Fresh Strawberry Donuts

Happy National Donut Day! Now, you could be celebrating with free donuts at the nation's big chains....but.....okay, fine, I confess to considering a stop at one on my way to work. But why? Why do that to myself unless it is one of the top 10 donut shops in the US, of which zero are in DC? Why not just make my own? [Why not, indeed? I think tomorrow is National Make Butchie Treats day. --B.] But which kind of donut...that is the real question.

I went to visit my friend Kimberly in NYC a few weeks ago, and we took a little trip over to Clinton Street Bakery.....Longest.Wait. Ever. That is probably my personal definition for hell....if you add snow, and a thinly lined jacket. With two hours to kill Kim and I walked a couple blocks over to Doughnut Plant to grab a pre-brunch snack. Best decision we made all day. Doughnut Plant has let me down in the past (that is NOT tres leches in that tres leches donut-- it is delicious, but not tres leches) but that morning the fresh strawberry donut was spot on. As soon as I returned to DC and told Butchie about it, she made sure that fresh strawberry donuts made a debut in my kitchen. [I make these orders a lot. Pretty soon she is just going to stop telling me about the delicious things she eats. --B.]

Strawberry glazes are a little rough. Strawberries when combined with sugar simply expel all their juice. It's a surprising amount, since the strawberry is like a sponge soaking up all the moisture it can. Getting them into a sugar glaze, without cooking them, without creating a syrupy mess of oozing juicy strawberries is a nightmare. Some people like that, so, if you are them, go ahead and throw some strawberries and sugar together and call that a day, but, if you want a glaze that isn't going to drip in your lap you're in luck. It's doable, very doable, after trial, error, and a few goopy glaze misgivings.

At first Butchie and I tried the glaze that was only strawberries and confectioners sugar. We added enough arrowroot powder to try to thicken it to sink a ship. [Or sink a donut. --B.] It didn't even dent the amount of juice the strawberries were putting out. New plan: fight fire with fire. When sugared strawberries give you juice, make a real glaze with it! Throw in some butter, some sugar and cook it down, then add the fresh macerated and strained strawberries. Problem solved and yummy yummy fresh strawberry donuts ready in time for National Donut Day!

Enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry Donuts

1/2 ounce packages yeast
1/4 cup hot water, roughly 110 degrees in temperature
1 1/2 cups milk, scalded and cooled
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening
5 cups all-purpose flour
canola oil

Fresh Strawberry Frosting

1 lb. strawberries

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup strawberry juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Hull and slice strawberries. Put slices into a bowl. Pour granulated sugar over the berries. Set aside.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups flour. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl frequently to incorporate. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in remaining flour until smooth.

Cover and let rise until double, 50-60 minutes.

While dough is rising strain the strawberries, reserving the juice. Set both aside until you are ready to make the glaze. Continue straining the strawberries as needed.

Turn dough onto floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour. Gently roll dough 1/2-inch thick with floured rolling pin. Cut with floured doughnut cutter, or round cookie cutters. (I enjoy cutting fun shaped out of the donut holes).

Cover and let rise until double, 30-40 minutes. At 25 minutes, begin to heat vegetable oil in high-sided stock pot to 350°.

While donuts are rising, make the Fresh Strawberry glaze. Reduce strawberry juice to 3/4 cup over medium heat. In a separate pan, heat butter over low heat until it is melted. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar until smooth. This will take a little arm work! Stir in tablespoons of strawberry juice one at a time, until slightly more thick than your desired consistency. Add in vanilla extract. Set aside until ready to glaze. Warm the glaze gently if necessary. Pulverize the macerated strawberries and mix into to glaze, just enough according to your preference.

When the vegetable oil is ready, slide doughnuts into hot oil with wide wooden slotted spatula. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side. Remove carefully from oil and drain well.

Dip the doughnuts into the fresh strawberry glaze and set on rack. Sprinkle glazed donuts with additional macerated strawberries to garnish if desired.

Enjoy! I know we sure did!

Lime in the Coconut Donuts

Ever have someone tell you they love mowing lawns? My friend Jon did. Oh yes, he loves mowing lawns, dreams about starting up National Lawn Mowing Day as a matter of fact.

I don't believe him.

My house has a small front yard, massive side yard, and quaint back yard. Every few weeks I call Jon and tell them they are all his. He comes, he mows, and still claims that he loves it.

I don't believe him.

