Month: February 2010

Doughtnut Muffins

One of my biggest weakness in life is cinnamon sugar. Anything is exponentially improved with the addition of cinnamon sugar. I saw this recipe and it practically jumped off the page at me. Doughnut-like muffins coated in cinnamon sugar? SOLD. These taste a lot like cake doughnuts! So yummy!

Doughnut Muffins
Recipe source: finecooking.com
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12 oz. unsalted butter, warmed to room temperature (1-1/2 cups)
1-3/4 cups granulated 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 table salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1-2/3 cups milk (whole or 2% works best)
1/4 cup buttermilk

for dipping:
8 oz (1 cup) unsalted butter (more if needed)
2 cups granulated sugar
2 Tbs ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a stand mixer or large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at time, until just mixed in. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Combine the milk and buttermilk.
3. With a wooden spoon or your mixer on low speed, mix a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then mix 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.
4. 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). Bake until the muffins are firm to the touch — about 30-35 minutes.
5. 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, then roll them in cinnamon sugar.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cupcakes

Happy Valentine’s Day!

This recipe belongs to my dear friend Amber, who runs Bluebonnets & Brownies. She has RAVED about this chocolate cake recipe. Although, it’s got a bit of a twist — it features mayonnaise and coffee as two of its main ingredients! Now, if you are skittish about either of those foods, don’t worry. Really, don’t. You can’t even taste the coffee or the mayo – all you taste is moist, delicious, EASY, homemade chocolate cake. Mmmm.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
Recipe Source: Amber Bracegirdle of Bluebonnets & Brownies
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2 cups all purpose flour (for cupcakes, add 2 extra tablespoons of flour)
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa (for cupcakes, add 1 more scant tablespoon of cocoa powder)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup mayonnaise – no substitutes
1 cup cold coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Sift together dry ingredients – set aside.
3. In mixing bowl combine mayonnaise, cold coffee and vanilla – add sifted dry ingredients, incrementally. Beat until smooth – scraping sides of bowl often.
4. Pour into greased and floured 9 x 13 pan or 12 count muffin pan with paper cups. Bake 25 to 35 minutes. Do not over bake.

I frosted the cupcakes with store-bought chocolate frosting, but Amber has a GREAT recipe for ganache to go along with this recipe.

King Cake

Mardi Gras is ONE WEEK from today! I have never been to New Orleans to celebrate, but it’s something that I hope to do next year! In the meantime, I will eat my weight in delicious king cake. This dessert is more like a giant cinnamon roll than it is a cake. For all of you history nerds, here’s the story behind this wonderful treat:

“As part of our Christian faith, the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. We refer to this as the Feast of the Epiphany or Little Christmas on the Twelfth Night. This is a time of celebration, exchanging gifts and feasting. Today, the tradition continues as people all over the world gather for festive Twelfth Night celebrations. A popular custom was and still is the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings called “A King’s Cake. Inside every cake is a tiny baby (generally plastic now, but sometimes this baby might be made of porcelain or even gold). The tradition of having King Cake Parties has evolved through time, and the person who receives the slice of cake with the baby is asked to continue the festivities by hosting the next King Cake party. Originally, King Cakes were a simple ring of dough with a small amount of decoration. Today’s King Cakes are much more festive. After the rich Danish dough is braided and baked, the “baby” is inserted. The top of the ring or oval cake is then covered with delicious sugar toppings in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold.” — mardigrasneworleans.com

But now, onto the recipe! I will be the first to admit that I am not an experienced bread maker. I tried my best on this and it worked out really, really well! I included my notes, in italics, that helped me through the process. :) Hopefully my notes will encourage those of you who have never made bread to give it a shot!

Traditional New Orleans King Cake
Recipe Source: Taste of Home
Print Recipe

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110° to 115°)*
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup warm 2% milk (110° to 115°)*
2 egg yolks
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3-1/4 to 3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
*I didn’t have a thermometer that would read in the 110-115 range, so I touched the water to my wrist – when it was hot enough, but not painful, it was okay to use. Water that is too hot will kill the yeast, so err on the side of caution! I’m going to buy a kitchen thermometer for future use!

GLAZE:
1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 to 3 tablespoons water
Green, purple and yellow sugars

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1/2 cup sugar, butter, milk, egg yolks, salt, lemon peel, nutmeg and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
You want to add just enough flour so that the dough holds together and isn’t soupy or too much like a batter. The dough will be very “sticky” when you’ve added enough flour.

2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Kneading is done to add strength to the bread. It will stretch the gluten in the flour, which gives the bread its texture. Put the dough on a floured surface. Stretch the dough with the heel of your hand and then fold it back on itself. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat. Knead the dough for about 6-8 minutes, or until the dough appears smooth and elastic. You will definitely notice a change in texture from when you started. Do not over-knead the dough, otherwise it will become too tough. If you want some visual instructions, this is a great video to watch.

I wasn’t quite sure where to place the bowl of dough to let it rise. I wanted to find a warm place (otherwise it could take forever for it to double). I turned my oven on and set the bowl of dough near the oven. The heat from the oven made that area of my kitchen pretty warm and it only took about 1.5 hours for my dough to double!

3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 16-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over dough to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet; pinch ends together to form a ring. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Brush with egg.
To punch down the dough you literally give it a few punches. The purpose for punching the dough down is to remove any big air pockets that have formed in the dough. It also helps to create an even texture in the bread and redistribute the nutrients for the yeast.

4. Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. For glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice and enough water to achieve desired consistency. Spread over cake. Sprinkle with colored sugars.

Ranger Cookies

So does anyone know why cookies made with *everything* are called “ranger cookies”? Seems like a slightly random name for some very delicious cookies! The nice thing about this recipe is that you can switch it up – substitute the “fun” ingredients, depending on what you like! I used M&Ms for half of the batch, and dried fruit for the other half. Yummy!

Ranger Cookies
Recipe Source: Ultimate Cookies Magazine
Print Recipe

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup raisins, dried cherries, dried cranberries, M&Ms, or whatever you’d like

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in oats, coconut, and dried fruit/candy.
3. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are golden and centers are set. Let stand for 1 minute on cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

*Makes about 48 cookies.
**If you want BIG cookies, place 1/3-cup mounds of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press into 3-inch circles. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown and centers are set. Makes about 10 cookies.