Tuesday, June 29, 2010
I have had my eye on this enticing Baked Doughnuts recipe from 101 cookbooks for months. I have daydreamed in class about simple glazed doughnuts and different jam-filled varieties. And yet, I'm practically half way in to my summer and haven't found the time to tackle a yeast recipe. Or perhaps it's a little bit of moxie that I can't seem to locate. However, I did promise myself that I would get to it sometime before school starts and I have no intention of letting myself down.
Until then, I had to satiate my doughnut craving with this quick fix solution: doughnut muffins. The recipe is from The Downtown Bakery and Creamery north of the Bay Area in Healdsburg. They claim to sell out of these muffins every morning and I can already see why. The original recipe, which I posted here, yields 24 standard sized muffins. Predictably, I quartered the recipe and made 24 mini-muffins, but each little, melt-in-your-mouth bite is delectable. I'll shamefully admit that I've already eaten somewhere over 6 mini-muffins which is a little under 2 standard muffins...in under an hour. I've since forced myself to clean the kitchen completely and grab myself a glass of water so that I won't have a reason to go into the kitchen for a good couple of hours. I won't lie...doughnut muffins are not the new doughnut. But don't let that stop you from trying them.
Doughnut Muffins (recipe found here)
makes 24 medium muffins
12 oz. (24 Tbs.) unsalted butter, warmed to room temperature
1-3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 lb. 11 oz. (6 cups) all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1-2/3 cups milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
8 oz. (16 Tbs.) unsalted butter; more as needed
2 cups sugar
2 Tbs. ground cinnamon
Put a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F.
In a stand mixer or a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
Combine the milk and buttermilk. With a wooden spoon, mix a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then mix in a third of the milk mixture. Continue mixing in the remaining dry and wet ingredients alternately, ending with the dry. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don't overmix.
Grease and flour a standard-size muffin tin. Scoop enough batter into each tin so that the top of the batter is even with the rim of the cup, about 1/2 cup. (A #16 ice-cream scoop gives you the perfect amount.) Bake the muffins until firm to the touch, 30 to 35 min.
Melt the butter for the dipping mixture. Combine the sugar and cinnamon. When the muffins are just cool enough to handle, remove them from the tin, dip them into or brush them all over with the melted butter, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.
Friday, September 5, 2008
On my first morning back home from school I found myself all alone with nothing to do and nothing to eat for breakfast. Having been away from a kitchen all week I couldn't convince myself not to back and just relax. My biggest fear was preparing a big batch of delicious something that I would feel obligated to finish all by myself.
Ready to take a risk, I set out to bake myself an "individual" batch of crepes. I was really worried that scaling down a recipe might change the consistency of the crepes themself, but to my relief they came out just as I had hoped. Light and ever-so delicious.
To keep it light I simply spread a light layer of butter on the inside of the crepe and sprinkled it with a little powdered sugar and cinnamon. After folding it into quarters I lightly dusted the crepe with a little more sugar and cinnamon for a little extra flavor and added cuteness. It's hard to tell from the picture but these crepes really were tiny, maybe 4 inches in diameter. The added vanilla filled the kitchen with such a heavenly aroma as soon as the batter hit the skillet.
Here's the full serving recipe:
Basic Crepes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Combine eggs, milk, butter, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Sift together flour and sugar and beat into egg mixture until smooth.
Heat a lightly greased skillet and about 3 tablespoons of batter. Tilt skillet so that the batter spreads to almost cover the bottom of the skillet. Cook until lightly browned; turn and brown the other side. Repeat process with remaining batter, grease skillet as needed.
Yields approximately 6 servings.
I choose to have my crepes with cinnamon and sugar, but the combinations are endless. Fresh fruit with whipped cream or Nutella, lemon juice with a light sprinkling of sugar, or a light layer of your favorite jam would make an equally delicious crepe. Omit the sugar and vanilla for light and fluffy, savory crepes.
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