One of these weeks I'm expecting him to cave in, to admit he's lying, to tell me that he only claimed to love mowing lawns to impress women that was in our conversation. Yes, that's where he made this claim. He came over for a party, and while talking to me and another girl, scolded me. He was ashamed of my lawn, and volunteered for duty, because he loves mowing lawns.

I just don't buy it.

My plan is to keep calling, keep making this offer "Still love mowing lawns? If you do, my lawn is at your service" Not all the time, just every few weeks. Lull him into submission, catch him off guard, wait for enough time to pass that he'll forget that he claims he loves mowing lawns.

Even though mowing lawns, which he claims to love, would be its own reward, I find it only fitting to use my extra time making him a thank you treat, fresh lemonade, ice cold water.....

Actually, he might be in it for the treats........

These donuts are a twist off the pina colada donuts I made last week. I decided to go again, and add some lime cream filling. Yes, I love the taste, but I also love the added soundtrack "She put the lime in the coconut, she drank them both up."

Enjoy! And if you're starting to think ahead to memorial day weekend bbq's check out my ice cream recipes! Your friends will love it!

Lime in the Coconut Donuts
for the donut:

1/2 ounce packages yeast
1/4 cup hot water, roughly 110 degrees in temperature
1 1/2 cups milk, scalded and cooled
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening
5 cups all-purpose flour
canola oil

Lime Mousse

1/2 cup pure lime cocktail syrup

1/2 cup simple syrup
4 large egg yolks
1 package unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Pina Colada Frosting

1/3 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup pineapple coconut juice blend
1/2 teaspoon rum extract
flaked coconut to garnish

Dissolve yeast in warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups flour. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl frequently to incorporate. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in remaining flour until smooth.

Cover and let rise until double, 50-60 minutes.

In the meantime, begin to make the lime mousse.

Bring lime syrup to a boil then remove from heat.

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the lime syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle). Add warmed egg yolks to hot lime syrup until well mixed.

Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatin. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatin has completely dissolved.

Whisk the gelatin/whipping cream mixture into the lime syrup mixture and set aside. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.

Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the lime syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Return to making the donuts. Turn dough onto floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour. Gently roll dough 1/2-inch thick with floured rolling pin. Cut into solid rounds.

Cover and let rise until double, 30-40 minutes. At 25 minutes, begin to heat vegetable oil in high-sided stock pot to 350°.

When the vegetable oil is ready, slide doughnuts into hot oil with wide wooden slotted spatula. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side. Remove carefully from oil and drain well.

Make the coconut frosting. make the Pina Colada/coconut frosting. Heat butter over low heat until it is melted. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar until smooth. This will take a little arm work! Stir in tablespoons of pineapple coconut syrup one at a time, until desired consistency. Add in rum extract. Set aside until ready to glaze. Warm the glaze gently if necessary.

Take each donut and insert a butter knife into the donut. Carefully cut the inside to loosen any stuck dough and create a pocket. Remove the mousse from the fridge, and put into a piping bag, and pipe into donut. Repeat on all donuts.

Dip the donuts in the Pina Colada glaze and set on rack. Sprinkle glazed donuts with flaked coconut or dip in sprinkles or other toppings to garnish.

Enjoy! I know we sure did!

Donut-Pops

My fake summer vacation kick off has me feeling like a kid again. The universe is even on my side. At trivia on Tuesday we had a little girls dream category: Rainbows, Unicorns and Teddy Bears. I'm not kidding. I'm also proud to say that, yes, I in fact do know that America  sang all the music the the 1982 film The Last Unicorn and yes that was one of my favorite childhood movies. Two points for my team!

Last night I kept up the trend with kickball. Best game ever, except for one thing: we lose every game. Last night was a crushing 0-14 loss. CRUSHING. The thing is, when you were kids, you had a teacher or adult somewhere usually that would keep you from pushing, shoving, and most of the men didn't have so much testosterone coursing through their measly little wimpy nine year old bodies.....not that I don't enjoy occasionally seeing a drunk twenty something Charlie Sheen impersonator take a swing at my friends (last night he came in a blonde goddess wig. classy) but.......not cool dude. It's adult kickball at 6:30 on a Thursday.....but you're Charlie Sheen incarnate. I'm kinda over Charlie Sheen so I'm hoping this guy pulls his act together soon.

