Donuts

Here are the donuts that we had at our Halloween party for those that want it.

Dough
2 T. yeast
1/4 cup water (105-115)
1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk (scalded, then cooled)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening
5 cups all-purpose flour
canola oil

*If I were going to make them again I would only add 4 1/2 c. flour then just let the flour from rolling it out and kneading it help with the rest.

CREAMY GLAZE
1/3 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4-6 tablespoons hot water

Dissolve yeast in warm water in 2 1/2-quart bowl. Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups flour. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in remaining flour until smooth. Cover and let rise until double, 45-90 minutes. (Dough is ready when indentation remains when touched.) Turn dough onto floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour. Gently roll dough 1/2-inch thick with floured rolling pin. Cut with floured doughnut cutter (Or a wide mouth canning ring and one of Macey's blocks for the center...) Cover and let rise until double, 20-30 minutes. Heat vegetable oil in deep fryer to 375°. Slide doughnuts into hot oil with wide spatula. Turn doughnuts as they rise to the surface. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side. Remove carefully from oil (do not prick surface); drain. Dip the doughnuts into creamy glaze set on rack.

Creamy Glaze: Heat butter until melted. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency.

Cinnamon Swirl French Toast with buttermilk syrup

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

1 pkg yeast (1 Tbsp)
2 c. milk, scalded
2 tsp salt
5-3/4 to 6-1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. warm water
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. shortening

Soften yeast in warm water (110). Combine hot milk, sugar, salt, and shortening. Cool to lukewarm and combine with yeast mixture. Stir in 2 c. flour, beat well. Add enough flour to make a nice soft dough. Knead 8-10 min or until dough is smooth and elastic. Let rise in bowl in warm place for 1-1/4 hours. Punch down and cut dough into 2 portions. Shape into balls and cover. Let rest for 10 min (this really helps the bread not separate when it bakes in the roll). Roll out into 2 15x7 rectangles. Combine 1/2 c. sugar with 1 Tbsp cinnamon; spread half over each rectangle. Sprinkle with 1-1/2 tsp water over each. Roll up and place in greased loaf pans. Let rise until doubled. Bake at 375 for 30 min. When you tap the top of the bread it should sound hollow.

Then make your finished bread, once it is cooled (I usually make the bread the day before) into french toast.

Buttermilk Syrup


1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 c. sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon, optional


Heat butter, milk, and sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and wisk in soda, vanilla, and cinnamon. (Start with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and see what you like. If you would rather it have more add up to 1 tsp) Mixture will get foamy, stir until foam goes down. Foam does not go away completely and syrup will thicken as it cools.

Happy Fall! Awesome Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

1/3 C pumpkin, canned
1/4 - 1/2 C milk
1/4 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1/16 t cloves (just use a 1/8 t measure and fill it half way, or do a pinch)
1/16 t nutmeg
2 T brown sugar
2 C vanilla ice cream
1-2 graham crackers

Pop everything but graham crackers in a blender. Start with 1/4 C milk and then slowly add more if needed to make the blender process it all. I used somewhere between 1/4-1/2 C.

Sprinkle with crushed graham cracker crumbs before serving. It reminds me of DQ's Pumpkin Pie Blizzard!

Today is the 1st day that it actually feels like fall here in CO so I was thinking of this recipe! We made it almost everyday last year. I originally got the recipe from Sarah Taylor who got the recipe from Our Best Bites.

YUM! I could seriously have this for every meal.

This makes one big shake, so double or triple the recipe as needed.

Sausage Risotto with spinach and tomatoes

This was amazingly good. A little longer and involved in the preparation than I would normally like but it was definitely worth it. Porter even ate the spinach out of it.


3 1/2 c. chicken broth
1- 1lb pkg regular sausage (I use Jimmy Dean)
2 c. chopped leek (white portion only, but I only did 1 c with a little green)
1 c. chopped fennel bulb (I think that I used 2 c. to make up for the missing leek)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 c. uncooked arborio rice
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 pkg (6oz) fresh baby spinach (I only used half)
2 c. grape tomatoes, halved
2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil or 2 tsp dried
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 c. grated parmesan


In a small saucepan, heat broth and keep warm. In a large skillet, cook the sausage, leeks and fennel over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain. Add garlic, cook 1 minute longer. Stir in rice; and cook 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat; stir in broth. Cook and stir until all the liquid is absorbed.


Add heated broth, 1/2 c. at a time, stirring constantly. Allow liquid to absorb between additions. Cook just until risotto is creamy and rice is almost tender, about 20 minutes. Add the spinach, tomatoes, and pepper. Cook and stir until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately.


For those of you who don't know....on the left is what a fennel bulb looks like (just cut up the actual bulb. And even though it looks like an onion, it smells like licorice but doesn't taste like either), and on the right is a leek (used in a lot of asian recipes, kind of like an asian green onion).

Grandma's Rolls

You can make dinner rolls, crescent rolls, orange rolls, or cinnamon rolls with this recipe. Sorry this took me almost a week Denyse.

