Apple Cider Donuts
The picture is of Walker “apple picking” at a Fall Carnival from a million years ago.
I have seen lots of pictures on Facebook of friends with their children picking apples and enjoying the crisp fall weather. While we don’t really have apple picking down here as such, I do love living vicariously through my friends who live further north. Fortunately, my Yahoo.com home page seems to read my mind occasionally, and this recipe for apple cider donuts came across my news feed. These look amazing and fairly easy to make, so I am trying them this weekend with Walker.
Apple Cider Donuts
Ingredients:
1 cup apple cider
2 3/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated shortening or lard
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup buttermilk
canola oil, for frying
1/2 cup sugar, for topping
2 teaspoons cinnamon, for topping
2 1/4” circle cookie cutter
1 1/4” circle cookie cutter
Directions:
Bring the apple cider to a boil over high heat and cook it until it has reduced to 1/3 cup, 7-10 minutes. Set aside to cool while you prepare the rest of the donuts.
Sift the cake flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the shortening and sugar together on medium speed until sandy. Add in the egg and egg yolk and mix on high until light and thickened, about 5 minutes.
Mix the reduced apple cider and buttermilk together. Then add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk mixture to the mixer in three additions mixing until just combined. The dough will be soft and sticky much like cookie dough.
Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour or overnight.
When you are ready to roll and fry the donuts, heat a large pot or dutch oven with at least 2 inches of oil over medium heat until the oil reaches 370º on a candy thermometer. Gently roll the chilled dough out onto a generously floured board or piece of parchment paper into a circle about 1/2” thick and about 8” wide. Cut as many donuts and holes as possible, making sure to flour the cutters before each cut. Gently reroll the scraps and cut more holes. If at any time the dough becomes too soft to handle, just put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Place the cut donuts on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes until they are slightly firm and easier to handle. While the donuts are chilling, stir together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping in a shallow, wide bowl.
Brush off any excess flour and fry the donuts for about 1 minute per side, being careful not to crowd the pan. When the donuts are deep golden brown on each side, remove them from the oil, gently blot off excess oil and toss immediately in the cinnamon sugar.
This just might be heaven. This recipe popped up on my Yahoo.com home page, and this might be the perfect adult Halloween treat. I would definitely be in an apple bobbing contest for these- so fun.
This past Saturday, I got to go to an amazing event called Cook It Raw. Here is the description from the website. “Cook It Raw BBQ Perspectives will feature more than 40 local and internationally acclaimed chefs preparing their interpretation of Lowcountry BBQ. This event will be a celebration of all things BBQ with a focus on the regional ingredients native to Charleston, rice, fish, game meats, as well as the bounty of the local harvest. Our chefs will place a focus on healthy and whole foods with a focus on vegetables and grains.” It was held out at Bowen’s Island, which is a very special place on the way to Folly Beach. The whole thing could not have been better planned, and the day could not have been more beautiful. Tables upon tables of oysters, different types of fish, and BBQ of every kind, from goat to tongue to pig’s head, and on and on. Even with over 500 people at the event, there were no long lines at the tables, and it all ran flawlessly. Everything was served and cooked in beautiful Le Creuset Flame cookware, and there were several wineries and breweries on site offering delicious beverages. And the chefs, ohhh the chefs- they ranged from Sean Brock and Mike Lata out of Charleston to Albert Adria from Barcelona and April Bloomfield from NYC to pit master Rodney Scott from Hemingway, SC. Chefs from Sidney, London, Mexico City, California, and Canada were all on site to provide the most exquisite food. My favorites, shockingly, were the goat (it was phenomenal) and the pork taco, followed closely by Rodney’s full pig BBQ, which is what the picture is of. What a special day!
Even though it was a short week, I am so glad it is Friday. We don’t have much planned for this weekend other than some school projects due next week and of course Walker’s football game bright and early on Saturday morning. I was trying to think what would be a good breakfast for him before his game (I must brag a little as his team is undefeated and has only been scored on once- they are pretty amazing), and I found this recipe for sticky buns. Yum- I haven’t had a sticky bun in a long time. My mother used to make them for us on Christmas morning, but I think these are just the ticket for a great start to a Saturday.
We just spent a wonderful long weekend up in Western North Carolina with friends, and the leaves could not have been better. We sat by the fire, we hiked, and we ate a ton. I hated for it to end. Here is a picture from on of our hikes from the top of Hawksbill. The weekend definitely got me in the mood for fall recipes, and while searching for some today, I came across this tasty number on www.delish.com for pecan shortbread with chocolate drizzle. What a great combo- I can’t wait to try it.
Walker spent four days out at Camp St. Christopher on Seabrook Island with his grade- 75 10 year olds. I don’t think you could have paid me to be a chaperone for that field trip. They had a ball playing in the mud pit and learning more about the lowcountry natural life. They had to keep a journal and when they got back, they had to right a paragraph on all of the senses- what they heard, saw, tasted, smelled, felt. I think if Walker could have written about the Mississippi Mud Pie they had for dessert one night for all of the senses he would have- instead he just used it for taste. Here is my favorite Mississippi Mud Pie recipe- enjoy!
We spent a glorious day on Saturday with friends on a dock. The light at the end of the day was so beautiful, and watching Walker and his friend jumping in the water and swimming, it really was a golden afternoon. It reminded me of a soup I had a while ago called Golden Cream Soup- delicious name and even more delicious soup. As we say goodbye to our last days of summer and welcome in the cooler days, I love having a good stockpile of yummy soup recipes, and this is a great one.
It is one of the all time great debates- how to make the perfect Bloody Mary. Of course, this is all dependent on people’s tastes etc, but what I think makes the perfect Bloody Mary for me is what leads up to drinking it. This past weekend we went to visit my sister in New York. She and her family just got back from their year in Vietnam at the end of August. We arrived Friday afternoon and hung out in Central Park at the play ground after the girls got out of school. Corby and I then met up with some friends at Tao for dinner. It is a delicious Pan Asian place with a 30 foot tall Buddha and koi pond- pretty spectacular. My brother and his wife arrived Friday evening and we all met up at my sister’s for late night cocktails to celebrate all being together. Saturday was the perfect early Fall day with crisp weather in the morning turning into a glorious day in the park. Corby and I had a great run in Central Park around the reservoir and then went to meet up with everyone for brunch. We ate at Sarabeth’s on Central Park South. As anyone who has ever tried to eat brunch in New York City with 7 people, you can definitely expect a wait. We were hoping it wouldn’t be longer than half an hour. My sister went in to put our names on the list as we waited on the sidewalk and came back out with an incredulous look on her face. They could seat us immediately. It was nothing less than a miracle. We were ushered to a back table by the window and sat down still stunned that we were actually sitting down. This all leads us to what I think is the makings for a perfect Bloody Mary. And while, because of the circumstances, it didn’t even really matter what was in it, it was really something special- horseradish, worcestershire, tabasco, and practically a salad on top. It was a thing of beauty- see the picture. So my theory on the perfect Bloody Mary is not the ingredients but the lead up to the drink that makes it perfect. However, here is my favorite recipe.
We are taking a house party up to Linville in about a month, and I am so excited for it that I have already started planning the menu. I was going to have traditional spaghetti sauce, homemade bread, and salad for dinner one night because it is what we always have for house parties in Linville, but I came across a recipe yesterday that looked so intriguing and delicious, that I might have to put aside the spaghetti for once. The recipe is for BBQ chicken over grits, and what really stopped me was that it called for putting a can of pumpkin in the grits as well as pepper jack cheese. Wow! I can not wait to try this!! (the photo is from www.tasteofhome.com)