Baked Maple Donuts with Maple Glaze

............I have a serious confession here folks.

This might get me in trouble with a lot of people.

It definately pushes me down the "How Canadian Are YOU" list.

Here it is.

*deep breath*

THERE. I said it. (waiting for lightning to strike me down)

No? Okay. I do admit I like Maple Syrup. The real deal though not that 'maple flavouring' stuff. But in general, I don't like maple donuts, maple coffee flavour, or maple candies, etc etc.

So when I was asked if I could do a special batch of Mother's Day donuts that were maple flavoured, I cringed. That meant taste testing. 

My kitchen was awash in donuts. Not a bad thing to be awash in, really.

So I went to a few tried and true sources and read a dozen or so recipes. I knew I wanted a moist cake donut that could hold the glaze well and be a bastion of mapley-goodness.

I tried some and they were more of a vanilla-cake tasting donut, and others were too cinnamony. (Yes, that's a word.  Or at least, it is now!) I tried buttermilk recipes and yogurt recipes, oil recipes and butter recipes. Most recipes got the maple taste from the glaze. But I wanted more. Oh yes.

 I realized to get the oomph and fullness of rich maple I wanted; I needed to take this one step further.
Then;  inspiration struck

 May I present:

Prep Time: 10 mins  Cooking Time: 8- 10 mins

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees 

Donut Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour 

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of Sale

1 Large egg (lightly beaten)

1 6 oz container (3/4 Cup) Maple Flavoured Yogurt

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons real maple syrup

1 Teaspoon Maple Syrup extract

Donut Glaze Ingredients:

1/4 cup Salted butter - best to cut through all the sweetness

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 cup Icing Sugar

1 teaspoon maple extract

For the Donuts:

 In a large mixing bowl; add all the dry ingredients and whisk together.

In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, maple extract and the egg.

Fold the wet into the dry and stir just until well mixed. Do not overmix.

Spoon the mix into a large ziploc bag, and snip one end corner off; about 1 inch.*

Pipe the batter into your prepared donut pan, about 2/3 full in each spot. Place into oven.

Set your timer for 8 mins; and check the donuts. If they still 'dent' and look moist when you touch them gently; do 1 minute increments until they are firmed up.

Cool for one minute and then flip the pan over and the donuts should fall out onto the cooling rack.

Let cool completely before glazing.

Donut Glaze:

In a small saucepan; over medium high heat:

Combine maple syrup with butter and let melt. Do not let it boil!

Once butter is completely melted; quickly whisk in the maple extract and the icing sugar.

Blend well and remove from heat. Let cool down slightly before using. And of course; don't forget to lick the spoon. :)

 To glaze the donuts:

Place some wax paper or parchment paper down under your cooling racks. Working quickly; dunk those donuts into the glaze.  I like to use the 'bottom' side of the donut so they look uniform, but that's up to you. Let the donuts sit with the glaze on them and after you've done them all, DUNK em again. Oh yeah. Double dunkers, baby.

(I found that placing the donuts in the fridge until ready to eat kept them nice and the glaze from melting. It got pretty humid here last week so right up until I served them we kept 'em in the fridge. You judge what's best for your donuts. )

Tips & Tricks:

 * The easiest method to pipe your batter: Have a wide mouthed flower vase or other large jug ready. 

Place your ziploc bag into the vase/jar and drape the opening around the mouth of the vase. Spoon your batter into the vase, and voila.

Pull it out by the top and cut your opening; about one inch using the corner of the bag. 

Pipe your donuts into the pan; about just over half way (two thirds) full.

Donut Recipe Adapted from: Cooking With My Kid

Glaze Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Have your Applesauce and CAN it too!

Home made applesauce! I love the fall!

 

Anyone else remember cooking with Mom or maybe Grandma in the kitchen as a child? Of course. So many of us cook/bake BECAUSE we are trying to recreate or capture that feeling, that taste of comfort, of home, of a good meal enveloping us like a warm homey hug.

Too much? Sorry.

