Baking Bouchon - Recipe 34: Sugared Doughnuts

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I'm over here doing my happy dance because I overcame my fear of frying.  I made doughnuts and I didn't burn my house down.  Dance, dance, dance.

To be completely honest, doughnuts don't really do it for me.  I've never woken up in the morning and been like "somebody go get me a doughnut."  I've never been to a bakery and seen a doughnut sitting next to a muffin or a scone and said "I'll take that doughnut."  Don't get me wrong, I'll eat it but I'd rather have some pancakes or a waffle or french toast if I'm going to eat something sweet for breakfast.  Maybe because they come with syrup.  Maybe if doughnuts were accompanied by some sort of dipping sauce I'd be more tempted.

If I do eat a doughnut, it's not the glazed kind.  I've never understood the glazed doughnut thing.  It's just sticky and too sweet.  I like cake doughnuts - because it's like eating cake for breakfast.  If it's got cinnamon powdered sugar on it, that's even better.  I also like those doughnuts that are filled with pudding but under no circumstances do I want one filled with jelly.  I have enough issues with jelly.

These guys are made with brioche dough which we're all familiar with from making Sticky Buns and Hot Cross Buns.  It's a buttery yeasted dough which, apparently, isn't how all doughnuts are made.  This version of the brioche dough has less butter in it than the ones I made before because Thomas says that you don't need as much richness when you're making something that will be deep-fried.  True.

The dough comes together really easily, you pretty much just put everything in a bowl (flour, yeast, sugar, salt, milk, eggs and vanilla bean paste), mix it together and knead it with the dough hook on your mixer forever... 30 minutes.  Then you add the butter and mix it until it just comes together.

The dough rises in the refrigerator overnight which I was originally annoyed by until I remembered that you eat doughnuts for breakfast and I guess it's kind of convenient that you make this ahead of time and then you can fry them up in the morning.  I ate these for dessert because I made them during the week and I am NOT getting up early on a weekday to fry doughnuts for breakfast.  I've made a lot of sacrifices for good food, but even I have my limits.

Once the dough rises overnight, you roll it out and use 2 circle cutters to cut out big circles, then small circles in the middle of the big circle to create the doughnut shape.  Then you let them proof for a couple of hours.

The instructions in this recipe actually say "the holes can be proofed and fried, or discarded."  Are you freakin' kidding me?  Who would throw away doughnut holes?  In fact, I took all the scraps and rolled them out again and made more holes.  They weren't as perfectly round as the original holes but they tasted just as good.  The holes were my favorite part because I got to pretend like I wasn't eating a whole doughnut even if I did eat 5 holes.

Now comes the part that had me wracked with fear.  You see, frying freaks me out.  It freaked me out when we CA made fried chicken for Chicken & Waffles and it freaked me out today.  I don't even have any more examples to give you because I don't fry things... except turkeys on Thanksgiving, but CA and my dad are in charge of that.  It's too easy to screw up fried food.  You can get the temperature too high and burn the crap out of it while the inside is still raw.  You can get the temperature too low and you get an oily mess.  You can also set fire to yourself, your kitchen and your whole freakin' house.  Frying is scary.

However, the frying of these doughnuts went very well.  No drama, no overheating, no underheating, no fires.  I was full-on OCD about the oil temperature and the timer but I think it was justified and totally worth it because these doughnuts fried up just fine.

After frying, these warm guys get tossed in vanilla sugar.  I've been making vanilla sugar for months but I've never used it on anything before.  I read somewhere once that you should take all our used vanilla beans and store them in a container with sugar.  Over time the bean pods flavor the sugar.  I've been doing that for a while now but haven't had an opportunity to use any of the sugar until now.  It smells great and I think added a little extra something to the doughnuts as opposed to plain sugar.

My only disappointment with these doughnuts was that the sugar didn't stick to them all that well.  It stuck for the pictures, but by the next day it had pretty much fallen off.  Booo.

I thought these doughnuts were pretty delicious... for doughnuts.  Except that I don't really have much of a point of reference because I don't eat doughnuts enough to know what a really amazing one should taste like.  CA really liked them but thought they were a little heavier than regular doughnuts.  I think he also would have been cool with some glaze.

Julie

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I had zero intentions of blogging about these cookies.  The expectations were pretty low because, although I needed a treat to take to the wineries (along with the chicken salad I posted about yesterday - if you didn't read that one, you should totally go back and do so.  Yum!)  There were 2 requirements for these cookies.

1.  They had to be gluten free because my GFF (gluten free friend) was coming to the wineries with us.
2.  I had to use whatever I had on hand because I refused to go to the grocery store.

