Brown-Sugar Apple-Cider Donuts

I found this recipe online, though the website I found it on seems to need a login now in order to access their recipe archives.

• 3 2/3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup apple cider
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• Vegetable oil for frying (the recipe suggested 8 cups, but we used a lot less than that. We just put enough oil in the skillet so that the donuts wouldn’t touch the bottom)
• 1 1/2 cup icing sugar

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add brown sugar. Beat until smooth. Mix in cider and melted butter. Add flour mixture and stir until combined (our dough was very dry and we needed to add a couple more tablespoons of apple cider in order for the dough to come together).

3. With floured hands, pat dough into a round disk and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight (we left ours overnight).

4. Heat oil in a heavy saucepan or deep skillet over medium high heat. On a floured surface, roll dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut doughnuts into rounds (we used a round cookie cutter and a plastic bottle cap for the center). Place the icing sugar in a bowl.

5. Carefully slip the donuts into the oil. Fry until golden, turning once. Drain donuts on paper towel then transfer them to icing sugar and roll to coat.

Verdict: We made about 36 donuts and 45 munchkins (which is what we call the donut holes). These were very good. They tasted like cinnamon more than apple, which was weird considering we added more cider than the original recipe called for. We seem to have bad luck with donuts though, because they only last one night. The donuts themselves were almost stale the next day and the icing sugar was more like a glaze, but not a very appetizing one. I’m not sure if we are missing something in the storage, because it’s kind of pointless to keep making donut recipes when they won’t really last more than a day.

 

Blueberry Beignets

I found this recipe on another food blog.

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons shortening (we used butter)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (we didn’t use because the butter we used was salted)
• 3 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup blueberries
• Cooking spray
• Vegetable oil for deep frying
• Icing sugar for dusting

1. In a small bowl, dissolve 2 teaspoons sugar in the warm water. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand for 10 minutes or until bubbly.

2. Using a stand mixer, mix together the remaining sugar, evaporated milk, egg, shortening (or butter) and salt (if using). Add in the yeast mixture and beat until smooth. Beat in the flour 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft sticky dough forms (in the blog where I found the recipe, they needed less than 3 cups to get this type of dough. For us, we needed all 3 1/2 cups of flour to get it to the right consistency). Detach bowl from stand mixer and stir in blueberries until just combined.

3. Spray a bowl with cooking spray and transfer dough to that bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight (we let our rise overnight).

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into a rectangle about 20×16 inches big and 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into squares of about 2 1/2 inches.

5. Fry the beignets, turning frequently, until golden brown. Transfer to a pan lined with paper towels to cool. Dust generously with icing sugar.

Verdict: We made 27 (though the last one was made of all remaining dough, so it was kind of on the big side). The first day, these were so delicious. They were light and fluffy and tasted like a fried dough dessert my grand-mother makes (frittelle). The second day, I don’t know if it was because we improperly stored them (we put them in a plastic container) but they were inedible. Not because they were stale, but because of how greasy and sticky they became. And I know we patted them down with paper towels a lot to remove the oil, so I don’t know why they turned out like they did. Given the effort needed to make them, I probably wouldn’t make them again, not if they are only going to last one day.