My Grandma Taylor in her kitchen. I get my knife skills from her.

Today I attempted my very first Canning Adventure.

Now, growing up we weren't rich. My parents had a HUGE garden and Mom had planted apple trees, peach, and you name it fruit trees in our back yard.  From potatoes to raspberries to apples, they could grow anything. And they did. And I remember Mom in the kitchen with clouds of steam wreathing around her as she prepared veggies to be canned; green & yellow beans, tomatoes, salsas, and others to be frozen until used; peas, carrots, parsnips, and beets. 

I have a smaller space (like, Teeny Tiny comes to mind)  to grow. Mostly I have a sauce garden; that is, tomatoes, basil, onions and other herbs. This year, the catnip grew remarkably well. The rest, not so much. But that's okay. Living where I live we have tons of awesome farmer's markets so we can stock up. So when Mr. J brought home a grocery bag full of Empire apples ... my first thought was ..."Um....okaaaaay" then "I AM GOING TO CONQUER THE WORLD OF CANNING!!!"

Then I realized I hadn't canned ANYTHING ever since I was 8 or so; and that watching my Mom was probably very different from actually doing it. 

(And probably for the best. I mean, there's a lot of boiling hot water involved. And I was a klutzy kid. Still am.)

 So of course, the first thing I did was Google search "Making your Own Applesauce" and I found a lot of good resources. I read up about all the preparing, and cleaning, and sanitizing.

I looked over lots of recipes, and referenced THIS awesome page A lot. If you've never canned or made apple sauce before; check out Pick Your Own.  Easy to follow, lots of photos. Plus there are links to other useful stuff and other great recipes on how to can pretty much anything.

I used the Crock Pot method; I peeled and cut up a lot of Empire apples. How much is a lot? A grocery bag full. I peeled them sitting outside in the afternoon sun, it was great. I felt wasteful throwing out the peels, so I sprinkled some with cinnamon & sugar and had a snack; the rest including the cores, I left out for the squirrels & birds. All gone this morning!

Hand peeling a bag of apples is a lot of work; and for the next step: I recommend  one of these babies: 

A metal apple-corer-slicer. Wow. Just wow.
If you don't have one, get one. Worth the $15 bucks!

Cut down on the slicing time and saved my wrists.

So I cut them all up and dumped them right into my slow cooker. I added a cup of brown sugar, a big dollop of cinnamon, some nutmeg and a dash of cloves. Also added about 3/4 cup of apple cider.

And that was that! Stirred it up a bit and left it on High for two hours. Just before bed I set it to LOW and left it overnight.

This morning, the house smelled amazing. And THIS was was I found:

Hard to get good light.

The apples had cooked down and were all amber and the SMELL was heavenly.

I used my potato masher to get the remaining bigger pieces. After tasting I did add 1/4 more brown sugar and a tad more cinnamon. But there was still something missing. It didn't taste "bright" enough, like you want applesauce to be. So I added the juice of half a lemon and 1/2 cup white sugar. Boom. Did the trick. I think that if you add a bit of lemon juice to the start of the recipe, it will turn out lighter as well. Have to try that next time.

 

Make sure you catch the seeds!! Don't leave them in your sauce.

So then you take your canning jars; I used the Bernardin 250ml ones.

Find them at Canadian Tire; $9.99 for 12

Fill them up with the hot applesauce. (Sounds like a good curse word HOT APPLESAUCE!)

Use one of these adjustable wide mouth funnels to help.

Also at Canadian Tire! Right beside the jars, actually.

Ladle your hot applesauce into the hot jars, and then back into the boiling water they go.

Make sure that when you put the lids on the jars there is no sauce or water on the lip of the jar. Also ensure that the lid on on properly. Screw on the outer ring and back into the tub. 

Be careful!! Use tongs, protect your arms with long sleeves/oven mitts.

As the website suggested; I let them boil for 15 minutes in the water.

Then I removed them, carefully with the tongs and using an oven mitt on my hand to protect from splashes.  I set them on my cutting board and they are now cooling on my shelf!!

