The Charmed Kitchen

Bacon Doughnuts

As promised I will post all the recipes from Doughnut Daze. New this year was a bacon doughnut I made for  my friend, Kim. I used a cake doughnut recipe and added cooked bacon to the dough. I also used a maple glaze to top them and then added candied bacon on top. Decadent, yes, but so good.

Bacon Doughnuts

3 1/4 c. flour

2t. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. nutmeg

2 eggs

2/3 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla

2/3 c. milk

1/4 c. butter, melted

1 lb. bacon cooked, drained well and crumbled

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs with sugar and vanilla. Beat in milk and butter. Stir in dry ingredients and bacon. Cover dough and chill 2 hours or longer. Roll chilled dough out and cut with a doughnut cutter. Heat oil in deep pan to 375-degrees. Fry doughnuts and holes for about a minute a side, or until golden brown. Turn to cook evenly  Drain on paper towels.  Dust with powdered sugar or glaze, if desired

Maple Glaze

2 c. powdered sugar

maple syrup

Combine enough maple syrup with powdered sugar to make a medium thick glaze. Dip doughnuts in the glaze- place on rack to set up.

Candied Bacon

1/2- 1 lb. Thick- sliced bacon- chopped

1/2 c. brown sugar

Cook bacon in skillet until brown. Drain and return to skillet with the brown sugar. Cook over medium heat until sugar melts and browns a little. Remove bacon to dish to cool. Sprinkle on freshly glazed doughnuts.

Glazed and sugared doughnuts

Dulche le Leche

If you love caramel or Dulche le Leche you might like this super easy way to make it at home. All you need is a can or two of sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk), a big kettle with a wire rack that fits in it, water, a lid, a stove and some patience. I like to make a couple at a time. Once cooled they can go back to the cupboard until you are ready to open and use them.

 Dulce de Leche (Milk Jam)

This is the easiest way to make Dulce de Leche…the taste is pretty authentic and the work is almost completely eliminated!

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Place the can inside the pot on top of a wire rack. Add water to completely cover can, plus 1-2 more inches. Simmer, covered, for 4 hours, making sure the can is always completely covered with water…if not…there is an explosion! ! Leave the can to cool several hours and only then open it and serve. You will find the sweetened condensed milk is now a rich golden color and  has a rich, creamy texture.  Serve the golden-brown confection over flan, as a filling for crepes, cakes or just plain. For breakfast you can spread it on croissants, rolls or toast.

Note: The round wire racks used to cool cakes are a great fit for your kettle. If you don’t have one you can set the cans on a towel placed in the bottom of the pot. Just be VERY careful that the cans are not resting directly on the bottom of the kettle.

Cans on rack under water

Fresh made Dulche le Leche

Tiramisu Doughnuts

Invented these when I was making doughnuts and wanted a twist on the jelly doughnuts I made with my parents as a kid. I bit of work but so worth the effort.

Tiramisu Doughnuts

Filling:

5 egg yolks

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. Marsala wine (not cooking wine)

1 c. whipping cream

2 T. sugar

1 lb. mascarpone cheese

Make zabaglione (egg custard). In double boiler, over simmering water, beat together egg yolks and sugar until lemon colored. Stir in Marsala and continue cooking, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and will mound on a spoon. This will take about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool down. You can place in bowl in fridge 30 minutes or so. Beat together whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Beat in mascarpone and chilled zabaglione. Chill 1 hour.

Dough:

4 c. flour

2 T. sugar

1 t. salt

½ c. butter

1 packet yeast

¼ c. warm water

2 t. sugar

1 c. evaporated milk

2 eggs, beaten

Combine flour with sugar and salt. Cut in butter and set aside. Dissolve yeast in warm water and 2 t. sugar and set aside. Combine milk with eggs. Stir in yeast mixture and add to flour mixture stirring well. On lightly floured surface knead dough until dough is smooth, about 5 minutes. Dough will be very sticky. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1½ hours.  Remove dough from bowl and punch down. Using about a third of the dough at a time roll dough out to about an ½ -inch thickness and cut out with a 2½ -inch biscuit  cutter. Re-roll scraps and cut out. You should get about 2 dozen. Place dough circles on a floured surface and cover with a towel until doubled, about an hour. Heat oil in a deep pan until it reaches 375 degrees. Cook doughnuts a few at a time until golden on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Drain on paper towels and cool before filling.

