Homemade Glazed Donuts and Apple-Pecan Muffins

One tradition I read about whilst making my New Year's Day dinner menu was that round or ring shaped desserts are considered lucky foods. So round cakes and pastries are generally ate on the first day of the New Year. So what round dessert did I go with?? DONUTS!!! Yeah, I want to eat healthier, but how can you NOT want want to make your own donuts? I love challenges and I took this one on.


I immediately googled 'Homemade Doughnut Recipes" and saw that Ree Drummond of the amazing blog The Pioneer Woman had a recipe. I read on and I didn't just want, but NEEDED to try this recipe.



They turned out even more amazing than I thought they would be! They're so light and airy and not overly sweet  and dense like a lot of donut places. I HIGHLY recommend you make these whether you're on a diet or not. Make them for a pot-luck, birthday, Martin Luther King Day, a good hair day, because it's Tuesday just do this!!!! I posted the photos of these lovely rings of awesome on my personal Facebook, flickr, and twitter pages and got so much positive feedback so I had to share with my blog friends and readers!!! Check out the full recipe with amazing photo tutorial HERE.


Please check out Ree's post so you can share her delicious donuts with your friends and family....hell don't share them. You have my permission!


On to a less guilty recipe. And it's from you guessed it....Ellie Krieger! This woman is phenomenal and she really gets me into the idea that eating healthy should be normal not something you do occasionally. Every recipe I've tried by her has been amazing, and I've developed my own delicious healthy recipes because of her.

Since school is starting back soon, I thought a healthy energizing muffin would be excellent. Great for breakfast, after school snack, with coffee; anytime you need a picker upper! They're sweetened mostly with no sugar added apple sauce,  tender apple chunks and the deep molasses flavor of brown sugar. Topped with my favorite pecans and brown sugar, you will for sure have a big hit with your friends and family!! My whole family loved these gorgeous apple-filled treats. Give these babies a shot!!!



Apple-Pecan Muffins
Ellie Krieger
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (i used regular whole wheat flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup natural applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
• 1 Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-capacity muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the pecans and cinnamon.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, stir with a wooden spoon the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and oil until combined.

 Add the eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in the applesauce and vanilla.

Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Stir just until combined.

 Gently stir in the apple chunks.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pecan mixture. 

Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

Chocolate Bourbon and Pecan Biscotti

Chocolate, Bourbon and Pecan Pie; oh how I love thee. It's a great combination that must be tried out again in yet another form- Biscotti. The twice-baked Italian cookie.

I am going to be completely honest here, I was not a fan of biscotti the first time I tried it. It was just too damn hard and flavorless. Of course the Biscotti I tried was store-bought from a brand that shall not be named....not because I don't want to name it, but because I can't remember the name of the brand! Anyway, I bought it thinking I was being all fancy and was seriously let down. Three years later, I thought maybe I'd give it another chance. After baking and ravenously eating the Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie at Thanksgiving, the only thing on my mind was replicating this. I already had the fantastic idea of gifting friends with this awesome pie, but I also wanted to take it to another level. So my old cookie foe biscotti popped in my head for some reason. 

I scoured the web for a good starter recipe and found David Lebovitz's Chocolate Biscotti. Of course I had to use his recipe. The one thing that he said would make this cookie even better is using Valhrona chocolate powder. I usually use it in all my chocolate baking, but I didn't have any in my cabinet. I thought, ah that's an easy fix I'll just go to the French shop at the local mall and purchase some. Erm, none. I went back almost everyday for the past 2 weeks and they did not have any! So I bought some Organic/Bio Chocolate Dutch Processed powder and hoped for yummy results. Luckily this powder did the trick! I am still going to look going to bug the folks at the shop for the chocolate powder though!!! 

This treat was perfect for the "First Day of Christmas" anyway!

So it tasted excellent and tastes even better dipped in coffee, tea,  or milk.  Try these out!! 