Well... these cookies were a pleasant surprise.  I heart them.  Whether they have glutens or not, they're one thing... good.   In fact, I didn't even make any other treats to take with us because these are good enough for gluten eating and non-gluten eating people alike.


I have a theory about making GF desserts and that is to add as much stuff to them as possible.  That way, if there is a texture issue due to the different kind of flour you're using, you're so distracted by all the other goodness in there you don't even notice.  Not that anything I put in here is odd or shouldn't be in a cookie... it all belongs in cookies.  Peanut butter, oatmeal, coconut, walnuts and chocolate chips.... Mmmm.  Plus, I had it all sitting around my kitchen.  Yeah for me!!

These cookies are nice and chewy, just how I like 'em.  No crispy cookies for this girl.  The coconut flavor is pretty subtle because I used unsweetened, ground coconut so it's practically invisible and you don't get the big coconut strings in the batter.   Walnuts and chocolate chips are a no brainer.  I also love peanut butter cookies and oatmeal cookies so I figured combining the two together couldn't be bad.  It wasn't.

Feel free to make these cookies with regular, all purpose flour instead of the gluten free all purpose blend if you want to.  Particularly if it means you don't have to go to the grocery store.  Also feel free to change up the chocolate and nuts if you like something a bit different... or if you don't want to go to the grocery store.


Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (Gluten Free!)
3 dozen cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup Butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup Peanut Butter (I used crunchy, but creamy is fine too)
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
1 cup Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (or regular)
1/4 tsp Xantham Gum (omit if using regular flour)
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Oats
1/2 cup unsweetened, dried Coconut, toasted
1/3 cup chopped Walnuts
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Add the vanilla and egg and mix on low speed until just combined.  Add the flour, xantham, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix on low speed until just combined.  Mix in the oats and dried coconut and mix until just combined.  Stir the walnuts and chocolate chips in by hand.

Drop onto a cookie sheet lined with a silpat or sprayed with non-stick spray.  Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until light golden brown.


Enjoy!
Julie

Curry Chicken Salad

I've been very clear before about my feelings on mayonnaise.  This has not changed.  This will never change.  Mayonnaise is gross.  Period.

 
Unfortunately, my feelings on mayonnaise don't stop me from liking the idea of foods that are mayonnaise based... potato salad, macaroni salad, spinach dip, tuna salad and chicken salad.  I've been pretty successful in making these recipes by substituting some other ingredient or combination of ingredients for mayo... typically Miracle Whip, sour cream or Greek yogurt... but this adaptation of chicken salad is the most successful so far.

There's some other really great stuff going on in here too - besides the absence of mayonnaise.

The chicken breasts are poached and shredded which keeps the chicken super moist.  Having moist chicken means you can use less of the creamy stuff and still have a chicken salad that is not the least bit dry.

Green peas add some color.  Red grapes add more color and a touch of sweetness.  Salted cashews add some crunch and a salty element.  Greek yogurt and lemon juice give it a tart edge.  But by far, my favorite thing about this chicken salad is the curry powder.  There isn't a ton of it in here but just enough to make it a little different and a lot more interesting.

I made this chicken salad to take on a picnic to Virginia wine country for a couple of friends and everyone else loved it as much as I did.  The four of us may have eaten all six servings... oh well.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, this chicken salad pairs stupendously with a nice, dry Rose.  Particularly when shared with great friends, on a patio, on a beautiful Spring day or overlooking a winery.  I highly recommend doing all those things at once.

Curry Chicken Salad
6 servings

Ingredients
1 pound boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
1/8 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 cup Green Peas
1/2 cup Red Grapes, halved
1/4 cup roughly chopped Cashews
1/4 cup thinly sliced Green Onions (approx. 3 onions)
1/4 cup Plain, Fat Free Greek Yogurt
1/4 cup Fat Free Sour Cream
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Curry Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp grated fresh Ginger

Instructions
Place the chicken in a medium saucepan with 1/2 inch of water.  Season with 1/8 tsp Salt & Pepper.  Cover, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink inside. Turn off the heat and allow the chicken to cool completely in the covered pot.  Once the chicken is cool, use two forks to shred the chicken in the pot.  Once the chicken is shredded, drain off any excess water.

Place the shredded chicken in a large bowl.  Add all the remaining ingredients and stir until combined.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The chicken salad can be made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight.