Today's childhood happiness? Not unicorns, or teddy bears or kickball or eating m&m's for breakfast (which I did) no it's lollipops. Donut-pops actually. Cake-pops have been all the rage, a cute little bite of cake on a stick. who wouldn't love that? Well, donut holes are nothing new, but now (drum roll)...... on a stick! :)

It's not so much a recipe, as a concept. Make donuts. Put the holes onto lollipop sticks. Enjoy!

Need a donuts Recipe? Try these!

Apple Cider Glazed Donuts

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake Donuts

Pina Colada Donuts

Maple Bacon Donuts

Apple Cider Glazed Donuts

Perfect for fall, these raised donuts are covered with apple cider glaze, made from scratch and full of cinnamon and buttery goodness!

Butchie and I had a heck of a time making these. Between metro delays, deadlines, and realizing we didn't have a few ingredients as we were making the donuts, we were well put out by the end of the night. We really need to get more sleep before we bake, especially when it's Daring Bakers day! [Yeast. You cannot make donuts without yeast. You also cannot make glaze without sugar. We are not always great planners. --B.]

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious. [Our own recipe is a modification from a Krispy Kreme recipe that is so ubiquituous on the internet that, in J's words, "its rediculous." But must be mentioned, regardless. We used the same one for our pina colada doughnuts, way back when, but this time added a little cinnamon and nutmeg to the dough for extra flavor. --B. ]

So, anyway, we were not on our game. We started an hour and half after we wanted to, were finishing up well past my bed time, and you have no idea how much apple cider I spilled on the counter. Let’s just say hollowing out the apples takes some finesse, if you need them to be watertight, anyway. And we may have skipped a few steps and made some adjustments for our cider glaze. But who really cares? Baking with Butch is the fun night of cooking! Low stress, tons of laughter and if it has to go badly, at least she’s there for moral support! [And taking blame. The glaze issues were totally my fault. --B.]

At least the doughnuts didn’t suffer. I mean, really, if you add enough sugar and butter anything will turn into something worthwhile, right? [Hence the glaze was redeemed! --B.] We also--eventually--succeeded at hollowing out some lovely apple cups to drink our extra cider from! Adorable, right?

We hope you enjoy them! And daring bakers readers, I also made some chocolate buttermilk cake doughnuts and some pumpkin apple cinnamon doughnuts! Check those out also!

Apple Cider Glazed Donuts

1/2 ounce package yeast

1/4 cup hot water, roughly 110 degrees in temperature

1 1/2 cups milk, scalded and cooled

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup shortening

5 cups all-purpose flour
optional: about a teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

canola oil

Apple Cider Glaze

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup apple cider

Dissolve yeast in warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups flour. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl frequently to incorporate. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in remaining flour until smooth.

Cover and let rise until double, 50-60 minutes.

While dough is rising boil down roughly one cup of apple cider juice to form syrup. Set aside until you are ready to make the glaze.

Turn dough onto floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour. Gently roll dough 1/2-inch thick with floured rolling pin. Cut with floured doughnut cutter, or round cookie cutters. (I enjoy cutting fun shapes out as the donut holes, like hearts and stars).

Cover and let rise until double, 30-40 minutes. At 25 minutes, begin to heat vegetable oil in high-sided stock pot to 350°.

While donuts are rising, make the Apple Cider Glaze. Heat butter over low heat until it is melted. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar until smooth. This will take a little arm work! Stir in tablespoons of apple cider syrup one at a time, until desired consistency. Set aside until ready to glaze. Warm the glaze gently if necessary.

When the vegetable oil is ready, slide doughnuts into hot oil with wide wooden slotted spatula. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side. Remove carefully from oil and drain well.

Dip the doughnuts into Apple Cider Glaze and set on rack for glaze to set.

Enjoy! I know we sure did!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Apple Donuts

The beautiful fall flavors of pumpkin, cinnamon, and apples coming together into a wonderful cake doughnut perfect for the season! 

Alright, I've been getting far too behind at life. But when you think about it, how could I not? The last month...actually just the last two weeks. I mean, how on earth could I not get behind when our office manager gets fired in a big way, me and the boyfriend call it quits, our office had a board meeting....in which we had to smooth over all the byproducts of the office manager's mess, I catered a wedding, and then a breakfast, and went out of town for three days, and to top it all off my car is in the shop. Life. Is. Awesome. 

