Old Fashioned Sour Cream Cake Doughnuts

Doughnuts will always remind me of my sweet, hard-working Grandpa. He owned a small doughnut shop in Dallas, Texas where my mom remembers falling asleep on bags of flour after a long day at school. I will never forget the amazing smell of sweet glazes and freshly fried doughnuts upon entering his shop and getting to wake up in the middle of the night to help him start doughnuts for the early morning deliveries. I don't think I have ever eaten a doughnut without the most wonderful memories of him coming to mind.

My favorite doughnuts, if you absolutely MADE me choose... :), are cake doughnuts. I love any type of cake doughnut, really. But, old-fashioned are definitely near the top of the list.

These old-fashioned sour cream cake doughnuts are crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and incredibly moist! I absolutely love them! This recipe will forever more be a favorite of mine.

Recipe:

Doughnuts:

2 1/4 cup (255 grams) cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
2 T. butter, softened
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream
canola oil

Glaze:

3 1/2 cups (350 grams) powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. corn syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup hot water

In a small bowl whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, mix the sugar and butter. Add the yolks, one at a time, scraping the bowl often. In about 3 increments, add the sour cream and flour mixture, alternately, ending with the flour. Scrape the bowl between each increment. When the dough comes together, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Pour about 2 inches of canola oil into a dutch oven or a really heavy pot (cast iron works great). Heat over medium heat. Use a candy thermometer to get the oil to about 325ºF.

Lightly flour your counter. Roll dough onto counter to about a 1/2 inch thickness, picking up often to make sure it does not stick to the counter. Use your doughnut cutter or a large round cutter and a small round cutter to cut dough into doughnut shapes.

Place a few doughnuts in the oil and cook for 2 minutes on each side (about 4-5 minutes total) or until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to remove from oil and place on a brown paper bag to cool. Cook the rest of the doughnuts.

To make the glaze, mix all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Fully immerse each doughnut in the glaze and place the doughnuts on a cooling rack. Allow the doughnuts to sit for about 20 minutes after glazing so that the glaze has time to set.

Eat them all! :) Or, you can place the leftovers in an airtight container for a few days.

Homemade Blueberry Basil Poptarts

I'm finally in the mood for blogging about my baked goods again! It turns out, having a baby kinda slows you down a little bit. :) My little man is 2 months old now. And, although having him hasn't slowed my baking down, it just made me lose some steam in the blogging department.

A few weeks ago my husband and I loaded up our 2 boys and a couple of bags into the car and headed to Niagara Falls for a little weekend getaway. It was absolutely gorgeous in the winter! All the falls were mostly frozen and heaps of ice lay beneath them. It was truly magical.

But, anyway... road trips mean junk food in my family. So, we grabbed a bunch of horrible, processed snacks for the trip, including a box of poptarts. I hadn't had poptarts in years! And, having a poptart for the first time in forever was really nostalgic. Since that trip I have been craving them. So, I figured I'd better come up with a delicious homemade version to make the guilty pleasure a little less guilty and a little more pleasurable.

So, here you go: A poptart recipe that is not only WAY more delicious than the store bought, but also easy to make and you can vary it in a number of ways.

They are buttery, flaky and very tender with a delicious filling and topped with icing and sprinkles. Enjoy!

Homemade Poptart Recipe:   Yield: 9 poptarts

Pastry:
2 cups flour
1 T. sugar
1 t. salt
1 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into large chunks
2 eggs
2 T. milk

Filling:
1/2 cup jam or preserves of your choice- I used a homemade blueberry basil jam

Frosting:
1 T. butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 drops of food coloring

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter chunks. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until very crumbly and pea-sized butter chunks remain. In separate bowl, whisk together 1 egg and the milk. Pour into the dry mixture and mix together. Use your hands to gently knead the dough together until all the flour is incorporated.

Split the dough in two. With each half, roll out onto a lightly floured surface. Lift dough off counter after every few rolls to make sure the dough doesn't stick to the counter. Roll each into a 9 in. x 12 in. rectangle shape (or as close as you can get). Cut each rectangle into thirds horizontally and vertically (9 pieces per rectangle, 18 pieces total).

Whisk an egg in a small bowl and use a pastry brush to brush egg onto half of all the pieces. On the other pieces, spoon about a spoonful of jam on the center of the piece. Place the egg washed piece on top (egg wash facing down) and use a fork to seal the edges all the way around.

Place the poptarts on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350º F for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on pans for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

For frosting, comine all ingredients. Add a few drops of food coloring and stir until completely colored. Spread a spoonful of icing on top of each poptart.



*adapted from Lark + Linen recipe

Sailing Around the World Cake

In my advanced cake decorating class we had to complete a project involving cake carving. We had to stick to the basic shapes..... no face sculptures or anything crazy like that... haha! I decided to carve my 6" cakes into a sphere shape and my 9" cakes into an hourglass shape. I kept the hourglass shape pretty subtle but after covering the cake in fondant it was almost un-noticeable. I guess that's why I'm in school, right? To figure these things out! I am learning new things every day. :)

We didn't have to decorate the cakes after covering them in fondant. But, I am always anxious to try something ambitious and so I designed a "Sailing Around the World" cake which turned out decent enough. The inspiration for this cake came because my husband and I have a dream to sail around the world some day. Of course our sailboat will need a decent oven or I will refuse to go... ;)

I made the sphere into a globe. I used a marbled blue fondant for the water and marbled green for the continents. Marbling the fondant was actually pretty easy! With a very short amount of time to complete the project, I ended up in a really big hurry to decorate the cake. So, instead of cutting accurate continents I just made random shapes and blobs that are similar enough to earth. haha!

