't forget about those holes!

 

Happy Birthday Crabo!

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It was also my friend, from work, Ana's birthday.

So I made her this Sicilian Pistachio Torte with Italian Buttercream.

(which i will fully blog at a later date)

Happy birthday Ana.

 

Tiramisu

Tir - A- mi - SU

Tiramisu is another one of those desserts that reminds me of summer. 

Maybe it is because I spent a summer in Italy. 

Or maybe it is because my version requires no baking.  (That’s right people NO HEAT involved!!)

Traditionally Tiramisu is eaten in the afternoon after, or in lieu of, a siesta (European adult sleepy nap time). 

Translated from Italian as “pick me up,” The ladyfingers that make up the “cakey” part of the dessert are dipped in a coffee/espresso mixture that gives you a jolt of energy to get through the late afternoon.

Many versions use a mixture of egg custard and mascarpone cheese for the creamy filling.  Again I cheat the heat and use whipped cream and mascarpone instead.

I also forgo the traditional Marsala wine for BRANDY!

(No Heat) Tiramisu:

The first step in the wonderfully simple tiramsu journey is to make the coffee and the espresso.

Anyone can make coffee right?

Brew up a whole pot of espresso and about a 1/2 pot (6 cups) of coffee.

Let that cool in a bowl while you make the filling.

For the filling you will need . . . .

1 1/2 lbs mascarpone cheese

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

3/4 cups sugar (no sugar picture)(common we all know what sugar looks like)

3 tbs brandy (or spiced rum works good too)
(uh ohhhh it is almost empty)

Proceed by whipping up the heavy whipping cream and place in the fridge.

Combine the mascarpone and the sugar and beat till the sugar has dissolved.  (To test press a tiny bit between your fingers.  If it is sandy keep mixing till it is smooth.)

Beat in the brandy.

(see nice and smooth)

Combine the whipped cream with the cheese mixture in 2 parts.  Mix gently to not over deflate.

Set mixture in fridge . . . . for now.

Now comes the fun part.  We are going to get alll of those nice looking lady fingers in the pool.

Make sure you buy Italian style ladyfingers.  They are crispy.  Not the cakey ones you would use for whipped cream and berries.  They look like this:

Take your cooled coffee mixture and dip the lady fingers, one at a time, for about 2.25 seconds each. 

You want them to be soaked but you should still be able to transfer them to the dish without them falling apart.

Arrange soaked fingers (cookies not "finger" fingers) in single layer on bottom of dish.

Spread 1/2 of the filling on top of the fingers.

Dust with Coco powder.

Soak another batch of ladyfingers placing them on top of the coco.

After layer of fingers is complete spread remaining 1/2 of filling on top.

Dust again with coco.

Now just sprinkle some chocolate of choice around the top. (I used dark chocolate curls.) 

Refrigerate for a few hours and serve it up.  Or eat it all yourself in a corner somewhere.



. . . . .

I also made these apple cheddar scones for a co worker's birthday, but since they weren't for Robby i can't speak of them too much here.  (Don't worry he did get to eat some of them.)

I hope you enjoyed this week's choice.  Next week is chocolate glazed doughnuts for my niece Abby/Crabby's birthday (she is 4!!!!!).

 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This week, since it has been so hot and steamy outside, I decided to make a tropical American Classic, a Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

This cake is truly one of my favorites. It dates back to the mid 1920s when Dole developed a way to cut their pineapples into rings and can them for delivery worldwide. 

On a side note: Do you know how pineapples are grown?  I always assumed they came from some sort of fruit tree, like coconuts or bananas, but I was wrong.  I took a trip to Hawaii in 2007 and went to the Dole plantation in Oahu.  I was surprised to find that they are actually grown from the crown of an old pineapple.  You can just stick the cut crown from your store bought pineapple in the ground and if you have the right climate and about 24 months to wait around you will have a cute little baby pineapple growing right out of the top! 

Anyway . . . 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake:

The first step is to make the devilishly delicious sugar syrup topping.

