New Years Day Tradition

While most people are starting diets, eating healthy and joining the gym, Jim and I are deep frying donuts.
These donuts are absolutely amazing. Be warned, they take time. They are yeast donuts and required to rise twice. They are so worth it.
Take a peek! I used my new camera (yeah, Jim rocks) for these pictures. I love this camera. I have no clue how to use it properly, yet it still takes great pictures. I can't wait to see what happens when I actually know how to use it.

The donuts on the second rise. I can't explain it, but I love this picture. I want to frame it!

First batch is out. We place the donuts on an upside down cooling rack over newspaper. This helps wick away the oil and prevents soggy donuts.

Time to make the donuts! (can anyone tell me what that is from because Jim must have said it 15 times that morning). Jim works on flipping batch #2

The surviving donuts, with glaze and sprinkles

Yummy January 1st breakfast

Anyone care to join us next year?
If you want some of your own, here is the recipe. We add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the mix.

Baked Oatmeal....Wisconsin Style

With some Italian coffee on the side.

This was really really good, and definitely a great choice for cool fall mornings. Not that we have those in Florida.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup rolled oat
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
1 Butter 1 1/2 quart casserole.
2 In medium saucepan, bring water to boiling.
3 Slowly stir in oats.
4 Return to boiling; reduce heat.
5 Simmer, uncovered, 2 to 3 minutes for quick cooking oats or 5 to 7 minutes for regular oats, or until most water is absorbed and the oats are tender, stirring occasionally.
6 In a small bowl, whisk milk and eggs.
7 In another small bowl, combine brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and 1/4 tsp salt; stir into oatmeal.
8 Fold egg mixture into oatmeal mixture.
9 Pour oatmeal mixture into prepared casserole.
10 Bake, uncovered, in 350 degree oven 30 to 40 minutes, or until center is just set and sugar crust forms on top.
11 Cool 30 minutes.
12 Serve warm with fresh fruit, if you like

Apple Fritters

Disclaimer: I can't be held responsible for any diets crashed, pounds gained, etc. I maintain that the apples in these make them healthy.

When we moved to Florida from Ohio, I thought that winter would be the hardest. While seeing Santa in shorts, and noticing that the Christmas tree tents had fans that misted cool water on the trees to keep them alive was odd, I actually didn't miss the snow all that much. We went back to Ohio for Christmas, had a little bit of snow, and I was satisfied. Besides, what is more fun that calling your friends from a patio as you eat lunch watching the boats float by in ocean while they are out shoveling for the second time in one day.

No, Fall was hard for me. Sad really. I LOVE fall. I LOVE football, and something about football makes me think Fall. I want to throw on a pot of chili, put on my Browns sweatshirt, and enjoy the weekends. I could take Fall weather all year. I love seeing leaves change colors and wearing sweaters and jeans. I love the smell of fireplaces going, and seeing piles of leaves in yards. Cut to Florida. There is hot and there is hot and humid. I really enjoy being here, but I wish I could have Fall down here. And people....68 degrees one day of the year IS.NOT.FALL. When it "drops" to 55 in the middle of the night, again that IS.NOT.FALL. The point of all of this is that if were still up North, I would have saved this recipe for a Saturday morning. I would get up, get the paper, run some errands, make apple fritters, but some comfort food in the crock pot and settle in to watch the Buckeyes! Instead, I am in Florida and I threw caution to the wind (the Florida wind that never blows around orange and green and golden leaves) and whipped them up this weekend.

These things were delish. I had one for breakfast, ok one and a half. I may have even had one for a snack in the afternoon on Sunday. Its all a little fuzzy now.

I haven't quite mastered the frying in oil thing (my thighs are pumped about that by the way), so I think I got it too hot. The outsides got pretty dark, but I had no choice or the insides would not have cooked up.
The dough/cakey part reminded me of funnel cakes my mom use to make as a special treat.

Apple Fritters (otherwise know as diet killers)
5 apples (your choice, I used red delicious) peeled, cored, and chopped
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 C milk

Beat all ingredients except apples together. Fold in apples.
Pour 1/4 C into heated oil and cook till golden brown. Again, my were REALLY golden, but the oil was a little to hot.
Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Enjoy with a loved one and then hide the leftovers and enjoy in secret.

Recipe Update

Creamy Lemon Blueberry Bars



I would definitely recommend allowing these to chill for a few hours in the frig before serving. Like I said, these were great before the chill, however, allowing the bars to chill allows them to set, making for easier cutting/serving, and they taste even better!


Dutch Baby - Round Two



I made Dutch Baby for breakfast again this morning, and used my leftover blueberries for a yummy blueberry sauce. It was a nice compliment to the powdered sugar and lemon. I found the recipe on allrecipes, and a lot of the reviews stated that the orange juice taste was a little overwhelming unless you allowed the sauce to sit for a few hours. I didn't have a few hours, so I decreased the orange juice from 1 Cup to 3/4 Cup, and increased the water added in the beginning of the recipe from 1/4 Cup to 1/2 Cup. The orange juice provided a nice citrus note to the sauce, without being overwhelming. Here is the recipe as I found it. Feel free to modify as I did, or follow as instructed.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blueberry-Sauce/Detail.aspx

Dutch Baby

This morning, I drug myself out of bed, stumbled to the kitchen, fumbled around making coffee and in my haze threw some stuff together and came up with this:




OK....most of that was a complete lie.
A) I was planning on making this for a few days, I even spent $11 at Target on the iron skillet to cook it in.
B) I am actually a total morning person. Its my favorite time of the day!