The hourglass base was covered in a pale blue fondant. Then I cut wavy strips of white, light blue and dark blue fondant to layer and look like waves. Finally, I embellished a bit with the boats and the red markers on the globe to tie in the red sails.

I had so many more ideas that didn't end up on the cake because of a lack of time. But, I guess sometimes simplicity is best. Maybe someday someone will want me to make a similar cake and I can go to town then! :) Anyone? Anyone?

The finished project

NOT an accurate depiction of the interior of the Earth. haha! Chocolate and vanilla cake layers with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream filling. My 2 year old couldn't wait to cut it open! 

Red Velvet Brownies

With Valentine's Day right around the corner I thought these lovely (and absolutely delicious) red velvet brownies seemed appropriate. And, boy, were they good! The recipe is originally from that skinny chick can bake but I did a lot of adapting and used my own frosting recipe because I think cream cheese frosting is a must with red velvet. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! 

Recipe:

Brownies:

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons red food coloring

Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and grease the foil.

In small bowl mix cocoa powder, red food coloring and 1 tsp. vanilla to form a paste. Set aside.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and remaining 1 tsp. vanilla making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl often. Then beat in the red cocoa paste. Add the flour and salt and mix just until barely combined. 

Spread batter into greased pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.

For frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar in 1/2 cup increments, scraping the sides of the bowl between additions. When frosting is completely smooth and tastes the way you like, frost the cooled brownies. 

Vanilla Macarons with Lemon Curd Filling

Macarons are just the cutest, sweetest little pastries. Everyone loves them! They are even my 2 year old son's favorite treat. :) They are perfect for gifting. Perfect for parties. And, of course... perfect for eating! The crisp exterior and chewy interior of the macaron paired with a delicious filling make for a really special treat. 

Don't be too intimidated by what you already know about making macarons. Yes, they are a bit technical and time consuming. But, they are very do-able and even if they don't end up looking perfect in the end they will still taste amazing! 

 

Recipe:

2/3 cup (3 oz.) ground almonds

1 1/2 cups (5.25 oz.) powdered sugar

3 large egg whites, room temperature

5 T. granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a food processor, grind almonds and powdered sugar together to a fine powder. Sift the mixture twice through a sieve. Set aside.

In a stainless steel mixing bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until they are foamy. Gradually add the granulated sugar (sprinkling one tablespoon at a time into the whites) as you beat the egg whites. As you start to get a stiff meringue add the vanilla and food coloring if you wish. Continue beating. When the meringue has reached stiff peaks and is glossy it is done!

Add half of the sifted flour mixture. Stir it with a spatula, scooping it up from the bottom of the bowl. When fully incorporated add the rest of the flour and repeat the process of scooping up from the bottom. When the flour is incorporated press and spread the batter against the bowl's sides. Scoop the batter from the bottom, turn it upside down and press into the bowl (pressing all the air out). Rotate the bowl and continue about 15 times. This technique is called Macaronnage and it is really important in order to achieve the "pied" or the little foot that you see on the bottom of each macaron. 

Pour the batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large, round tip. On parchment lined baking sheets, pipe the batter into small rounds (I trace circles onto parchment paper ahead of time as a guide). Gently rap the baking sheet against the counter to smooth the surfaces of the macarons and get out any air bubbles. Dry the batter at room temperature for about 15-30 minutes. 

Stack the baking sheet on top of another baking sheet (using two trays prevents over baking the bottoms). Bake in a 375ºF oven for 15-18 minutes, until slightly crisp and before browning occurs. Remove tray from oven and place on a cooling rack. When the macarons are fully cooled, remove them from the baking sheet. 

Fill with any type of filling you wish: lemon curd, ganache, buttercream frosting, etc. Store macarons in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Silent Night Cake

As most of you know I have been (slowly, but surely) working on my Baking and Pastry Associates degree. I only have a few more classes until I finish the entire program and I will officially be a Certified Pastry Chef. I am so excited! This semester I took the Advanced Bread Production class and the Beginning Cake Decorating class and I finished this semester 8 months pregnant with only 3 weeks until my due date... cutting it pretty close, I know! 

For my final project I made a yellow butter cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream filling. After crumb coating the cake I covered it with white fondant that I brushed with pearl dust to add a little shimmer. Then I used royal icing to pipe the pearl border at the bottom. I mixed a little vodka with black food coloring to paint the music staves (the black, horizontal lines that the notes go on) and I used black royal icing to pipe the treble clef, the bar lines and the music notes. I actually piped out the song "Silent Night" since it was a really simple, easy song to pipe.  

For the poinsettia... I made each leaf out of gum paste that I food colored with red and green.  I rolled each leaf, inserted wire into them, pressed them with a leaf to make a more natural look and let them dry on a curvy surface. When they were completely dry I used floral tape to wire the bouquet together. 

I am planning to serve the cake at my Christmas music recital this week. I am so proud of all my music students so I thought a special cake would be a fun way to celebrate their accomplishments. 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Dark Chocolate Dipped Peanut Cookies

Recipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped peanuts, divided
10 oz. dark chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a large bowl, mix butter and peanut butter on medium speed. Add 3/4 cup flour and the next 5 ingredients (up until vanilla) and mix just until combined. Add remaining flour and mix. Stir in 1/2 cup chopped peanuts.

Scoop onto parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten each scoop with a fork in a criss cross pattern.

Bake 7-9 minutes until golden brown. Cool for a few minutes on the pan and then transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling cookies.

Place dark chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments (stirring well between each) until fully melted. This will probably take 2 minutes or so.

Once cookies are fully cooled, dip in the chocolate and place on either parchment or wax paper lined pans. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set.