I had a wee bit left over so into the fridge it goes; plus I froze a small ziploc baggie full, as I didn't have enough for more jars.

 The colour was rich and dark amber, and the taste was appley and cinnamoney and all things good in a jar. Yum. On yogurt, on toast, with cottage cheese, on pork chops....can't wait!

And that is that!! It seems intimidating, but honestly, it wasn't that hard!

No one was more surprised than I.

Recipe For My Version of Applesauce

Peel, Core & Slice desired number of apples. One grocery bag full = one large slow cooker full.

Set cooker to High. 

Into cooker add:

3/4 cup apple cider or apple juice, or water. 

 3/4 cup brown sugar

 4 tbsp cinnamon - Adjust for taste - I like a lot

1 tbsp nutmeg

1 tbsp cloves (powdered not whole)

Stir well, put lid on. Leave at HIGH for two hours, stir after one.

Set down to LOW and leave for 8-10 hours. (I left it on overnight)

***

Remove lid, stir. Use potato masher or hand blender to smooth it out.

Add juice of 1/2 lemon

Add 1/2 cup white granulated sugar (more to taste)

Add more cinnamon, nutmeg, etc to taste.

Stir, and bring up to HIGH heat.

***

In a large pot or Canner Pot, have water boiling and jars, lids, outer rings submerged for at least 10 mins.

Remove  all with tongs and insert funnel into mouth of jar.

Using a ladle add sauce into jar; leaving a clear 1/2 inch at top.

Make sure mouth of jar is clean & clear before adding lid, then add outer ring and re-submerge into boiling water.

For 250ML size jars; leave in for at least 15 mins in the boiling water.

Remove carefully with tongs & oven mitt.

Careful not to jostle or have the jars touching, place on cutting board and onto a safe draft free area to cool.

If any lid has popped up DO NOT STORE it. Either redo the entire process, or use immediately.

Again, for full reference & the science stuff;

 I suggest heading over to Pick Your Own for more information.

DONUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love to bake. Because I love to eat. So, it works out. 

 

I have a new page, just for Donuts. Of course!!

Sick sick Sick SICK sick.

Ugh. Is there anything worse than a hard-hitting Cold.

Wikipedia says:   "The common cold (also known as nasopharyngitis, rhinopharyngitis, acute coryza,^[1] head cold, or simply a cold) is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract which primarily affects the nose. Symptoms include coughing, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, and fever which usually resolve in seven to ten days, with some symptoms lasting up to three weeks. Well over 200 virus strains are implicated in the cause of the common cold; the rhinoviruses are the most common."

Lookit. These little buggers are responsible for the misery.

In layman's terms: You lay on the couch because everything is achy and it sucks and you can't breathe and So. Much. Snot. Gah. 

 

This is Day 3. 

I will say that I haven't just been wallowing on the couch in a sea of tissues (with aloe). I did manage to shower every day, and yesterday I vacuumed and even ventured out to Target. Where I realized I had no business being.

So, no. No sewing this week. Nothing. I did watch a lot of Netflix and discovered the BBC Channel for documentaries on Youtube. Yay.

This gratuitous shot of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy is brought to you by Dayquil.

I also read and reread several of my favourite Bloggers for inspiration when I'm feeling better; which I shall now share with you. Enjoy.

  

I have been a long time fan of Rita at Red Pepper Quilts.

Her amazing attention to detail and precision floor me every time I look at her work. I aspire to be as good as she is, some day. :)

 

Another quilter I love is Crazy Mom Quilts; her tutorials are great and she's a fellow Canuck. :)

And it's really neat when you find another person that writes like you do; it's like reading your thoughts in someone else's life. Weird? Maybe. But this is a great healthy living foodie blog that I discovered this summer, and have had a great time catching up and trying several of her recipes.

 

Check out Meghan at Clean Eats, Fast Feets

That should keep you busy for awhile. Thanks for your patience whilst I wallow. Heh.
Oooh. There's a documentary on Wombats starting. Must go!!

