Maple Bacon Donuts

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blogCheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

I'm a little too in love with bacon recently. 

When I say maple, you say bacon? Maple!....yeah. Cheering really works better in person.

I can't help but hear bacon when someone says maple. It's as if there is maple bacon, and there is bacon. I can use bacon in everything (and I plan to) but maple....bacon. See, I just can't keep them apart!

When the Daring Bakers said maple, I said bacon, and then donuts just somehow popped in there. It's edible. It contained mousse just fine. It's a delightful challenge! Don't let the incredibly long list of instructions scare you. It looks long....and okay it does take a few hours, but there is plenty of down time in those few hours and plenty of maple bacon donut goodness at the end. :)

Maple Bacon 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

for the maple bacon (or just maple) frosting
2 2/3 ounce bacon grease/melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup maple syrup

for the maple mousse
1 cup pure maple syrup
4 large egg yolks
1 package unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

for the bacon topping

1 lb. bacon

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 maple mousse. 

Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.

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

Cook the bacon topping. Preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil

Arrange bacon slices on the foil and place the baking sheet on the center rack. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until very crisp. When fully crisp, remove slices to a paper towel lined plate to soak up any excess grease.

Measure off the bacon grease in ounces (for me it was 2 oz) and pour into a thick pot. Add enough butter to make 2 2/3 oz. 

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 maple bacon 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 maple syrup one at a time, until desired consistency. 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 doughnuts into the maple bacon glaze and set on rack. Sprinkle glazed donuts with crushed bacon strips.

Enjoy! I know we sure did!

Bacon Florentines and Bourbon Panna Cotta

If you've never given thought to bacon in a cookie, it's time to think again. Bacon, maple, brown sugar, and some flour for good measure come together to form an offbeat florentine cookie as a tasty accent to Bourbon Panna Cotta. 

It's not often that the little diddy "one of these things is not like the other" applies to me. The most peculiar aspect of me is an atypical personality stuck in an average, run of the mill, just like the other shell. Average height, weight, hair color, eye color, etc. I'm an American living in America, which is not particularly special except in some places out west where terms such as seasonal, day or dirt cheap are used to describe the labor force. 

As a typical American I am highly jealous of my friend Tim, who is called Tim mainly because, as typical Americans, it is not expected of us to be able to pronounce Pakistani names. Tim has a background that never ceases to remind me how typical my demographics are. He is Pakistani and Islamic yet went to a Catholic primer school, a Mormon College, and has an excessive knowledge of the Tom and Jerry show. I remember once thinking "huh, that sounds like Tim"...and it was Tim...on BBC. Today I spent the afternoon in a pub on Capital Hill with Tim, and am now convinced I need to move abroad so I can be counted equally exotic. 

One of the few examples of a time when I was demographically atypical was one we laughed over again at the pub. Six years ago I showed up to a midnight soccer game because one, I was invited, and two, I had nothing better to do at midnight on a Thursday (I also apparently have nothing better to do at midnight on a Saturday than write this post). Everyone else invited read like a game of Where in the World is Carmen San Diego: two men from Mali, one from Tanzania, two from Brazil, one from Sweden, Tim from Pakistan, and the All-American girl. As a reminder that I had no business on this field I was asked to play keep. Wearing my ignorance on my sleeve I questioned what that meant and without any real explanation was told not to worry about it because "the ball will never make it to you anyway." Luckily that was true, and to bury myself deeper I unfortunately made a bet with Zebron from Tanzania that someday my children would beat his children at soccer. If you know any professional soccer players looking to settle down and have a few kids, let them know they are my only hope. 

Since today reminded me I won't be winning the award for most interesting person in the world award, perhaps instead I can get an honorable mention for most odd use of bacon. It may not impress Tim, as he does not eat bacon, but I'll take what I can get. Let's hope it does impress my fellow daring bakers who also have been showing off their skills. The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.  Cheers to all who participated and an extra cheer for Tim, a good friend who I hope to someday "out exotic."

