Pumpkin Doughnuts

A year or two ago I saw baked doughnuts on Prevention RD. They looked awesome and were (almost) guilt-free since they are baked and not fried! After seeing her post a couple of different doughnut recipes, I decided I needed to invest in a doughnut pan. Now I think I need to invest in a second...

Pumpkin Doughnuts
via King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus a heaping 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
8 oz flour (about 1-3/4 cups + 2 tbsp)
cinnamon & sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together everything through the baking powder in a bowl. Once smooth, add the flour. Stir until just smooth and combined.

Scoop the batter into your doughnut pan, filling each well about 3/4 full. Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges (I use a spatula for this), and transfer them to a rack to cool.

While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them in a bag with cinnamon-sugar.

Yield: Recipe says 15 but I ended up with 19 I think. Extra doughnuts? Not a problem with me!

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Salami-Asiago Beer Bread

I love making beer breads because there is no need to let the bread rise. You basically combine the dry ingredients and then dumb in a can of beer and you are good to go.

This bread was the perfect pairing for the sausage mac and cheese. The salami flavor was mild and didn't overpower the bread and cheese flavors. And, for two non-beer drinkers, we loved the very mild, background beer taste that came from our liquid ingredient!



Salami-Asiago Beer Bread
Adapted from Cooking Light

Yield: 16 servings @ 14 calories each

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
13.5 oz all-purpose flour (about 3 cups)
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
3/4 cup Asiago cheese, shredded
1 (12 oz) bottle of lager-style beer (I used a Bud Light)
2 oz finely chopped salami
2 tbsp melted butter, divided

1- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2- Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in pepper and garlic; cook 1 minute.
3- Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Add onion mixture, cheese, and beer to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
4- Spoon batter into a 9x5" loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle 1 tbsp butter over batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. Drizzle remaining 1 tbsp butter over batter. Bake an additional 25 minutes of until deep golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Mine took about 15 minutes instead of 25.) Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

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Homemade Auntie Anne's Pretzels

I saw this recipe awhile ago at The daily life of JCHokie and have had it saved ever since. I LOVE Auntie Anne's pretzels, and pretty much any other homemade soft pretzels.

We made these on a Sunday for dessert and it was fun and delicious! I made the dough, but John had to form them into the pretzels because they were so dang sticky and frustrating. I don't have the patience to deal with them sticking and then to form them into the ropes. He did good!

Cinnamon & Sugar

Salt

Auntie Anne's pretzels

1 cup milk
1 package active dry yeast
3 TBS packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for kneading
10 TBS unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
1 TSP fine salt
1/3 cup baking soda
2 TBS coarse salt (I used regular table salt since we don't have any coarse)

Directions

1. Warm the milk in a saucepan until it's 110 degrees. (I just microwaved it for 20 seconds). Pour into a medium bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let the yeast soften, about 2 mins. Stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup of flour with a wooden spoon. Dice 2 TBS butter and soften. Stir into the mix. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 mins. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size. About an hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a large baking sheet. Punch the dough to deflate it, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hand into a 30 inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form into a pretzel.

3. Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake until golden 10-12mins.

After I removed it from the oven I brushed it with more butter.

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Cheddar Dill Scones

I saw these on Annie's Eats and knew I had to make them- they looked so good (just like everything else that Annie makes!). I was waiting for the perfect opportunity, and this Sunday I created it! I decided to make a full supper for once on the weekend.


Our menu for a Sunday afternoon dinner was:
Herb Roasted Turkey Breast with Roasted Vegetables
Cheddar Dill Scones
Apple Tart with Homemade Caramel Sauce

Cheddar Dill Scones
Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 tsp. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, diced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
4 oz. extra sharp yellow cheddar cheese, diced small
1/2 cup minced fresh dill
1 egg beaten with tbsp. water or milk, for egg wash

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Whisk together the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss together the cheddar, dill, and 2 teaspoons flour and add them to the dough. Mix until they are almost incorporated.

Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead for 1 minute, until the cheddar and dill are well distributed. Roll the dough into a 3/4-inch thick, 8-inch square. Divide into 4-inch squares and then cut those in half diagonally to make triangles. Transfer the dough triangles to the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden and the inside is fully baked.

Source: adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

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Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce and Cheesy Garlic Bread

For supper tonight, the menu was Cheese and Spinach Ravioli with Cheesy Garlic Swirl Bread.

I bought the ravioli in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

Low Fat Alfredo Sauce
2 tbsp margarine (I use I can't Believe its not Butter Light)
2 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
2 oz low fat cream cheese (I use neufchatel- 1/3 the fat of regular cream cheese)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder

1- Melt the margarine in the bottom of a saucepan, on medium.
2- Whisk in the flour. Combine until it becomes paste-like. Cook for a minute or two.
3- Whisk milk into the butter-flour combo. Whisk until the milk is fully combined with the butter & flour and no lumps remain.
4- Increase the heat to med-high, keep whisking so that the bottom does not burn. I ended up covering the pot for a minute or two to increase the temperature of the mixture, and bring it to a boil.
5- As soon as the mixture starts boiling, continuously stir until the sauce thickens and becomes thickness of gravy.
6- Once the sauce is thickened, return the stove temperature to low.
7- Add the cream cheese, in small hunks. Use a spoon to break down and melt the cream cheese. Once the hunks are small (smaller than peas) use the whisk again to completely combine the cream cheese into the milk sauce.
8- Once the cream cheese is fully incorporated into the sauce, add the salt & pepper, parmesan cheese and garlic powder. Stir to combine.

Looks good enough to me!- Jaq

The bread was so good. I adapted the recipe from one I found at Annie's Eats.

Garlic Herb Swirl Bread
Ingredients:
3 ¼ cups bread flour, divided
1 tbsp. sugar
1 pkg. active dry or quick-rising yeast
½ tsp. salt
1 cup very warm water (115-125°)
2 tbsp. butter or margarine, softened or melted

For the filling:
4 tbsp. butter, softened
5-6 cloves roasted garlic
1 tsp italian seasoning
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1- In a large bowl or in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer combine 2 cups bread flour, sugar, yeast and salt.

2- Add in water and butter/margarine and mix by hand or on low speed for 1 minute. Add in remaining flour ¼ cup at a time until the dough is moist but not sticky.

3- Knead the dough for about 10 minutes by hand or with the dough hook on low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

4- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn it over to coat with oil. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 40-45 minutes.

5- Grease a 9×5” loaf pan. Punch down the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a large rectangle no more than 9” wide.

6- Combine butter, garlic, italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl and mix until well combined.

7- Spread the butter mixture over the surface of the dough rectangle.

8- Spread a layer of mozzarella cheese on top of the butter mixture.

9- Tightly roll up the dough into a cylinder shape, pinching and tucking ends to form a tight seal. Place seam side down in prepared loaf pan.

10- Oil the surface of the loaf and cover loosely with a clean cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 20-45 minutes. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with Parmesan cheese if desired.

11- Preheat the oven to 450°. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° and bake for about 30 minutes more.

12-To prevent over-browning, cover with foil toward the end of baking if necessary. Bake until crust is golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Transfer from pan to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.

My bread kind of smushed when I cut into it- I'm not sure if it was the addition of the cheese, or that I didn't completely let it cool before busting into it. I couldn't help myself!

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