Homemade pumpkin donuts

All I could think about yesterday was Linda's Donuts, this small donut shop in my hometown. Their donuts are so doughy and delicious. Rebe likes the airy sticky sweet ones, but I prefer the denser more crumbly ones. Either way, Linda's caters to our likes.

So I really wanted a donut this morning. Like Linda's. I scoured the world wide web for the perfect dense donut recipe. None of this baked bull, this is pure deep-fried goodness. And it was so easy, and fun. I am officially obsessed with deep-frying. I saved the oil so that I can make round two (chocolate donuts?) in the near future. And by near I mean tomorrow.

For the donuts:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree

For the buttermilk glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Canola oil for frying

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spice and sugar. Whisk together all of the remaining ingredients (except for the canola oil) in a second, medium bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir them around the bowl until the mixture is well combined. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, rolling the donut dough to approximately1/4-1/2″ thick. (I know this will seem quite thin, but the donuts puff up immensley while frying). Cut with a donut cutter.

Meanwhile, whisk the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth.

Heat 2 inches of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, gently slide the donuts into the oil, frying on the first side until the edges of the donut are lightly browned, flip carefully and allow to cook on the other side until lightly browned. Remove and dunk immediately into buttermilk glaze. Allow to air dry on a cooling rack before serving.

Original recipe found here!

Lemon strawberry scones

I adapted this recipe from its original "Lemon blueberry scones," but really you can use any berry you'd like. Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, boysenberries, snozberries (yeah ok Willy Wonka).

  

Makes 8 scones

For the scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 lemons, zested
Pinch of salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 large egg
1 cup chopped strawberries

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus extra if needed

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles a coarse sand (alternatively, if using a stand mixer, mix in butter with paddle attachment until butter is pea-sized or smaller).

In a small bowl, whisk together the heavy whipping cream and egg until well blended. Pour cream into scone mixture and mix until it comes together as a dough. Stir in the strawberries (over-mixing the berries will squish the berries and dye the batter—try to avoid this).

On a lightly floured surface, place dough and form into a circle, flattening the top until dough is roughly an inch thick. Cut dough into 8 pie-shaped pieces and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until scones are lightly browned. Allow to cool to room temperature before glazing.

In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. If glaze is too thick, add lemon juice 1 teaspoon at a time until glaze is thick, but still runs.

Lightly drizzle glaze over scones and allow scones to sit for a few minutes for glaze to set before serving.

Recipe adapted from The Pastry Affair

Monkey bread tulips

... are quite possibly the cutest little guys out there. I have to admit, they're not too photogenic, but I can't convey enough how amazing they are. Mom rarely likes a recipe that's not her own Katharine Canfield Cookies or the occasional brownies. But this time she actually took the time to proof her own batch of dough and we made the recipe a second time together (yes, aww so cute mother/daughter bonding). They are surprisingly easy for a yeasted recipe and we super enjoyed them. I have to say, it's a Top 5 Broma Recipe right here. Yessir.

Also, I totally owe credit to Sofra because they gave me the idea based on their morning buns, which are out of this world.....


Makes 12 tulips

For the dough:

1 cup warm milk (about 110 degrees)
1/3 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 package instant (rapid rise) yeast
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for surface work
2 teaspoons salt

For the coating:

2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk 

Note: I got my tulip molds from work. If you can't find them at your baking specialty amazing everything store, normal cupcake molds will do just fine!

Place rack in middle-low position of your oven, making sure that there are no racks placed above it. Spray bundt pan generously with nonstick spray.

In a microwave-safe bowl, mix milk, water, melted butter, sugar and yeast. Place flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the dough hook attachment to mix them together. With machine on low, slowly add the milk mixture. When the dough begins to come together, increase speed to medium and continue to mix until the dough is shiny and smooth. If the dough is too wet and isn’t coming together, add 2 to 4 additional Tablespoons of flour (stop the machine once to scrape sides if you need to); this should take 6 to 7 minutes. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and work with your hands a little bit to form a smooth, round ball. Coat a large bowl with nonstick spray. Place dough in the bowl and spray the top lightly with nonstick spray as well. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel. Turn your oven on 400 degrees and let it warm up for 1 minute. Turn it OFF. Turn ON the oven light. Place your covered bowl of dough into the warmed oven until the dough doubles in size- 50 to 60 minutes.

When dough is almost done rising, prepare the ooey gooey coating. In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, melt the butter. Set aside.

Remove dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and gently pat into an 8-inch square. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 256 pieces (cut the square into 4 pieces and then cut each piece into 16 pieces. Further cut those pieces into 4 pieces). Roll each piece into a ball and place on a large cookie sheet. Douse the cookie sheet in the melted butter and, using your hands, roll the butter evenly so each piece is coated. Then sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over the buttered balls, again spreading things evenly until each ball is coated in a healthy dose of butter and sugar. Evenly distribute the balls into 12 buttered cupcake molds. (If you can find tulip molds at the store, more power to you. Just give them a quick spray with oil and you're ready to go!) Cover the cupcake pan with a clean dish towel, and place back into the warmed oven to let the dough balls rise for another 50 to 60 minutes (they should get puffy and rise almost to the top of the pan.)

Remove the pan from the oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Remove the dishtowel. Bake about 30 minutes, until the top has browned and ooey gooey caramel is bubbling around the edges. Cool in the pan for 2 to 3 minutes. Let sit in cupcake pan for a few more minutes to cool slightly before glazing.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, use the whisk attachment to mix powdered sugar and milk. Continue to mix until lumps are gone (scrape sides of the mixing bowl, if needed). Spoon glaze over the top and sides of the monkey bread.


Serve warm and eat with your bare hands!
Recipe adapted from Recipe Girl