Enjoy!
Julie

Cookies & Cream Cupcake Comparison

This will be the last comparison post for a while - my poor Bouchon Bakery cookbook has been staring at me from the corner with tears welling up in his eyes because he's been neglected.  Between Ball Week and all the cakes I've been testing, he's been sad and alone.  But don't worry.... donuts are proofing and my bread levain is being revived as we speak

Now, let's talk about these little nuggets of Oreo goodness.  First of all, I don't buy Oreos.  I can't - they're evil.  They sit in the cabinet and knock on the door asking to be let out and eaten and we just can't have that going on in my house.  Every time I do buy Oreos for a recipe, even if I don't eat them, they mysteriously disappear...

Poor CA walked into the kitchen while I was making these cupcakes and went to grab an Oreo out of the bag while simultaneously asking "Can I have one of these?" and I (far too animatedly) yelled "NO!"  He snatched his hand back quickly and looked at me in a wounded puppy sort of way.  I got a hold of myself and said (much more nicely) "Sorry, I need them all for the cupcakes."  He moped away silently and I would have felt bad except that he was about to get to try two delicious Oreo cupcakes and frostings.  I can't feel bad for you when I'm making you something yummy.  I'm tough that way.

These two recipes are so ridiculously similar that it's hard to even call them a comparison.  The only difference is that #1 uses all milk and #2 uses a combination of milk and sour cream.  Other than that, it's pretty basic cake stuff... flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, baking powder, salt and egg whites.  I have a sneaking suspicion that these are just adaptations on the same recipe but I can't be sure.  The first of three cookie sightings in this cupcake comes when you put half an Oreo (with cream attached) at the bottom of each cupcake which is fun because you can see it after it bakes and creates assurances that there are actually Oreos in these jokers.

And if that's not enough Oreo goodness for you, cookie sighting #2 comes from chopped up Oreos in the batter. 

The batter for both came together really easily... cream butter & sugar, add egg whites and vanilla, add milk and/or sour cream alternating with the dry ingredients.  Nothing earth shattering or different between the two.

Can you see the difference between the two cupcakes?  The one on the left is #1 - milk only.  The one on the right is #2 - milk & sour cream.  Yeah, me either.  They look the same.
















They also look the same when I split them open.  Same texture, same color, same density same fluffiness.  They also taste the same - as in they taste good.  I'm not all that surprised - the recipes aren't different enough (not that that's stopped me from having totally different results in the past, remember the strawberry cupcakes?)  When it comes to which recipe to use in the future, I think I'd go with #1 because there are less ingredients with the same result.  I'm OK with easier as long as it still tastes just as good.

So, what do you do when you've got two sets of cupcakes that taste and look the same?  Well, you make two different kinds of icing, of course!

Remember how I used half an Oreo as the base for the cupcakes?  Well, I used all the other (non-creamy) halves in the frosting.  That would be cookie sighting #3 in case you're keeping track.  I'm pretty sure you can't look at or eat this cupcake without knowing it has Oreo in it... unless you're blind and you have no taste buds but then it would be a total waste of a cupcake.

I made two different versions of icing - both with Oreo crumbs mixed right in.  The first was a traditional buttercream and the second was a cream cheese frosting.

I had no doubts from the beginning which one I'd be using - cream cheese - obviously.  Cream cheese frosting makes everything better.

CA commented that the buttercream frosting tastes more like the filling of an Oreo which I agree with but it was too dense and a little too sweet for me.  However, if you're the kind of person who could sit and eat the filling out of an Oreo all day - this stuff's for you.  Both CA and I agree that we like the cream cheese frosting better because it's cream cheese frosting.  Hello!  Plus, it's a little bit lighter and tastes less sweet because of the tang of the cream cheese which we thought was a good combination with the cake.

Here are the cupcake recipes...
Recipe #1
Recipe #2

For the frosting... I kind of made it up so here are the recipes for those...

Oreo Buttercream
enough to ice 24 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup Unsalted Butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
5 cups Powdered Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 T Heavy Cream
2/3 cup Oreo Crumbs (about 24 halves)
Instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the powdered sugar on medium speed until fluffy (4-5 minutes).  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the vanilla and heavy cream.  Beat on medium speed until combined (about 1 minute).  Add the Oreo crumbs and mix on low speed until just combined (if you mix it too long the icing just turns black instead of having little black flecks in it).

Use to top your favorite cupcakes.

Oreo Cream Cheese Frosting
enough to ice 24 cupcakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (1 stick), at room temperature
12 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temperature
5 cups Powdered Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 T Heavy Cream
2/3 cup Oreo Crumbs (about 24 halves)

Instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese with the powdered sugar on medium speed until fluffy (4-5 minutes).  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the vanilla and heavy cream.  Beat on medium speed until combined (about 1 minute).  Add the Oreo crumbs and mix on low speed until just combined (if you mix it too long the icing just turns black instead of having little black flecks in it).