Bourbon Brown Sugar Panna Cotta

4 tsp. unflavored powdered gelatin

4 cups half and half

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 tsp. vanilla

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over two cups of half and half. Let stand until gelatin softens, about one minute. 

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together two cups of half and half, brown sugar, bourbon and vanilla. Heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. 

Combine the two mixtures, strain through a fine mesh sieve and ladle into roughly 8 half cup ramekins. 

Refrigerate for 8 hours. 

To unmold, dip the bottom of each ramekin into a bowl of warm water for about five seconds. Invert panna cotta onto a plate. Serve with a bacon maple florentine. 

Bacon Maple Florentine

adapted from Food Network

2 ounces flour

2 ounces brown sugar

2 ounces bacon grease, solidified

2 ounces maple syrup

2 ounces sliced almonds

2 ounces crispy bacon, crumbled 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix all ingredients in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Use a small melon baller or your hands to form round teaspoon sized balls. Place two inches apart on a silpat mat and bake for about 3-5 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before removing to a wire rack. 

Maple Bacon Bourbon Ice Cream

Does anything get better than bacon? It does if it's maple, brown sugar and a wee bit of bourbon! An offbeat ice cream that is salty and sweet and prove that everything really is better with bacon. 

This post needs some clarification for a woman in Arizona, who undoubtedly is sitting in her office, pictures of relatives lining her walls, and a disgruntled looking plant next to her computer, reading this post in between co-workers questions and internally screaming: WHY IS MY DAUGHTER COOKING WITH BOURBON?!

I don't drink. My mother does not drink. So without a doubt she'll most likely be condemning me on some level for cooking with bourbon or at the very least for being a bad example, but, as an American I'd like to claim the "innocent until proven guilty" clause that I have a claim to by birth. I cooked with bourbon, guilty, if i had cooked with vanilla that would be fine right? Allow me to present two facts: 

1. Pure Vanilla Extract is made with alcohol, usually vodka. Mine (and my mother's) is 65% alcohol, aka 130 proof.  
2. My bourbon is liquor BUT only 50% alcohol (100 proof). 

Yes, that's right, two teaspoons of bourbon has LESS alcohol than two teaspoons of vanilla! Therefore, my guilt should be correspondingly less! Which leaves me in the realm of negative guilt. Aaaaah, negative guilt. I believe I can eat at least four pieces of chocolate before I break even on the guilt spectrum. **

Where I most likely should be feeling guilt, is about eating this for breakfast, but my rational mind is telling me that bacon, milk, eggs, and maple syrup are all accepted parts of breakfast, therefore no guilt. Denial is my new best friend. :) 

Enjoy! And for those of you who embrace your bourbon, just don't go over a tablespoon. Alcohol doesn't freeze, so you'll end up with a bacon maple bourbon shake instead......which doesn't sounds like a bad thing. For you. Not me. (Hi Mom! Bye Mom!) 

Enjoy! 

Bacon Maple Bourbon Ice Cream

5 strips bacon
about 2 teaspoons light brown sugar

2 eggs
3/4 cups brown sugar
3 cups half and half

1 1/3 cup grade A pure maple syrup

2 teaspoons bourbon
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Scald one cup of half and half over medium heat in a medium sauce pan. Remove from heat. 

In a stand mixer whisk together the yolks and brown sugar until light and fluffy, then gradually pour the scalded half and half down the side of the bowl as the mixer is still going. 

Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan(Add bourbon now if you want to cook off the alcohol), stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture has thickened and will coat the back of the spoon . Remove from heat, and pour through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Add in the remaining half and half, maple, bourbon (if you don’t want to cook off the alcohol), and vanilla. Chill the custard thoroughly. About two hours. 