Before we begin, lets learn a little bit about the Dutch Baby. Wikipedia (which I need to note is a free online encyclopedia anyone can update) explains the dutch baby as this:
A Dutch baby pancake, sometimes called a German pancake, is a sweet breakfast dish. It is thought by some that the "Dutch" moniker refers to the group of German-American immigrants known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, where "Dutch" is a corruption of the German autonym "deutsch".

This was so darn good and didn't need syrup or butter. Just the squeeze of lemon and powdered sugar. Plus it was easy!

I do want to share three notes on the recipe
1) The iron skillet isn't a must. You can use any 10-11in OVEN SAFE skillet (watch the handles) or 2 6inch oven safe skillets. After making it, I realized a pie plate would probably even work, however, I wouldn't know for sure. For me, spending the $11 on it was not a huge deal. I will now try and find more recipes to make that require one. If you don't have or want to buy one, just try one of the options above. I would imagine everyone has a pie plate.
2) In all my research on the recipe, one thing that varied was the half&half. Some called for milk, a lot said half and half and others said to use whole milk. We are Soy Milk (Silk) drinkers here and I needed half and half for another recipe, so I just went with it. If I didn't have it on hand, I probably would have tried it with the Silk. Go with what works.
3) You don't have to use a blender, but it does make easy work of getting out all of the lumps. If your blender is nursing a hangover from all the margaritas it made the night before, just whisk away until the lumps are gone from the batter


Forgive the blender...she isn't use to be up so early!
These guys however, are ready to go! So FEW ingredients, such a delightful breakfast!


Now for the fun part. The recipe! This very easy recipe with few indgredients that you probably already have on hand.
Preheat the oven to 425.
Batter

• 2 T butter
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup half and half***

Topping

• Lemon cut into wedges
• Powdered Sugar

Directions

• Place butter in skillet and place in oven to melt. Remove from oven and brush the melted butter so sides and bottom of pan are covered.
  
• Place eggs in blender, pulse on low until blended
• Add flour and half and half and blend on low until well combined and not lumpy
• Pour mixture into skillet over melted butter
• Bake 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden brown (watch it crawl up the edges of the pan)
  
• Remove from oven, sprinkle with powdered sugar, then sprinkle with squeeze of lemon to taste.
• Cut into wedges and serve.
  

The Dutch Baby will puff up and out the sides of the pan. I took a picture of this part way through the process, and realized my oven needs cleaned so I refuse to show that picture. Once you pull out the dutch baby and sprinkle with sugar and lemon it fall slightly.

The Dutch Baby before its final touch...powdered sugar and lemon
Enjoy!!!

Cinnamon Rolls

So, the past two recipes have been cupcakes. There is no real reason, I bake and cook a lot and its all about my mood really. I am kind of obsessed with bread and rolls lately. This weekend I am baking oatmeal refrigerator rolls - a recipe from Aunt Karen (I inherited her when I married Jim). I'll let you know how it goes.
Until then, here is the cinnamon roll recipe I promised. Please note - these need to rise and require some time.

Also, while reading one of my favorite blogs - The Cupcake Project (http://www.cupcakeproject.com/), Stef talked about using vanilla paste. Sounded interesting, and when I saw her frosting recipe using it that tastes like vanilla ice cream - I was sold. Now I just need to find a yummy dessert to use the frosting with. Results will follow.
Check out the blog though, it is interesting and full of great ideas.

OMG - Its like a Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll

· 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
· 2 eggs, room temperature
· 1/3 cup margarine, melted
· 4 1/2 cups bread flour
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 cup white sugar
· 1 eight gram package active dry yeast

· 1 cup brown sugar, packed
· 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
· 1/3 cup butter, softened

· 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
· 1/4 cup butter, softened
· 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
· 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Dissolve yeast in warm milk.
2. Combine eggs, margarine, bread flour, salt, and sugar. Add in milk and yeast mixture.
3. Knead the dough by hand or using the dough hook on stand mixer. Once mixed, place a small amount of oil on top of the dough and turn dough in oven safe bowl to lightly coat. Place a damp paper towel over bowl.
4. To help dough rise, allow oven to heat to 200 degrees, TURN OFF, and place dough in oven for about an hour or until almost doubled in size.
5. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
6. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Line a 9X13 inch pan with foil and lightly grease. Place rolls in baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
7. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Flip pan over onto a baking sheet, remove foil. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

The last time I made these, I did them the night before and I followed the recipe through placing the rolls in the baking pan in step six, I covered the pan with rolls with plastic wrap and placed in the refrigerator. I pulled them out of the frig the next morning and let the pan sit for about 15 minutes before baking. They were great!