Use to top your favorite cupcakes.

Enjoy!
Julie

Carrot Cake Comparison

Not all comparisons have a clear winner.  Some don't have any winner at all... they're all losers.  Needless to say, this comparison didn't go so well.





I tried 3 carrot cake recipes trying to get one that was light and fluffy in texture, had real carrot flavor and looked pretty (or at least appetizing) as a cupcake.  Personally, I don't think that's too much to ask but maybe I'm needy.

Recipe #1 was a pretty standard carrot cake recipe.  The fat in the recipe comes from vegetable oil and it has cinnamon in it for flavoring.

Recipe #2 has a relatively smaller amount of vegetable oil in it than the first and has cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger for flavoring.

Recipe #3 is different in that the fat comes from butter - no oil.  It is also flavored with cinnamon.

Let's cut straight to the point here - these cupcakes are hideous.  I hate them.  They actually look far better in the pictures than they do in real life.  In real life they look sunken and oily and just plain ugly.

I normally give food that tastes really awesome some leeway in the looks department but when it comes to cupcakes they really do have to be pretty and none of these taste great enough for me to get past their looks.

In the taste department, #1 just tastes like oil which doesn't taste like anything but leaves a slimy film in your mouth.  #2 is less oily but still too oily.  I was hoping that the nutmeg and ginger flavor would shine through in these cupcakes but it didn't.  I was too distracted by the oil.  #3 was the best tasting cupcake by far although the competition wasn't all that stiff.  The butter gave this the best flavor and there was no oily film but it still wasn't attractive.  Honestly, if #3 had been prettier, I probably wouldn't have hated it.

The whole reason I did this experiment was because I wanted to serve carrot cake cupcakes at an upcoming event I'm doing desserts for but that is clearly not happening.  I'm going to have to find a different flavor to serve until I can do some more work on these recipes.

In case I haven't scared you away, here are the recipes.  The only change I made was to leave the nuts out of all of them.

Recipe #1
Recipe #2
Recipe #3

I felt like I couldn't waste all these cupcakes so I went ahead frosted them with the maple cream cheese frosting I used in the carrot cake whoopie pies I made a few weeks ago.  I have to say, this made a world of difference and I hated them all a little less.  It just goes to show you that frosting can make anything better.

Julie

Peanut Butter Mousse Comparison

I present you with the following caveats:

1.  I <3 peanut butter... don't you?  If the answer is no, consider our friendship terminated (because, in all seriousness, if you're reading this blog and you're not my friend, don't you have anything better to do?  Oh wait... you're reading this for real cooking advice... weird.).
2.  I am testing these peanut butter mousse recipes from the perspective that they will be stuffed inside a strawberry cupcake.  Kind of like PB&J.
3.  While I'm writing this CA is trying to tell me what the deal is with the Brewers infield (because I care... a lot).
4.  I've had a couple of glasses of wine.
5.  One of these recipes is not technically mousse... not that I prescribe to technical food stuff.

For some reason I've never made peanut butter mousse and it freaked me out.  It shouldn't have because all three of the recipes I tested came out great.  Seriously.... I did would eat any one of them with a spoon and CA is convinced that presenting him with 3 peanut butter flavored options (which I asked him to take one taste of) was my ploy to make him fat (because he ate at least half of each one).

Not Mousse #1 (because it's not really mousse) is made from butter, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff.  If you think this could be bad, close your internet browser immediately.  It's super easy to make, you just whip the butter an peanut butter together and then add the marshmallow fluff.  Easy.

Real Mousse #2 is a more traditional mousse with peanut butter, cream cheese, milk, powdered sugar and vanilla which is beat together.  Then you whip up some heavy cream and fold that into the peanut butter mixture.

Real Mousse #3 is the same as #2 with a much higher peanut butter to other stuff ratio.

I admit that going into this test I was pretty much convinced that #3 was the best recipe.  It had the most peanut butter in it which should be really important because you want it to taste like peanut butter.  It also had the whipped cream folded into it which I thought would make it nice and light.  I really only made #1 because I thought it might hold up better in the fridge if I had to make it ahead of time and I made #2 just to have another one to compare #3 to.