Note: You can also refrigerate the dough after kneading it if you would prefer. Just place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. Roll and cut dough into doughnuts when cold from the fridge. Allow to rise, covered, until doubled in bulk, about 2-3 hours. Fry as directed.

Mocha Frosting

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 cups confectioners’ sugar

Mix together; instant coffee, milk, cocoa powder, butter or margarine, vanilla extract, and confectioners’ sugar until of spreading consistency.

Once doughnuts are cooled use a pastry bag with a narrow tube tip. Fill bag with filling and squeeze some into each of the doughnuts. Try to keep the filling near the middle and don’t over-fill or the doughnuts will split. Frost once finished. Refrigerate until ready to eat. Makes 24.

Cutting the doughnuts out

Fry until golden

Doughnuts cooling down

Insert cream filling

Dipped filled doughnut in Mocha Glaze

Freshly dipped Tiramisu Doughnuts

Handy decorating syringe used for filling the doughnuts

Ricotta Fritters

For my annual Doughnut Daze party I made a number of doughnuts. I will be posting the recipes as promised. The first one I want to share with you is a really simple one called Ricotta Fritters.The dough is simple to make, fries up quickly and after a dusting of powdered sugar they are ready to serve. Delicate and not too sweet they are a dessert you can have ready in no time.

Ricotta Fritters

4-6 c. oil for frying

3/4 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1-2 t. grated lemon peel

1 c. ricotta cheese

2 eggs, beaten

3 T. sugar

2 t. vanilla

Powdered sugar for dusting

Heat oil to 370 degrees in heavy saucepan. While oil is heating combine dry ingredients with lemon peel  and set aside. Beat together cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth.  Stir in dry ingredients. Working in batches spoon batter by level tablespoonfuls into hot oil, turning occasionally until golden brown, about 3 minutes in all. transfer with slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. Makes about 3 dozen.

Frying the Fritters

Cocoa Hearts

This recipe is so easy even younger children can help make them. Just a few ingredients and mixed together, rolled out and cut into heart shapes. No baking, no cooking, no trouble. I used vanilla extract to flavor them but you could add different flavors like mint, orange, almond or even add some cinnamon. Once rolled out let them firm up in the fridge then wrap in lollipop bags with a ribbon, place in small candy boxes or wrap in small pieces of colored foil (available at candy making shops).

Cocoa Hearts

9 c. powdered sugar

1 c. cocoa

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. water

2 t. vanilla extract – or whatever flavor extract you like

In large bowl combine ingredients until well blended. You can add more water, if needed, 1 teaspoon at a time. Divide mixture into 2 pieces and shape in balls. Place each between sheets of wax paper and roll out to 1/4 -inch thickness. Cut out with tiny cutters and place on foil-lined tray. Chill several hours, then wrap up in colored foil or place in tiny candy bags. Makes 80 1-inch candies.

Freshly mixed ingredients

Rolled out between wax paper

Cut out hearts

Fresh Baked Cookies

I was making cookies for a friend the other day and was pressed for time. With one typical sized oven I could do no more then 2 trays at a time which meant about 2 dozen cookies at best. I came up with a plan “B”. I scooped the dough into mini- muffin tins. That made it possible for me to bake 4 dozen cookies at one time. The baking time was the same. I greased the tins to make it easier to get the “cookies” out. It worked great and she loved them. Try it with other cookies. I even thought I might want to press cookie dough into a shell and place something in the middle- like a piece of fruit or perhaps chocolate. Hope you find this a tasty and time saving way to bake your next batch of cookies.

