Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

When it came time to bring a birthday snack to my daughter's preschool, I decided to forgo the usual cupcake and whip up some baked donuts. Baked donuts are really nothing like what you buy at the donut shop but are rather cakey and muffin-like. I have no complaints about that. And when you dip them in butter and roll them around in cinnamon and sugar, they taste like quite the indulgent treat.

Once I bought my donut pan, I started using it all the time. These are a nice basic baked donut recipe (perfect for those finicky preschoolers -- oh, and the rest of us). You can consider this your gateway baked donut.

Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

from Ina Garten
 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk
• 2 TBs unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

cinnamon sugar topping:

• 8 TBs (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir the wet mixture into the flour mixture.
2. Fill up your donut pan so that each donut is about 3/4 filled with batter. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes, and then tap the donuts out.
3. For the topping: Melt the 8 tablespoons butter in a small pan. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Dip each donut first in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar. You can do either one side or both sides of each donut.

 

Roasted Cauliflower, Olive, and Israeli Couscous Salad

I have a confession to make: I have been a food blogger for a couple years now, but until embarrassingly recently I just wasn't that into food blogs. My co-blogger was (and is). But I just gave her a blank stare when she would ask me if I read any number of really popular blogs. It is really only the past couple of months that I have jumped on board, and this may go hand in hand with the purchase of my iPad. Now I'm surfing away in the kitchen, and discovering new (or not so new) and fabulous food blogs making what I want to eat. (Wow, who would have thought? Yes, as I said... embarrassing.) This recipe for delicious warm cauliflower and Israeli couscous, which has become a staple in my kitchen, comes from one of the new-to-me blogs that I have been enjoying.

Oh My Veggies has earned its place on my meager reading list. It is a vegetarian food blog, and I am not vegetarian, but I have always eaten vegetarian more often than not. Kiersten, OMV blogger, is funny and personable, but better yet, her recipes are tasty and accessible - just what I'm after. This recipe uses mostly pantry staples (love that!), so when I grab a head of cauliflower at the market, I know that I can whip this up. The thing that makes this priceless is that my preschooler eats it too. That guarantees a repeat recipe in this household.

I highly recommend bolstering this dish with a little side of harissa (here is our tasty homemade version). It gives the dish a spicy kick-in-the-pants that makes me happy.

Roasted Cauliflower, Olive, and Israeli Couscous Salad

adapted from Oh My Veggies

• 3 tbs olive oil, divided
• 1 medium cauliflower, broken into florets
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamatas, halved
• 1 cup Israeli couscous, uncooked
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Spread cauliflower over a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil (saving 2 remaining tablespoons oil for later) and stir to coat. Sprinkle with some salt. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown.

3. Meanwhile, add Israeli couscous and 1 1/2 cup water to pan and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, until water is absorbed. Remove from heat. (Check the directions on your Israeli couscous -- they are often different.)

4. Combine couscous, roasted cauliflower, olives, and parsley in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tbs olive oil, lemon juice, and pressed garlic. Pour over the salad, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Iced Sugar Cookies

This is the essential Christmas cookie. Simple buttery sugar cookies decorated with colorful icing, and just perfect for those festive cookie cutters that you have waiting patiently in the drawer 364 days out of the year.

I am not really one of those people who gets excited about things like Christmas cookies year after year. I mean, of course I want to eat them. But as far as making them, and cutting out cookie upon cookie into reindeers and trees and santas... well, it took having a kid to really see the fun in that. And now I have that kid, all aglow with the magic of Christmas. Thank goodness. It is wonderful to be able to channel her excitement.

 
 For this kind of classic recipe, I find myself turning to my ol' trustworthy Joy of Cooking. I just want something tried and true, that people turn to year after year. And here it is: the steadfast holiday sugar cookie.

 Iced Sugar Cookies

• 3 1/4 all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 1/2 sticks (20 tbs) unsalted butter, softened

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 tb milk

• 1 tb vanilla

• 1/4 tsp lemon zest

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until well blended. Add egg, milk, vanilla, and zest and beat until mixed.

3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, and stir until smooth. Divide the dough in half, and place each half between two large sheets of wax paper. Roll out to a scant 1/4 inch thick. Keeping the wax paper in place layer the dough onto a baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 375 and grease your cookie sheets. Peel away the top layer of wax paper. Cut out your cookies using your festive cutter of choice. With a spatula, transfer to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 1/2 inches apart. Roll up the scraps and continue cutting out shapes until all dough is used. (You can refrigerate the dough if it becomes to soft to handle.)

5. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, just until the cookies are lightly golden on top, 6-9 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet to a rack and let stand until cookies firm slightly. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen cookies depending on cookie cutter size.

Quick Cookie Icing

• 4 cups powdered sugar

• 3-4 tbs water

Stir sugar and water together until smooth, adding more water or sugar as needed for the desired consistency. Add food coloring as you like.  Makes 1 cup.

Basic Walnut Oil Vinaigrette

Summer salads are a staple around here, and one of my favorite types of dressing is a basic vinaigrette.  I’ve always made them with olive oil, but this summer I’ve discovered walnut oil and the pleasant nutty flavor it brings to a simple vinaigrette.  This dressing is so simple to pull together – only 3 ingredients.  The subtle toasty walnut flavor here is a great complement to anything from spicy greens, quinoa based salads, and bean or lentil summer salads. 

Oh, and let me come clean on my level of general laziness:  one of the reasons I’m a big vinaigrette fan is the fact that they’re so fast to pull together.  I recently got this nifty little tool which means I can make a vinaigrette in my liquid measuring cup – only one dirty dish!  Speaking of time and busy-ness and ‘laziness’ as a virtue…have you read this article from the NY Times?  A very interesting read.

Anyhow, next time you want to make a simple dressing but are wanting something a little different, give this walnut oil based vinaigrette a try.  I have been loving it on brown lentil salads, if you’re into that kind of thing!

Basic Walnut Oil Vinaigrette

• 1/2 c walnut oil
• 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp dijon mustard

Put balsamic vinegar and mustard in a liquid measuring cup.  Whisk together well, then drizzle in walnut oil while continuing to whisk.  Dressing will emulsify as you add the oil.  Store in the fridge; will keep for at least a month.

Blueberry Hard Lemonade

It has been crazy hot here in Colorado. So hot that, well, much of our state is literally on fire. Thank goodness we are (so far) well out of harm's way, and there is cool weather and rain on the forecast for this weekend! ("Cool weather" now means 80s for us... yeah, it has been rough.) And during these hot, hot days, we've been wanting little else than to sip on cold, refreshing drinks like this one.

This is one of those drinks that my toddler just doesn't understand why she isn't allowed to drink. Lemonade, blueberries, and just a luscious pinky-purple color. Oh yeah, and there's that healthy helping of vodka that makes it strictly adults-only.

We used frozen blueberries in this cocktail because they are something I always have on hand. As a bonus, they help to keep this drink frosty on those 103+ degree days. Sigh. We also love the beautiful color that they provide as they start to melt.

It almost seems silly to provide a recipe because this is so flexible and easy. Feel free to use the proportions of lemonade to vodka to frozen blueberries that makes you happy! But as a guide, here is what we do.

Blueberry Hard Lemonade

• 2 tbs frozen blueberries

• 2 oz vodka

• lemonade (we like Santa Cruz Organic)

• ice

• lemon slice, for garnish

1. Place frozen blueberries into your glass.
2. Add vodka and ice.
3. Add lemonade to fill glass, stir, and garnish with lemon slice.