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Lay the strips of bacon on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or aluminum foil. Sprinkle 1½-2 teaspoons of brown sugar evenly over each strip of bacon. Bake for 12-16 minutes, flipping half way, and sprinkling with a bit more sugar. Cool on a wire rack, and once cooled, chop or cut into small pieces.

Transfer the custard mixture to an ice cream maker. Allow the ice cream to churn until finished, adding bacon at the last minute and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

**I know that for some people this rationale does not work. Devout members of many world religions do not cook with alcohol or vanilla that contains alcohol. You can't even buy vanilla extract in the UAE for example. Should you find that you are just now realizing that you consider your vanilla extract to be improper, may I recommend cooking with vanilla sugar or vanilla beans (no alcohol, full flavor). Please avoid imitation extract if you can. Imitation vanilla is cheap, fake and produces food of a similar quality. 

Maple Pear Pie Ice Cream

It's still my ice cream year of study so why not try out some maple pear pie ice cream as well! The maple and pears are a beautiful accent to the vanilla cream ice cream! So many wonderful flavors in each bite!

It's still 2010. I. Have. To. Make. Ice. Cream.

I just have to. Each year there is that goal I make, to make ice cream one a week. To have fifty-two ice cream recipes at the end of the year that I love, to try tons of new ice creams, and to make ice cream in fun and inventive ways. I've been very successful but the weather is getting cold and I am still down! By nearly 22 posts! AH!

Here is a simple post. I took some of the maple pear pies I made a few days ago and put a few of them into vanilla cream ice cream. WONDERFUL! The problem is not eating all the pie before making the ice cream. Not. Doable. At. All.

I hope you love one of my last ditch efforts at meeting my ice cream goal! Hopefully I can make it and pump out another 22 ice cream posts by December 31! I can do it!

Maple Pear Pie Ice Cream

*if you made the maple pear pies from the previous post, then just use two of those and skip straight to making ice cream!

1 pears, peeled, cored, and chopped

1/6 cup pure maple syrup

2 tsp. arrowroot powder, corn starch, or flour

pinch kosher salt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch tsp freshly ground nutmeg

 1/2 T. unsalted butter, cut into 2 peices
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 425.  Combine all the pie filling ingredients except the butter in a large bowl. Divide amongst 2 ramekins, topping each with a piece of butter.  Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Allow the cobbler to cool in the refrigerator as you make the ice cream. 

In a stand mixer combine the eggs and sugar. Beat for one minute until light and fluffy. Gently mix in the cream, milk and vanilla. Do not whip!

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker. When the ice cream is almost ready, pour in the cooled maple pear pie. Allow the ice cream to churn until finished and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Enjoy! 

Maple Pear Pies

We may have outdone ourselves this week! To use up the leftovers from wedding fare Butchie and I made some beautiful pear pies, cooked with pure maple syrup and cinnamon! A beautiful fall pie!

Butchie and I had such a fun time this week! Pear pies are one of my favorite things. I actually prefer them to apple pies. Up until last night, I've only made them more traditionally, using a recipe my mother and I tried out years ago for Thanksgiving that's basically identical to your standard apple pie in flavor/seasoning. I loved it and still do. But we decided it was time to mix it up a bit!

Sooooo, what could be better in a fall pie than maple syrup? Um. Nothing! Having recently gotten back from Vermont I have all too much maple love in my heart. Except maple candy. I was not impressed with the maple candy I bought. The texture was so granular. It was like sticking maple spun sugar in my mouth straight. Don't get me wrong, that tastes lovely, but....texture. Ugh. Like sand. No good. [I still wish you'd brought me some. --B.] But I did try maple fudge....that is going to happen on this blog at some point. Mark. My. Words.