Andes Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. butter, softened

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

2 1/4 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 bag (10 oz.) Andes baking chips

Beat together butter, sugars, egg and vanilla until fluffy. Stir in dry ingredients and chips. Preheat oven to 375. Place dough on un-greased baking sheet, rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool slightly, remove from baking sheet. Makes 5-6 dozen.

Frosted cookies

I had a great time on Friday with the kids in Beachwood. One of the things we did is decorate sugar cookie hearts. While chocolate is the traditional choice for Valentine’s Day you can think outside the chocolate box and try something like sugar cookies. One thing to always remember with sugar cookies is to roll them all to the same thickness so they will bake evenly. These were big cookies so I rolled them to 1/8 -inch thickness. Bake, cool and top with a simple buttercream.

 Sugar Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

3 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

3 T. milk, optional

Extra sugar for sprinkling, if desired

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Beat in milk if dough is not too soft. Heat oven to 375-degrees. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/3- inch thickness. Cut out with lightly floured cutters and sprinkle with sugar or colored sugar if you like and if you are not going to frost them. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 10-12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 3 minutes before placing on wire rack to cool completely. Frost when cooled. Makes about 4 dozen.

Note: I used a very large cookie cutter and got 20 out of a single batch of dough. Size matters!!!

To decorate the cookies frost and sprinkle with tinted sugar or sprinkles, if desired.

Vanilla Buttercream

1 c. butter, softened

5-6 cups powdered sugar

1 T. vanilla

Few drops of food coloring, optional

Beat butter until fluffy. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Add food coloring and beat until light and fluffy.

Cutting cookies out

Ready for baking

Cooling down

Mini Chocolate Cake with fresh ganache

I have a few friends that are that are lactose- intolerant. Desserts are sometimes tricky. I have reluctantly swapped out shortening for butter in frosting  but I wanted something to top desserts that had  all the flavor of icings with butter.  I decided to make a ganache without dairy and see how it worked out. Ganache is just chocolate melted with cream and poured over cakes or other desserts. It will harden over time and can be a beautiful finish. Rather than use cream I subbed out almond milk. I had tried soy milk in the past. It was OK- but lacked the rich taste I expected from a ganache. The almond milk acted a lot more like cream in the recipe and the end result tasted and looked great.

Dairy-Free Ganache

1 c. chopped bittersweet chocolate (chocolate chips are OK, just be sure they are dairy free)

1/3 c. almond milk, plain or vanila

Combine chocolate and almond milk in small saucepan. On medium heat, warm the mixture, stirring often until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Spoon mixture over cooled cakes or cupcakes. Mixture will harden as it cools.

Melting the chips and almond milk

Stirring until smooth

Finished cakes

Bean and Barley Soup

I don’t know if there is a better comfort food for a cold day than soup. Bean and Barley is one of my favorites. It is easy to make, although it does take some time. I made mine with a combination of turkey and smoked turkey, although you can just as easily use spare ribs and ham hocks. By using a soup pot that is oven- proof I was also able to cook the soup in the oven most of the time. The recipe makes a pretty big pot of soup and if there is too much you can always freeze the rest.

Bean and Barley Soup

8 oz. dry pinto beans, rinsed

1 T. oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots chopped fine

2 ribs celery, chopped fine

1 lb. Spare ribs or 1 lb. turkey drumstick or thigh

1 lb. ham hock or 1 lb. smoked  turkey drumstick or wing

1 qt. chicken stock

2 qts. Vegetable stock or water

1 c. barley

½ lb. green beans, cut

salt and pepper to taste

1 T. parsley

Place beans in saucepan with water and boil 5 minutes. Set aside to soak 1 hour. Drain. Meanwhile cook vegetables and garlic in oil in large kettle. Add meats and stocks and bring to a boil.  Stir in pinto beans. Cover and simmer on top of the stove for 1 hour. Or, if pan is ovenproof place in 350-degree oven and cook 1 hour. Stir in barley and beans and cook 1 hour more. Remove from heat and remove meat. Remove any meat from bones, shred and return to soup. Stir in parsley and adjust seasonings. Serves 8-10.