Actually life really is good. I can't complain. I mean, let's just look at that list the other way: I have a job, I have been loved, I have a semi-successful blogging life, I get to travel, I have good food and I have a car. Honestly, that pretty well puts me about the top of the ladder as far as I can see. I have a nice little life, even if it is a bit full. 

I have been promising wedding catering posts. I have been promising posts about my recent trip (and that is going to be one AMAZING post!). I have two other posts that I still haven't gotten to, but since every one of those sentences started with "I have" I'm just going to go ahead and say it means I have a lot to be thankful for! 

These little doughnuts are coming from the breakfast I did last week. They are chock full of yummy apples, and pumpkin and cinnamon and nutmeg, or in other words, chock full of YUM! I took a large parcel of them with us on the road trip. It was so hard not to eat them all in one sitting! I hope you like them too! 

Pumpkin Apple Cinnamon Cake Donuts

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

½ teaspoon Vietnamese cinnamon

½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup peeled, cored and chopped apple

1 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons Vietnamese cinnamon

apple cider or water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 doughnut molds.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into doughnut molds filling roughly half full.

Bake for roughly ten minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool, and decorate accordingly.

To make the apple cinnamon glaze mix powdered sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Add cider or water until you reach the desired consistency. Dip each doughnut in and allow glaze to set.

Enjoy! 

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake Donuts

Dark chocolate buttermilk donuts with a chocolate glaze, moist and mouthwatering. 

(special thanks to Brandon for buying me a tripod so I could taker primp-ier photos)

I've had a "busy" day off. Busy enjoying GOOD food.

The last two weeks around here have been CRAZY. Between wedding catering, my birthday, conferences, and a work week I don't care to discuss anymore I. Am. Fried. I have next to nothing left to give. So, this weekend is my weekend off. Aparently, however, not off from blogging or baking. But that's just because this is what I actually enjoy out of all of this busy work.

Step one on the weekend off was shopping. I headed down to my "happy place" and did some cooking supply shopping.....I went in for a donut cutter for raised donuts. A purchase that should have only been four dollars total....fifty dollars and a few impulse purchases later, I also had cake donut pans, cannoli molds, and a few more porcelain dishes. So, of course that meant step two was breaking it all in.

And so this morning I made some chocolate buttermilk cake donuts before heading off to Taste of Georgetown.  So, basically, in the past four hours, I've eaten my caloric intake for the next week...and a half.....and it was worth it.

Clockwise: Farmers & Fishers Long Roasted Pork Taco, Patisserie Poupon Macarons, Filomena Pumpkin Cheesecake,  Tony & Joe's Macademia Crusted Shrimp,  Patisserie Poupon Pear Tart, J. Paul's Crab Cake and Cheeseburger Sliders, Chadwicks Baby Back Ribs, and the stilt walking ticket man. 

I think the photos speak for themselves. I quite literally will not be needing to eat for a week (and yet I am polishing off the macarons as I write this post). But WOW was it crowded! Long lines for good food is not surprise to me, luckily there were three of us. We could split tickets and lines and make it through in no time.....okay, so maybe Marie and I made it through about three lines before Hugh was able to get to the front of the Farmers & Fishers line....but, hey, we got our food and life was good. No. Life. Was. Great. My personal favorites were the macarons, and the ribs. I highly recommend Filomena (get the cannelloni frutti di mare) and would like to tell Farmers & Fishers that they had one of the worst corn tortillas I have ever had. Sad day. It was the only disappointment. The tacos did not deliver. But hey, only one less than stellar dish? Not too shabby.

So now I'm home. Back from a fun day and continuing to polish off the chocolate donuts relax and enjoy a lovely Saturday in DC.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake Donuts

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup dutch process cocoa
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 T. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 425. Spray donut pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl (or stand mixer), soft together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add buttermilk. Stir. Add butter and vanilla. Stir.  Add eggs one at a time, stirring in between each egg. Beat until just combined. Fill each donut mold about 2/3 full.

Bake for roughly seven minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool, and decorate accordingly. I dipped mine in chocolate glaze and sprinkles.

Satiny Chocolate Glaze

Adapted from Satiny Chocolate Glaze

3/4 cup semisweet chocoalte chips

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl combine chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each time until smooth. Do not overcook.

Donuts

Apple Cider Glazed Donuts

Chocolate Cake Donuts

Donut-Pops

Lime in the Coconut Donuts

Maple Bacon Donuts

Pina Colada Donuts

Strawberry Donuts