glaze

Daring Bakers: Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Donuts

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My house now smells of deep frying, I have a pot of oil cooling on the stove that I have no clue what I am going to do with, and a sink full of sticky dishes.  On the bright side I have a rack of apple cake donuts and donut holes covered in cinnamon glaze awaiting consumption.  I guess I can’t complain.

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.

There were quite a few donut options for this deep-fried challenge.  All the Daring Bakers could choose from a yeast donut, a buttermilk cake donut, filled bomboloni or pumpkin donut.  I was quite close to choosing the pumpkin since I have been on a pumpkin kick lately, but chose the buttermilk cake donut and added some grated apple and cinnamon to the dough.

The recipe says the dough will be sticky.  I was not prepared for the level of stickiness.  Use as much flour as you need to keep the dough from sticking to the cutters and your counter.  I even found that after my first cutting and re-rolling the donuts cut and handled much better thanks to the additional flour that had been incorporated.  Do not be shy with the flour.

After frying these beauties to a golden brown, let them drain on paper towels.  After cooling you can glaze them.  I used a simple glaze of powdered sugar, cinnamon and milk.  If you don’t want to glaze, you could dip the donuts in cinnamon sugar while they’re still warm and get a nice crunchy exterior.  Or just sprinkle them with powdered sugar. (more…)

Buttery Jam Cookies

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A good friend of mine makes jam every year and brings me a few jars when we see each other.  It is so much better than store bought!  The last time she was in Amarillo, she brought me 2 jars of blueberry jam.  I used one of those jars in these cookies.

These cookies are delicate, cake-like in texture, and are not overly sweet.  This recipe is from TWD, Tuesdays with Dorie.  Members cook their way through Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I am not a member of this baking group, but after trying this recipe I may decide to join when they start accepting new members!

I only made slight changes to this recipe.  I drizzled some glaze on the cooled cookies and added sliced almonds to half of the batter.  I would consider pecans next time.  When I mixed in the jam it just didn’t look like quite enough, so I added a little more.  I ended up mixing blueberry jam with a little strawberry rhubarb and the combination was nice.  You really can use any kind or combination of jam, so this is a truly versatile recipe that you can adapt to your personal taste.

These would be perfect with an afternoon cup of coffee or tea, and I even think you could pull off eating them for breakfast.  Enjoy!

Buttery Jam Cookies

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

Cookies:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tbsp. whole milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup jam (any flavor)
  • ¼ cup sliced almonds (optional)

Glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place two racks in the oven, one in the upper third of the oven and one in the lower third of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar (on high speed) for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat on high speed for an additional minute. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and beat on high speed for 30 seconds. Add the jam and beat on low speed for 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients, with the mixer on low speed, just until they’re mixed in. Stir in almonds here if using.  The dough will be extremely thick and stiff.
  4. With a an ice cream scoop or a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of the dough onto baking sheets, forming cookies that are about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches in size.
  5. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating the trays from top rack to bottom rack halfway through.
  6. Once baked, let the cookies sit on the pan for a minute or two and then remove to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Drizzle with glaze if desired.