Repeat: WEEKENDhospitality:: Raised Donuts

This post is a repeat from last April, but perfect for National Donut Day!

My husband is an amazing baker, he made these beautiful donuts for our weekly Sunday lunch.

Enjoy some delicious eye candy!

Mary

Last week we made the dulce de leche chocolate cake.

This week it was time for something new. Raised donuts, something I hadn’t made since childhood. Well technically-- I never made them, then, and don't even remember eating them. I remember cutting them and watching them fry. But still...

Borrowing the recipe from Sherry Yard's Desserts by the Yard--I found a donut recipe that I knew wouldn't disappoint.
 

So early on Sunday morning the process began. Warming milk, adding yeast, waiting. Adding flour, sugar, etc etc, waiting.

Kneading and more waiting. 

Rolling and freezing and more waiting. 

Cutting and more waiting. Then, they were ready. 

The oil was warmed (though I'm sure it was too hot as I didn't have a thermometer to check it with) and the first one was dropped in. It was working, though very large and continuing to expand it was flipped and I could see it was going to be good. 

After it was pulled out of the oil it was doused in espresso sugar I made by putting regular sugar in my coffee grinder and pulsed away. I added more sugar to the mixture that wasn't pulsed to get the preferred consistency of sugar. 

Then the waiting was over and it didn't take long for them to be devoured. They were delicious with just the sugar topping, but we added an espresso whipped cream (with a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream!).  

The only problem that I found with this recipe? It didn’t make nearly enough. The batch did make approximately 14-16 donuts but between the 6 adults and 2 little people. Maybe next time I'll double the batch, or just not eat so many myself (I think I had 3 or 4).

Thanks and stay tuned to next week when we make something new and share it with friends. 

WEEKENDhospitality:: Baked Bakery Cookies

Thank you so much for the book suggestions, keep em coming and I'll put together a massive list soon. 
This Sunday bordered on perfection, walking to church in the sunshine, good food, good friends naps and a trip to the park. Really what else could you hope for? We have friends that we share a meal with every Sunday-- family dinner style. This has been such a grounding ritual for us, if you have a group of friends who like to eat. Join up for a weekly meal, you won't be sorry.  --Mary

 :::::::::

This weekend our friend, Bob made the best guacamole, hand-formed burgers, fresh cut potato wedges and served with ice cold beer. What a great meal! It was great to spend it with friends enjoying the beauty of sunshine coming through the windows.

I decided to keep it simple this week, even though Truman wanted donuts again. My trusty dusty easy fall back is the classic and always delicious chocolate chip cookies. I used a recipe from this book but altered it by adding a tsp of cocoa powder (always delicious). I love making chocolate chip cookies and make them whenever there are chocolate chips in the house.

The funny thing about this recipe is how different they turned out (I made some at lunch and some as an evening snack with Mary). At lunch I didn't have my silpat and just put them on a stainless cookie sheet. They came out crispy and flat, yet very delicious and the chocolate oozed. 

At night I used my silpat and cooked them the same and they came out much nicer and chewier. The chocolate was still oozing but they had a better consistency and I liked them better. I will definitely be doing this one again.

What is your favorite quick fix fall back recipe? 

--Eric

WEEKENDhospitality: Generosity of Spirit

 

"Hospitality" can also mean generously providing care and kindness to whoever is in need. 

--Wikipedia

 
For the past few weeks we've spent time together discussing recipes and food ideas. This week I would like to focus on the purpose of these postings. 

 
 This weekend was spent being hospitable. Friday we took the kiddos to Sioux Falls for the day and invested in coffee and bread (two of our favorite food groups). 

We spent time at the park eating and playing and just being silly. It was a great day. Saturday we had a house full of friends and beautiful babies running, playing and of course eating. A pot luck of favorite breakfast foods, pancakes, bacon, Emily's bran muffins, Maria's egg bake, bowls of fresh fruit and preserves.