I was totally wrong!  #3 was actually my least favorite of the bunch.  Because it had so much peanut butter in it, it was far denser than the other two recipes.  It really just tasted like sweetened peanut butter which doesn't sound bad (and it actually isn't bad) but when I considered piping it into the middle of a cupcake, it just seemed like it would be thick and super overwhelming.  My favorite one was #2, it was light and fluffy, had good peanut butter flavor and I loved the added tang that the cream cheese brought to the mix.  It was CA's favorite as well.  HOWEVER.... that's not the one we chose to fill the cupcakes with.  Why?  Well, the cream cheese flavor actually detracted from the peanut butter flavor and while it was the most delicious, it just wasn't right for the overall combination of flavors.  #1 is pretty much a perfect for filling a cupcake.  It's fluffy and light and tastes like peanut butter with no other distracting flavors.  It doesn't even taste like marshmallow.  How do I know the combination will be so good???

Because this happened.... that's the 3 strawberry cupcakes from yesterday, 3 peanut butter mousses from today and some strawberry frosting.  CA and I tasted these in every possible combination which was really hard work... torture really.  But, we found the combination that was just right!

Of course, then I had extra peanut butter mousse leftover and leaving it in my fridge was a really bad idea because I would have been sneaking bites of it every time I walked by.  So, I mixed all 3 together with some extra butter and sugar and made peanut butter frosting.  I used to top the white cupcakes from a couple of days ago.  Then I made CA take them to work.  Sometimes I wonder if his coworkers love me or hate me.

Here are the recipes for your enjoyment.

Peanut Butter Mousse #1
Peanut Butter Mousse #2
Peanut Butter Mousse #3


Thanks for stopping by... the comparisons continue tomorrow.
Julie

Strawberry Cake Comparison

More experiments going on over here.  This time, of the strawberry variety.  Strawberry cake is one of the best flavors of summer... except that the good strawberries from Florida are harvested in the Spring... whatever.  I'm highly partial to Florida strawberries because I went to college in FL and have very distinct memories of the Plant City Strawberry Festival where I proceeded to not only eat a million strawberries but every food on a stick that was sold there.  It was a good day.

I've only made one other strawberry cake recipe before and it's a Cooking Light recipe which is good, but I don't do light desserts at parties.  That's weird.

As I was looking for recipes there was an abundance of strawberry cakes made with cake mix and strawberry jell-o.  I'm sure these taste good but I can't show up at an event with stuff that came out of the box.  I have a reputation to uphold.  Food snob, right here.

I made three different cakes today.  I did.  I promise....

Oh yeah - there are only two photos of ingredients over there.  I know.  Oddly enough recipes #2 and #3 have the exact same ingredients - different proportions and totally different results, but the list was the same so it made no sense to take two pictures.





I made all three recipes as standard cupcakes and also used frozen strawberries that I thawed, strained and pureed for each.  They all also used cake flour which I'm a big fan of because I think it makes cakes softer and more delicate.

Some of the differences...

Cake #1 has buttermilk, a combination of butter and oil, whole eggs, vanilla beans and almond extract and lemon zest in the batter.


To mix it up you cream the butter and sugar then add the eggs, then buttermilk, then dry ingredients, then strawberries.

Cake #2 has whole milk, vanilla extract and whole eggs.

To mix it up you combine all the dry ingredients with the butter, then add all the wet ingredients including the strawberries at the end.

Cake #3 has whole milk, vanilla extract and egg whites.

To mix it up you do the same thing as #2.

I really had no expectations for which of these cakes I would like better and I was surprised by how different they all were.

First, let's talk about appearance.  Cake #1 was DARK which is weird because the picture on the recipe was a normal color.   It looked more like a cabernet cupcake than a strawberry cupcake.  (Does that exist? - it should)  Cake #2 didn't rise very much so it was on the small side but it was a pretty light pink color.  Cake #3 was definitely the prettiest and we know that pretty matters in cupcakes.

Texture is up next.  #1 and #2 were both light, fluffy and tender.  #3 was much more dense and a little wet.  Not so good.

Most importantly - Taste!  #2 didn't taste that great - probably because of the texture issues noted above.  To be honest, I eliminated it in my mind as option the second I broke one open and saw the wet, dense center.  #1 and #3 both tasted really good but I felt like the almond extract and lemon zest in #1 distracted from the strawberry flavor.  The flavor in #3 was still pretty light in the strawberry department but that can easily be taken care of by the addition of strawberry frosting :)

Speaking of frosting, I didn't test multiple strawberry frosting recipes.  Weird, huh?  I'm still a little shocked myself.  In some ways frosting is pretty forgiving, particularly American buttercream.  You can always add more butter or powdered sugar or cream if you need to adjust the taste or texture so I took a risk and just made this one.  It was really good!

So, obviously the overall was favorite was Cake #3.  It was pretty and it tasted like strawberries which is really all you need in a strawberry cupcake.... besides frosting.

Here are the recipes....

Cake #1
Cake #2
Cake #3

Julie