1 c. milk
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 c. margarine
1/2 c. warm water
2 pkg. yeast
2 eggs, beaten
5 1/4 c. flour

Scald milk and stir in sugar, salt, and margaring. Cool to lukewarm. Measure warm water into large warm bowl and sprinkle in yeast. Add milk mixture, eggs, and 2 c. flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour to make a soft dough. (dough will be slightly sticky) Knead until smooth and elastic. Let rise 30 min.

dinner rolls- divide dough into 3 pieces, then 9 pieces from each one. Place in greased pans and brush with melted butter. Let rise 30 min then bake at 350 for 15-20 min. or until golden.

crescent rolls- divide dough into 3 pieces. Roll on floured surface into a 12 inch circle. Brush with melted butter and cut like a pie into 12 pieces. Roll each piece from the big end and place on greased pan about 2 inches apart. Let rise 30 min. then bake at 400 for 12 min or until golden.

orange rolls- divide dough into 2 pieces and roll each piece into a rectangle. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Grate orange peel on top. Roll up and slice. Place in greased pan and let rise for 30 min. Bake at 400 for 10 min. or until golden.

cinnamon rolls- same as orange, just use cinnamon sugar and no orange peel.

Peach Dessert

Mix in a saucepan:
3 Tablespoons Corn Starch
1 Cup Sugar
Add: 2 Cups of COLD water, stir and boil.
Then add: 1 Package of Orange Jello (3 oz) and set until chilled.
After that add: 4-5 Cups of FRESH peeled square-shaped-sliced peaches and chill in fridge.

Crust
Mix well (drys first and then the butter) and put 1/2 of mixture on bottom of a 9x13 and save the rest for the top layer:
2 1/2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
6 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
1 Stick of Softened Butter

Cream Mixture
Cream together:
1 Package of Cream Cheese (8 oz)
1/2 Cup of Powdered Sugar
Then add: 8oz Tub of Cool Whip

Put down later of crumbs, all fruit mixture, then cream mixture, and rest of the crumbs on top. Great dessert for peach season!

Ham and Cheese Braids

I really liked this recipe a lot! It's easy and something that picky eaters will eat. My picky eater ate a lot of it! I just served it with vegetables and homemade ranch. I used the Ranch recipe in Deceptively Delicious even though the one below is great too.

2 3/4 cups flour
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 pkg yeast
3/4 cup warm water
4 T. butter, melted
1 egg
Diced ham
Shredded Cheese

You can use rapid rise or just active dry yeast. Combine water, yeast and sugar and let it stand for a few minutes. Then add the salt, butter and egg and mix. Add one cup of the flour and stir it up good. Then add the rest of the flour while you stir/knead. It will make a very workable and moderatly stiff dough (not sticky). I knead it until I like the feel of the dough (10 minutes or so?). Then roll out the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle (not too thin, not too thick), cut the rectangle into three equal strips, fill the strips with much ham and cheese clear to the ends and pinch each one shut being careful to leave no holes where all the good stuff will leak out. Then gently braid the three pieces and tuck the ends tight. Brush it with melted butter or egg white wash and sprinkle it with whatever you want. Let it raise in a warm spot until larger and fluffy looking (time varies). Bake at 375 for approx 30 minutes. You want it to be pretty brown on the outside so as to ensure the inside will not be doughy. Let it cool a bit before cutting into it. Enjoy! It is yummy dipped in ranch.

For home made ranch just mix some sour cream and mayo along with garlic salt, Mrs. Dash seasoning, dill and lemon pepper. Delish!

Chocolate Drop Marshmallow Cookies

These cookies didn't last long enough for me to take a picture, and they are Jacob's favorite. The picture and recipe are from Taste of Home.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
16 to 22 large marshmallows

Icing:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1/4 cup milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pecan halves (I don't have these lying around so I usually ignore it)

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; beat into creamed mixture.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, cut marshmallows in half. Press a marshmallow half, cut side down, onto each cookie. Return to the oven for 2 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For icing, in a small saucepan, combine butter, cocoa and milk. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Cool slightly; transfer to a small bowl. beat in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread over the cooled cookies. (Unlike the pictured cookies, I usually ice the whole top of the cookie and do not have any marshmallow showing) Optional: Top each with a pecan half. Yield: about 3 dozen.

Peanut butter brownie bites

These are really easy and really good!

Ingredients:

1 box brownie mix prepared
appx 40 peanut butter cups

Make brownie mix according to package directions. Spray a mini muffin tin. Fill cups 1/2-2/3 full of brownie mix. Bake at 350 for ten minutes. Unwrap peanut butter cups while brownies are baking. Remove from oven and press a peanut butter cup inside each brownie until flush with brownie top (use caution-the middle of the brownie is still liquid, and very hot if it spills through). Bake 5-7 minutes more until done. Let cool slightly in pan before removing (peanut butter cup is very hot and totally melted). Remove from pan and cool completely (if you need them quickly, can cool in the fridge). Makes appx. 40.

Japanese Gyoza

My cousin's recipe, sooo good:

1 lb ground pork
½ head cabbage-minced
2 long green onions
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp sesame oil
3-4 Small Mushrooms
Minced Carrots
½ tsp salt
A pinch of pepper
Gyoza wraps- (found in refrigerated produce section)
Chicken Broth

Filling:
Wash the cabbage leaf by leaf, and cut the hard center part out of each leaf. Squeeze all liquid out.
Mince the garlic, green onions, carrots, mushrooms and cabbage.
Place the pork in a bowl. Then add the following ingredients and mix well: sesame oil, green onion, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, salt and pepper.
Finally, add the cut cabbage and mix well.

Put a spoonful of the filling into each gyoza wrap and then seal the edges with a finger dip of water or egg yolk.
Pour some oil in the bottom of a frying pan and brown both sides of each gyoza on medium or medium-high heat. After they have been browned, pour in a small measure of chicken broth into the pan, cover and simmer. (The vapor will steam the gyoza and cook the pork). Add more broth as needed to make sure the insides are cooked through.
Remove from the pan and serve.

Dipping Sauce:
Mostly Soy Sauce, cap full of rice vinegar, few droplets of chili oil (depending on how spicy you want it.)