Sunday was spent with our friend, Bob enjoying the afore mentioned bread in grilled cheese sandwiches (with green peppers, onions and tomatoes!) and homemade tomato soup.

As Mary and I discussed our favorite events throughout the weekend I said that my love bucket was full and bursting. I love nothing more than a housefull of happy people breaking bread together and enjoying good food, good friendships, good conversations.

What would life look like though if we were hospitable to the other people who are in need. What would life look like if we were hospitable to the person in the grocery store, or the driver tailing us on the way to work (or the persons I tail on the way to work). What would life be like if we lived hospitable lives intentionally to those we are closest to? What if I was hospitable to Mary every day, to Isabel and Truman, to Lucy...

Now that lent is over and life moves to the next seasons, maybe it would be good for me/us to practice hosptilaty. And not just to those who come into our houses for a meal, but maybe those who live in our houses everyday, to those we pass everyday without really noticing.

Have a great day and pracitice hospitality to whoever is in need, even if it's your family.

--Eric

WEEKENDhospitality: Perfect Partners

Chocolate and Coffee.

Need I say more?

This week I’m going to discuss the process of creating a delicious espresso. If you have an espresso maker or other fancy device this post isn’t for you. If you’re lacking in the $1000 to buy a new espresso maker with steam wand, and stainless steel body, etc etc etc. (I dream), then this post is so for you. If you don’t already have a stove top espresso maker, go buy one for a much cheaper $30+. Or do what Mary did for me a few years ago and buy one on ebay for $15+ shipping.

All good espressos start with good espresso beans. Our favorite is an organic fair trade espresso we get from the CO-OP Natural Foods in Sioux Falls, SD. We’ve tried other more famous brands before and have been disappointed with the results, so we try to stay away from those as often as possible. We’ve also done regular and decaf coffee in the pots and they’ve turned out pretty good too, especially if you only want one cup of coffee.

The process starts-- of course-- with your grind. We only have a small blade grinder we got when we got married and it takes about 30-50 seconds to get a fine grind. Trust me, to get the flavor you want a fine grind, not coarse like you’d use for drip coffee or French Press.

After you grind your coffee. Follow the assembly instructions, filling with good quality water, etc. Next you’ll need to practice a good amount of patience. I like to turn my burner to really low. 

For a good cup it takes about 10-15 minutes, but trust me it’s well worth the wait. The aromas that will fill your kitchen as you’re preparing the coffee are amazing! I love to watch the dark brown thick espresso ooze out of the spouts. (mmm I’m getting thirsty describing it)

While the coffee is taking longer to get ready than I do in the morning-- I get the milk going. I pour about 1-2 cups of milk into my small pot. I add about 2  teaspoons of sugar just to give it a little more sweetness and then turn the heat up (not too high you don’t want to scorch the milk, you want to heat it slowly). Taking a whisk I start whisking. I’ll start and stop as my heart pleases. Then once I get the right consistency of foam on top I turn the heat off and hopefully by this point the coffee is done, if not, just let it sit, it won’t hurt anything.

Then I add the shot or two of espresso and then desired amount of milk and foam to the desired coffee mugs. I like my lattes to taste like espresso and not milk. For me the milk is more of a medium through which to enjoy the espresso not overpower it. 

Use the wisk to hold the foam back as you’re pouring and then plop a bit of it on top and enjoy. If you have extra milk and have a kitty in the house (ie. Isabel) pour the remainder into a little mug and let them enjoy the warm milk. (If it’s too hot, just add some cold milk, they’ll love it!)

Now for the chocolate. Chocolate Friands from the Tartine cookbook.

Yesterday we celebrated our normal Sunday afternoon lunch, but added some delicious chocolate treats for a good friends birthday. We even had a candle that Truman helped blow out.