Take ½ cup butter and melt in heavy saucepan.  Add ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar and cook, stirring frequently, until sugar is dissolved.  Leave to cook on medium/low heat until it bubbles as shown below. 

To be honest i burnt the first batch because i was looking for my camera.  So be careful!  Also don't pour burnt sugar in the garbage it apparently will melt right through the bag and make nasty garbage toffee on the bottom of the can.  Sorry Robby!

Pour into 10” cake pan and arrange 6-8 pineapple rings to lay flat on bottom of pan. 

Even though the recipe stems from the invention of canned rings I still prefer to use fresh pineapple for the top of this cake.  I took the easy way out this time because the store had fresh precut rings for the same price as a whole pineapple.  Seems silly right?

The next step is to make the cake batter.

You’ll need:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup cake flour

1/4 cup of ground almonds (from about 2 oz of whole almonds)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

Mix up the dry ingredients in a bowl (including almonds).

To grind the almonds I use my super cute mini food processor.  (It is really just a chopper fashioned to look like a mini processor but for $20 at Costco it was a great buy.)

In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time beating to combine after each addition.  Add vanilla then dry ingredients alternately with sour cream in 2 parts.

Pour over syrup and rings in pan.

Bake in preheated oven at 325^◦ for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean.  Don’t over bake it will dry out. (Think of it this way cake batter tastes better than a dry cake any day!)

Cool until pan it able to be held and flip onto plate.  Make sure the plate is big enough for the cake but small enough to fit in the fridge or under a cake dome!.

If you want to be a retro fancy pants stud pineapple ring holes with maraschino cherries.

If you are not prepared to eat a whole piece don’t even bother tasting it.  It is irresistible!

Other fun pineapple facts:

Pineapple is said to have been “discovered” by Christopher Columbus.

The word pineapple in English was first recorded in 1398, when it was originally used to describe pine cones.  Later used for the fruit by European settlers in 1664 because of their pine cone-ish looks.

The most common pollinator of the pineapple is the hummingbird.

Since pollinated pineapple plants are not tasty it is illegal to bring hummingbirds to Hawaii.

A pineapple was traditionally given as a gift of friendship.

One pineapple plant produces one pineapple each year.

A pineapple is considered to be a cluster of 100-300 little fruitlets.

This cake makes me pineapple crazy!



Fourth of July Pies . . .

RED WHITE AND BLUE . . . PIES!

I decided to start off my blog with a holiday, and fourth of July was the next one up.  As it is summer, to honor our nation I made some pies.

Although apple probably seems the obvious, all American, choice i wanted to go a bit further.  So I devised a scheme for a patriotic pie extravaganza.  RED, WHITE, and BLUE.  A pie for each color.


THE RED . . .

Rhubarb was the obvious choice for red.  July 3rd is my father's birthday and besides apple rhubarb is his favorite.  In addition to this it is also my favorite!  The tartness of the barb can't be beat!  In addition to pairing it with the traditional strawberry I also threw in a couple pints of raspberries because i felt like it.

The only problem i had with this pie is the usual problem I have with rhubarb.  I can't find it when i need it!!  I see it all over the place in stores but then when it comes down to the pie making it seems to be nowhere to be found.  This time i was prepared and bought an exorbitant 4lbs last Thursday cut it up and froze it.  I will not be deterred!

I did a more complicated lattice crust on this pie as my Mom bought me a nice crust cutter which makes the pretty scalloped edges.  More stuff to store in drawers but i think it is worth it.

