Doughnuts!

The title says it all. I love doughnuts, so does my mom, brother, and dad. We have favorite places to go to get doughnuts ( The Original Bakery and Top Pot, though Dad also likes Mighty-O), and a few favorite recipes. However, Mom doesn't like to fry doughnuts, so we went looking for a baked doughnut recipe. We found this one: :) They're super good. I made a simple chocolate glaze, a maple glaze, and some cinnamon sugar. Just a warning, making glazes is messing! The powdered sugar gets everywhere, and if anything drips, you'll have to scrub really hard to get it off. I think it's worth it, though. I got the glaze recipe from Doughnuts, Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home, by Lara Ferroni.

 Here's a picture from the side.

Going counterclockwise starting at the bottom, it's chocolate, then maple, then cinnamon sugar.

Chocolate Glaze

1 1/2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons vanilla

1. Sift together the sugar and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Slowly stir in the milk and vanilla, a little at a time, to make a smooth, pourable glaze.

2. Dip the doughnuts in and enjoy! <3

Maple Glaze

1 1/2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons milk

 1. Place the sugar in a medium bowl and slowly stir in the maple syrup and milk, a little at a time, to make a smooth, pourable glaze.
2. Dip the doughnuts in and enjoy! <3

Tips and Tricks #5 Making Buttermilk

We never have buttermilk in the house. I don't think I have ever seen it before. Then I learned about this trick. To make a cup of buttermilk, put 1 tablespoon white vinegar in a liquid measuring cups. Add enough milk to make 1 cup, and let it sit for 5 minutes, and (Ta da!), you have buttermilk. It's easy enough to calculate if you need 3/4 cup of buttermilk or something, and you don't have half a carton of unused buttermilk sitting in the fridge.

A Treat For Tea

I have always though of scones as being a sweet, sometimes a bit dry, mix between a cake and a bread. I never knew people made savory scones. I read somewhere that if you have a basic, plain scone recipe, you can do just about anything with it. I tried it, and my rosemary Parmesan garlic scones turned out okay. But a tip: If you are making savory scones with a plain scone recipe (Because people tend to make plain scones sweet), don't add as much sugar. Everyone else said they liked them, but I think that the sweetness contrasted the Parmesan and rosemary, and I didn't taste the garlic at all. Oh, well. I'll try it again. A lot of people eat scones with tea, but I like them without anything. I got the recipe from The Secret Ingredient (Not a cookbook).

 Here they are! They got nicely browned on the outside, but where still soft on the inside. They tasted great hot with lots of butter.

I liked how this picture looked. It really showed off the texture.

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 cup sugar (I would make it less if making a savory scone)

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons butter

1 egg

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the dry ingredients together first, then cut in the butter and egg.

2. Slowly add the buttermilk to form a thick dough. (Add any extra ingredients now)

3. Knead the dough on a board, roll to one inch thickness and cut the dough using cookie or scone cutters.

4. Place each scone on a greased cookie sheet and brush the tops with milk. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown; serve warm.

5. Enjoy! <3

To make Parmesan garlic rosemary scones, add:

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary

about half a tablespoon minced garlic

1/3 cup Parmesan (Do 1/2 a cup if you want it extra cheesy)

A Baker's Tools

Hey, all. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'll try to post more from now on. Anyways, I think I should make a list of what I consider basic tools every baker should need. Some of you might add or take away a few things, and there are definitely things I have for fancier baking, but here it is:


An Electric Mixer
Bowls in several different sizes
Measuring cups and spoons for dry ingredients
Measuring cups for liquid ingredients
Wooden, plastic, or rubber mixing spoons and spatulas
Whisks in a few different sizes
Muffin tins and cake/bread pans
Ice cream scoops in a few different sizes (For scooping cookies and putting batter into muffin tins)
Pastry brushes (For brushing on glazes, milk mixtures, egg mixtures, or anything else)
Baking sheets
Cutting boards (You'd be surprised how often I use these)
A Sifter
And, of course, a sponge!

Wow. Just Wow

would you believe that I love to cook and yet had never watched the food network until a few weeks ago? One word. Wow. I can't believe what I've been missing! So far my two favorite shows are Cupcake Wars and Barefoot Contessa, but I'll watch anything! It used to be that if Mom said I could watch T.V. I would watch Disney, but now I watch cooking show after cooking show. I love them.  Food Network Rocks!

Tips and Tricks #4, How to make perfect chocolate chip cookies

My dad sent me this link months ago, and I watched it once and never really thought about it again. Then on Labor Day, I wanted to make something, so I decided on choc-chip cookies. I watched the video again, and thought, "Wow! What she says makes sense!" Just FYI, using an ice cream scoop does make it easier.
http://www.chow.com/videos/show/all/117274/how-to-make-chocolate-chip-cookies

2 quick and easy breakfasts

#1. A smoothie. Really. It's as simple as that. It's fast, it's simple, and you can easily add nuts or hemp powder or something to get more protein. My dad does it with hemp, but I can't stand the taste of hemp, so I use macadamia nuts instead. They taste great in a strawberry banana smoothie!


#2. If you can scramble an egg, you can make a breakfast burrito. It's fast, easy, and tastes great on a cold morning.





                                                   Smoothies



#1. The 'Ana' Smoothie.
My best friend's mom taught us this one, though we did edit it a bit.

1. Fill a blender 1/4 a way with ice. Pour milk over it until it covers the ice.
2. Peel a banana and cut it in half. Put it in the blender.
3. Blend until there are no big chunks of ice or banana. Add chocolate syrup or chocolate powder to taste.



#2. Strawnana
My personal name for a strawberry banana smoothie.

1. Pour in 2 and 1/2 cups frozen strawberries into a blender.
2. Cut a banana into rough chunks and add to the blender.
3. Pour about 1 cup strawberry/orange/banana juice into the blender (I use the kind you get at Trader Joe's)
4. Blend until smooth.




#3. Blueberry Bliss
My brother's favorite.


1. Put 1 and 1/2 cups frozen blueberries into the blender. Pour 1 cup milk over it.
2. Add 1 cup frozen raspberries, and one banana, cut into chunks.
3. Blend until smooth.





                                                 Breakfast Burritos


1. Scramble an egg.
2. Cook a sausage and cut into small pieces. Put the eggs and the sausage onto a tortilla.
3. Put some cheese onto the egg and sausage, and put the tortilla in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.