How was your week??

Baked Kale Chips. New favourite Snack Food!

So for those of you that know me; you know about my GINORMOUS sweet tooth. And for some of you that *really* know me you know that my dinners used to include were basically Cadbury Creme Eggs, Oreos and Cherry Coke.

But alas; time marches on and one's metabolism slows down. Mine is slowed down to the point where I look at a Creme Egg in the lineup at Target and I gain 20 pounds. Le sigh.

Enter in : KALE

I had never even heard of kale until a few years ago. It's really good for you, looks like spinach, sautes nicely, but my favourite way is to bake it, and have Kale Chips. Like regular chips but healthy.

I've used this type before but the curly kale works best, in my opinion.

Another super awesome thing I have recently discovered: Smoked Sea Salt.

I have a wonderful Epicure rep who turned me onto their Alder Smoked Sea Salt. It's so good I use it now on EVERYTHING I cook - taters, veggies, etc etc.

Don't be intimidated. Here's how to make some crispy crunchy kale chips that will let you snack and satisfy your crunch/salt cravings instead of eating nasty ol' potato chips. AND....a bunch of kale costs around 1.99-2.49 whereas potato chips can be up to FIVE bucks!!!

Without further ado; here's the way to do really yummy baked kale chips.

BAKED KALE CHIPS:

1 Bunch Raw Kale

Olive Oil

Smoked Sea Salt

You will need: Cookie/baking sheet, colander, kitchen towel

Cut the stems at the bottom off of the bunch. 

I usually cut right above the elastic band that holds it together.

Fill your sink with cold water, and put a colander into the water. 

Submerge the kale leaves and using your fingers rub gently into all the edges & nooks and crannies to ensure all the dirt and yucky bits out. Swish around as you remove the leaves and shake water off.

Remove from water and let dry flat on a tea towel or paper towel or whatever kitchen towel you like to use. Pat dry.

**Note: I usually leave them out overnight to ensure the leaves are really, really dry. This is important because if they're not dry, then the water will steam the leaves and they will be chewy and gross.**

Preheat oven to 300F.

Remove leafy parts from center stem, and if there are strong smaller stems in the leaf make sure you pull them out. Youdon't want any stems; they are either chewy or rip the roof of your mouth.

 Tear kale into bite size pieces.

Using a large baking sheet/cookie sheet, spread your kale bits over it. 

Do not crowd the kale! It likes its personal space, thank you.

This is perfect.

Drizzle freely the olive oil over the kale bits. Using your hands, massage in the oil.

Sprinkle Smoked Sea Salt over the oiled up bits. (heh.)

Put into your preheated to 300F oven. Set a timer for 12 minutes. 

After 12 minutes take out tray and using a spatula flip your kale pieces.

Replace into oven and set for another 15 minutes, making sure to check around the 10 minute mark.

Your kale chips will be a very dark green when you're done. Keep an eye on the timer, make sure to check on the ten minute mark - not all ovens are created equal and these little babies will burn quicker than you can say No to a telemarketer.

Let cool, and enjoy! Keep them in a closed container for up to a week, if they last that long!


And I promise I will get back to blogging about quilting this week!!

Roasted Cauliflower - (Not a quilt pattern, a recipe)

Okay. If you'd told me last week I'd not only be roasting and eating an entire head of cauliflower for dinner I'd think you were having a wack attack.

Tonite I did just that - I used the most FABULOUS recipe from a even more FABULOUSER (it is so a word. I just made it up) lady who blogs out Cleveland way....."Clean Eats, Fast Feets" - I highly recommend checking it out.  I've used several of her recipes and never been disappointed. My all time fav recipe for how to do the perfect artichoke is also here.

...oh my gosh you will be blown away by how easy, fast & simple her recipes are to follow!

Here it is: Clean Eats, Fast Feets - Roasted Cauliflower Recipe

No photos; cuz we ate it all it was so yummy!!