Since we wanted to do mini-pies, and didn't feel like bothering with a proper crust, we thought we'd top them with leftover phyllo from the wedding. Aaaaand since the pies are tiny and left lots of phyllo still to use, we thought we'd just mess around with phyllo for like an hour after the pies were in the oven. [It's like play-doh for adult bakers! --B.] We tried out a few ideas we like for some future posts, one of which kind of resembles a birds nest made of phyllo. That's a bad description, but trust me when I say it will be a beautiful post! We also did some cut outs of maple leaves as you can see in the photos, which we sprinkled with vanilla sugar. Frankly, we loved eating those plain like chips. So delicious, though you really have to watch them like a HAWK. [That vanilla sugar caramelizes extraordinary fast, I suspect b/c the dough is so thin. But if you're the kind of person who likes to set your marshmallows on fire, maybe you should leave them in there an extra 30 seconds or so. --B.] Plus, SO CUTE!

We hope you love these as much as we did. Because, wow, we really did. Butch and I have baked so many great things together over the years, but this one really stood out.

Maple Pear Pies

5 pears, peeled, cored, and chopped

2/3 cup pure maple syrup

2 T. arrowroot powder, corn starch, or flour

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

2 T. unsalted butter, cut into 8 peices

4-6 sheets phyllo dough

4 T. unsalted butter, melted

vanilla sugar (or cinnamon sugar)

Preheat the oven to 425. Combine all the pie filling ingredients except the butter in a large bowl. Divide amongst 8 ramekins, topping each with a piece of butter. Bake until bubbly, about 20 minutes.

To make the crust, roll out phyllo dough brushing melted butter between each layer, and occasionally sprinkling vanilla sugar in between the layers. Continue this process until the phyllo dough is four to six sheet thick. Cut into rounds the same size as your ramekins, and place on top of the bubbling fruit.

Continue to bake for about 12-14 minutes, or until the phyllo has turned golden-brown. Serve warm.

New England Road Trip: Boston and Pumpkin Regattas!

New England in the Fall! Could anything be more lovely? Two friends and I took a three day road trip around big cities and small town festivals! We did a taste test on Cannoli in Boston, a pie eating contest in New Hampshire, bought maple candy in Vermont and tried all sorts of local restaurants along the way! 

ROADTRIP! I know already you have to be jealous. If you aren't you should be! This was an amazing trip! I'm still not sure how we fit in as much as we did! We had three jam packed days of travel and fun....and driving sure, but more fun than driving! 

We started out driving overnight to Boston. Good times! Since we'd all been to Boston before we skipped the more touristy items and went straight to what really matters: cannoli! We tried out the two well known, and arguably best Cannoli shops in Boston: Mike's Pastry and Modern Pastry! So where did we weigh in on the holy cannoli wars? Well, that was too easy. 

We love Mike's Pastry! Not that we didn't love the cramped shop and slowest moving line ever at Modern Pastry, but, as it were the cannoli was no where near as good either. But beyond that, here's what I love about Mike's: I went there two years ago, and a woman who clearly had no business being there asks the guy at the counter "So, what's good here?" The guy looks at her and sarcastically says "The customah sahvice." Everyone in the store, and the line around the corner starts laughing at this. Of course they did! You are in the home of cannoli kings! Are you kidding?!?! And then there's this last time. I ordered and dropped my change purse, and when the same guy came back from getting me my change said "Hey, should I throw this down there too?" And I laughed again. I love that guy! Not to mention how much we LOVED the florentine cannoli and the perfect crisp of the chocolate dipped cannoli. Fantastic. True, true love. 

Next stop: lunch with some friends in Boston! We headed over to Trident Booksellers & Cafe which is one of the 2010 Boston Best Neighborhood Restaurants! And it was worth it! None of us had a meal we didn't like! I had the Morning Monte Cristo! So yummy!  Two fried eggs, Canadian bacon, raspberry preserves & cheddar cheese between two slices of challah bread French toast. Needless to say I'll be making that for breakfast at home a lot more often! 