Also, I prefer twice-baked to once baked. Though my children and I destroyed almost a whole log of the once baked biscottii :)

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Biscotti

Adapted from David Lebovitz Chocolate Biscotti

Ingredients

For Biscotti

2 cups flour

3/4 cups top quality cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, room temp

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon bourbon

1 cup pecans, toasted and very coursely chopped

3/4 cup chocolate chips

For the glaze

1 large egg

2 tablespoons of course sugar (raw sugars like turbinado)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F (180C)

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, beat together the 3 eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and bourbon. 

Gradually stir in the the dry ingredients, then mix in the nuts and chocolate chips until the dough holds together.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat ( i want one!). Divide dough in half.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into two logs the length of the baking sheet. Transfer the logs onto the baking sheet, evenly spaced apart. Gently flatten the tops of the logs.

Beat the remaining egg and brush the tops of the logs liberally with the egg- not all! 

Sprinkle the tops with the course sugar and bake for 25 minutes until dough feels firm to touch.

Remove cookie dough from the oven and cool for 15 minutes. On a cutting board, use a serrated bread knife to diagonally cut the cookies into 1/2 inch slices. 

Lay cookies cut side down on baking sheet. And return to oven for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the baking sheet midway during baking, until cookies feel mostly firm. When the cool they'll firm more.

Once baked, cool the cookies completely then store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Dip in melted chocolate for more indulgence! Half dip into melted chocolate, then cool allow to cool until chocolate hardens.

Hope you all enjoy these as much as my family did!!! 

Happy Baking.

Easy Pumpkin Pie Muffins

It's officially Autumn!

Welcome to my home!

I am so excited about all the produce of the season! But, I must confess. I cheated. Yes, ladies and gentlemen I cheated. I had to! My husband is currently away as most military members are, so I had to make quick with what I had.

My friend Becca and I planned a baking day last week and we both agreed pumpkin would be the perfect thing to bake since it's the first week of Autumn! Between the two of us we have 5 children under 4, so we decided canned pumpkin was the way to go this time around! However, while shopping at my friendly commissary,  I found that there was NO canned pumpkin. All that was left was some canned pumpkin pie filling! So, I searched the commissary for some fresh pumpkin with the intent to roast, season and puree it myself. Guess what? No pumpkins!!! I was so upset, because here I am at 7:30pm with three hungry, tired, rowdy children and all I have is canned pumpkin pie filling! So I looked at the ingredients list to see if I can maybe alter a recipe a bit, and then I saw that there was a recipe for muffins I had in mind on the back label.  I love challenges, so I bought it. I checked out the website and everything seemed pretty easy so I went to bed.

So yesterday we were ready to bake, and I saw that I read all-purpose baking flour as all purpose flour! Shoot! After a brief panic session, I found a great pumpkin muffin recipe and altered it a bit. Boy, were these delicious!! And soooo easy. The girls loved helping, and my son loved eating them! So it wasn't much of a kitchen disaster after all. I love when there's a light at the end of the funnel. Get it? OK, no more jokes. On to the recipe!

The Pumpkinator

Pumpkin Pie Muffins with Pecan Crumble Topping

Adapted from American Food Recipes 

For the muffins:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup light brown sugar 

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cream

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin pie filling

For Pecan Crumble

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup softened butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F and oil muffin tin or add cups. Makes 12 muffins

For pecan crumble, mix all ingredients except for pecans with your hands until you have a crumby texture. Stir in pecans then set aside. 

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter until creamy with whisk or mixer. Add eggs and vanilla until combined. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk and cream until combined. Gently mix in pumpkin, and be sure to not over mix!

Evenly distribute muffin batter then add crumble. A batter and sprinkle fairies does the trick well!

Bake for 30 minutes or until tops are golden and toothpick comes clean when inserted in the middle. 

Happy Eating!

Kid Approved! 

These muffins were so moist with the perfect crunch from the topping! A must try for sure!

Enjoy!!