These “small mouthfuls” are simply delicious and super easy to make. What treat doesn’t taste good when you use chocolate, butter, sugar and flour? Oh and there’s a yummy ganache (cream and chocolate) topping. Mine didn’t turn out quite as nice looking as the picture, but they were delicious none the less.

Hope you had a great weekend and enjoy making espresso and chocolaty treats.

--Eric

WEEKENDhospitality: Cheesecake

From Eric:


Cheesecake is such an easy dessert to make but such a difficult one to master. For me, cheesecake was the first dessert that I ever created my own recipe. My dad loves peanut butter so one night I decided to play around with different peanut butter filled items: Reese's pieces, peanut butter chips, peanut butter, etc. I had noticed that the afore mentioned cheesecake cookbook had certain ratios of cream cheese, eggs, etc so I decided to try my ratio and it turned out perfect! 

Ever since then I have tried time and again to create the "Great Cheesecake."

I never repeat a recipe that I've made before, mostly because I can never remember what I've done previously. I never write down my recipes, I know the ratio and just add other ingredients as I see fit. I've made Pumpkin, Chocolate Swirl, Plain and many other variations. 

This week I went with my normal Plain recipe and it was all going well. I had to use cereal for the crust, which as one friend explained was kind of like a cookie. I used my food processor to get the right consistency of crust (Cheerios and Special K). I mixed in my desired flavors, vanilla, cloves, freshly ground nutmeg, butter, salt, sugar and placed it all into my springform and baked it. 

 After cooling I added the cheesecake base and baked it at 400 for a while. I don't remember how long it was, 15-20 minutes probably, then I turned the heat down to 325 and baked it there for another 30-45 minutes.

The next day unsatisfied with the appearance I tried making a chocolate glaze. Taking the buttermilk and sour cream we had on hand and mixing in some 1% milk I warmed that and then poured over chocolate. The consistency was good and the flavor was actually really good. The only problem was that it never set up properly so there was chocolate oozing all over the place. 

Needless to say, this wasn't my best cheesecake, in fact I didn't particularly care for it. I did like the cheesecake but the chocolate was a bit disappointing. But that won't detour me from trying again!

Have you ever tried cheesecake? If so what do you think? If not, try it, it's simple and very diverse and you never know you may discover your own Great Cheesecake.
--Eric

*For the record, the cheese cake tasted delicious, the sauce was runny, and it was hard to cut. Who doesn't love chocolate oozing all over the place? But the cheesecake itself was pitch perfect. Thanks Eric for joining us for a weekly post!

WEEKENDhospitality: Donuts

Last week we made the dulce de leche chocolate cake.

This week it was time for something new. Raised donuts, something I hadn’t made since childhood. Well technically-- I never made them, then, and don't even remember eating them. I remember cutting them and watching them fry. But still...

Borrowing the recipe from Sherry Yard's Desserts by the Yard--I found a donut recipe that I knew wouldn't disappoint.
 

So early on Sunday morning the process began. Warming milk, adding yeast, waiting. Adding flour, sugar, etc etc, waiting.

Kneading and more waiting. 

Rolling and freezing and more waiting. 

Cutting and more waiting. Then, they were ready. 

The oil was warmed (though I'm sure it was too hot as I didn't have a thermometer to check it with) and the first one was dropped in. It was working, though very large and continuing to expand it was flipped and I could see it was going to be good. 

After it was pulled out of the oil it was doused in espresso sugar I made by putting regular sugar in my coffee grinder and pulsed away. I added more sugar to the mixture that wasn't pulsed to get the preferred consistency of sugar. 

Then the waiting was over and it didn't take long for them to be devoured. They were delicious with just the sugar topping, but we added an espresso whipped cream (with a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream!).  

The only problem that I found with this recipe? It didn’t make nearly enough. The batch did make approximately 14-16 donuts but between the 6 adults and 2 little people. Maybe next time I'll double the batch, or just not eat so many myself (I think I had 3 or 4).

Thanks and stay tuned to next week when we make something new and share it with friends.