Next up we took a nice drive up to Salem for some witch hunting! Halloween is simply crazy in Salem. Tons of ghost tours, haunted houses, graveyards, and the like! If you are looking for some good Halloween spirit, this is the place to go! We weren't so much so we took a drive up to the cute little seaport town of Newburyport, MA! We really enjoyed walking down the cute town squares and had a lovely dinner at The Grog before continuing on to New Hampshire!


Next up: The Goffstown Pumpkin Regatta! 


Goffstown, New Hampshire is an adorable little town that for the past seven years has held a pumpkin regatta! They hallow out giant pumpkins and build boats onto them, dress in costumes and race them across a river having a water fight along the way and a ton of fun! 


The festivities start with the dropping of the giant pumpkin! Take that Big Apple! They got a five hundred pound pumpkin to drop! You aint' got nuttin' on that! 

After watching the three failed attempts at dropping the pumpkin, and the final success we moved on to pumpkin games! They had mini pumpkin golf! Pumpkin toss! Ring toss onto a pumpkin stem! and of course: the pie eating contest! My friend Tristan and I competed! We got slaughtered of course, but had a hilarious time trying to win. All I can say about that is, it was not an award winning banana creme pie! But I tried my best! I was the only woman competing in the adult age category. I just couldn't hack it against the big boys. Wow, could some of those guys eat pie! 

After that we went to watch the kids compete in the wagon relay races, and the mini pumpkin races down the river! It was such a fun day with all the lovely pumpkin themed activities! I wish there were a festival like this here in DC! 

Next up was the actual event: The Pumpkin Regatta! My personal favorite was the the pumpkin boat the fire department built in the shape of a dragon! It breathed fire! So creative and wonderful! I also really loved the pirate and his forethought to use an umbrella to block out all the water being shot at him with water cannons! So awesome! And I really loved when a little kid yelled at Noah that he was losing the race. I couldn't stop myself, I just turned to the kid and said "The arc was built to float. Noah wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere." Okay, so it sounds dumb now, but I swear the people I was standing with thought it was hilarious. 

And last but not least was a happy drive over to Vermont, and all through New York seeing the pretty fall colors and walking through beautiful and peaceful groves. It was a lovely and peaceful day. I especially loved stopping in Vermont for maple candy and maple fudge. I loved the maple fudge so much and can't wait to make some for myself!

If you live in New England or get the chance to visit next year I'd highly recommend the Goffstown Pumpkin Regatta. It was a really fun day, and well worth the drive!

Cheers! 

Maple Ice Cream

A fabulous fall treat, maple ice cream made with premium Grade A pure maple syrup can't go wrong. 

Still going with the crazy week. But that is just NO FUN AT ALL to continue talking about. So......LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CRAZY FUN WEEKEND AHEAD! 

Saturday: Boston! I'm gonna go get my cannoli on! I've done all the touristy things before, and most likely will do them again on Saturday, but I'm going to mostly be a happy tag-along to whatever my friends want to do, except for the cannoli. Hmmmm. Maybe I should do a taste test of cannolis? That's a great day! 

Sunday: Pumpkin Regatta Races! We are going to the [at least 6th annual] Giant Pumpkin Regatta in Goffstown, New Hampshire! That means 500 pound pumpkins hollowed out into kayaks and raced down the river! To kick the day off they have a "Pumpkin Drop" to welcome in the pumpkin catapults, pumpkin pie eating contest (that we simply MUST enter), a pumpkin shopping cart race.....I don't know what that means either, mini pumpkin races, and of course, THE REGATTA! So fun! 

Monday: Scenic drive through some lesser known New York sites, beautiful groves, and breathtaking views. 

I'm so looking forward to this more than ideal fall weekend! To kick it off, here is some more than ideal fall ice cream! 

Maple Ice Cream

2 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
2 cups cream
1 cup milk

1 1/3 cup grade A pure maple syrup

In a stand mixer combine the eggs and sugar.  Beat for one minute until light and fluffy. 

Gently mix in the cream, milk  and maple syrup. 

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker. Allow the ice cream to churn until finished and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.