STRAWBERRY/RASPBERRY/RHUBARB PIE

2 "Best Pie Crusts"  (recipe to follow in upcoming blog)(it is too good to get lost in the shuffle)

2 cups chopped rhubarb (1/4" pieces)

2 pints raspberries

1 pint strawberries (1" pieces)

1 cup sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1tbs triple sec (or grand Marnier if you are ritzy)

1 tbs "Minute" tapioca

1 egg

 Mix all the fruit.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Place 1 pie crust on bottom of pie pan.  Pour ingredients in.  Place second crust on top and pinch sides  (lattice crust TBE in later post)(TBE = to be explained).  Scramble egg and brush on top crust (and by "scrambled" I just mean mixed up, not cooked and ready for breakfast).  Bake 20 min at 425◦.  Reduce heat to 350◦ and bake additional 30 minutes.  Serve at room temp or refrigerate. (Robby insists on refrigerated pies!  At least overnight.)

THE WHITE . . .

The white pie is not as obvious a choice as the red or the blue, but was actually the recipe that gave me the whole idea.  This "Orange Ricotta Pie" with Chocolate Chips has the flavors of a cannoli filling with the basic design of a french cheesecake (being that it has a pie crust).  It is delicious and perfectly white.

For the top crust here i used a cookie cutter to cut out stars.  Just be careful to place them gently on top or they will sink!

ORANGE RICOTTA PIE

2 "Best Pie Crusts"  (again you'll have to wait for the secret recipe)

32 oz whole milk ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sugar

zest of 1 orange

2 tbs triple sec

2 eggs

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

This pie is easy as. . . . pie.  Mix the ricotta with the sugar and add the egg ("scrambled"). Next add the triple sec followed by the zest and chocolate chips.  Place one crust in a pie pan, pour in filling, and top with second full crust or crust shapes.  Brush top crust with remaining egg. Bake at 350◦ for 35-45 minutes.  Until crust is browned.  Don't worry if the pie still looks a little wobbly it will set in the refrigerator.  Refrigerate overnight before serving.

AND FINALLY THE BLUE . . . 

No shocker here the blue pie is blueberry.  So in order to not bore you I went a different direction with the crust and used my mini pie pan.

(If you don't have a mini pie pan, which i don't expect you to, just follow the directions exactly and bake it 10 minutes longer or until browned.)

The crust is not a typical pie crust at all but rather a modified scone recipe.  I still consider it a pie as it is still two layers of "crust" with fruit in the middle and after all I am in charge here.

MINI BLUEBERRY SCONE PIES

2 scone crusts (here i will be nice and include the crust recipe as it is essential to this "pie"):

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter (COLD! I am serious.)

1 tsp vanilla (or 1 super squirt TBE in following posts)(TBE = to be explained)
1 egg 

1/2 cup half and half

2 PINTS OF BLUEBERRIES

1 cup sugar (taste the berries.  Depending on the tart/sweetness of the blueberries you might need more/less sugar)

1 tbs "Minute" tapioca

juice of 1/2 lemon

For the crust:

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  Cut the butter into small cubes add to flour mixture.  Mix lightly until the mixture is course crumbs.  Mix egg, vanilla, and milk together and add to flour/butter mixture in 3 parts mixing just to combine.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

divide into equal parts depending on how many pies your pie pan holds. (For example my mini pan makes 4 pies so i need 8 equal pieces.  If you are doing one big pie you only need 2 pieces, right?  Right!)  Technically i make the bottom crust pieces slightly larger than the pieces i will roll out for the top as they need to cover more surface area.  Go ahead and roll em out and place the bottom crust in the pan/pans.

For the Filling:

MIX it all together! That is it.  Oh and scoop it over the bottom crust/crusts.  (I tend to not pour in fruit pie fillings. I leave most of the extra juice and sugar that collected at the bottom of the bowl out of the pie.  You don't want one overly sweet spot or a soggy pie.)

Bake at 350◦ for 30 minutes (40 for one big pie) or until top is nice and golden brown.

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All that's left is to serve them up.

For the crowd at my Mother's house the blueberry seemed to be the winner overall.

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I hope you all enjoyed my first attempt at blogggering.  Don't be too annoyed with my holding out on the pie crust recipe or the TBEs.  I didn't want the post to be toooo too long.  In the future when I just have one recipe to concentrate on I can explain more and provide some process pictures.

Did i make you hungry?  Then I succeeded.