Margarita Donuts

As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. But donuts aren't something we eat a lot of and so I was waiting for the right opportunity to make them. I was really intrigued by the idea and finally I got the chance to try them.

I'm going to critique these because I really like the idea of them, but the donut itself really did nothing for me. The margarita curd filling was absolutely amazing and I am trying to think of something else to make that would use it because it is so great. The donut dough portion was not the right thing for this amazing curd.

I've never tried making donuts before. I don't deep fry anything and so the idea of a baked donut intrigued me. Unfortunately, this baked donut tasted a lot like a dinner bun. They looked beautiful and very much like a donut, but when you bit into them they were just like eating bread. I don't know if this is how all baked donuts turn out, or if this was just because of the recipe.

The other problem with this was I made these and then put them in a container and carted them around for eating the next day. A mistake. I don't know why I thought this would be a good idea. You'd never eat a bought donut the next day. They sweat when stored in a container or even a paper bag and they aren't good. Basically, I ended up throwing out almost a dozen and a half donuts because of this mistake.

I would like to try them again, but with a different donut dough. I'll have to do a bit of research because I'm really not at all familiar with donuts and then maybe you'll hear back from me some day. The one good thing about this recipe though was that you did not need to deep fry them, and you didn't need one of the fancy donut pans.

Recipe from Searching for Dessert.

Makes 12 donuts

Ingredients

Donuts

1 Heaping Tsp. Instant Yeast

6 1/2 Tsp. Sugar

1 1/4 C. Flour

1/2 C. Warm Water

1/2 Tsp. Salt

1/4 Tsp. Baking Powder

1 1/2 Tbsp. Butter, melted 

Margarita Curd

6 Tbsp. Butter, melted

6 Tbsp. Sugar

Zest of 2 Limes

1/4 C. Lime Juice

1 1/2 Tbsp. Tequila

1 Egg

Glaze

1/4 C. Berry Sugar

1 Tsp. Orange Zest (1/2 Orange)

1-2 Tbsp. Butter, melted

Directions

Donuts

~Combine all ingredients of the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix to combine and then knead for 5 minutes. If dough is very sticky, increase flour until it forms a nice ball of dough.

~Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap and a towel and place in a warm spot and allow to rise to double it's size (1 hour) or place in a cool spot and allow to rise overnight.

~Preheat oven to 350 F.

~Roll dough out onto a floured surface with a floured rolling pin to about a 1/4 inch in thickness.

~Using a 3 inch round cookie cutter (or glass) cut rounds from the dough.

~Place on a floured cookie sheet.

~Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and allow to sit and rise for 45 minutes - 1 hour.

~Bake for 12-13 minutes or until the edges just begin to turn golden.

~Allow to cool.

Margarita Curd

~Combine butter and sugar in a microwave safe bowl and whisk until sugars have dissolved.

~Add zest, juice and tequila and whisk.

~Add in egg and whisk well.

~Place mixture in microwave and microwave for 30 second intervals, whisking in between each time. For a total of 3-4 minutes or until mixture remains on the back of a spoon.

~Run mixture through a sieve.

~Place in refrigerator to set.

Glaze

~Combine sugar and zest and mix well to evenly coat.

~With a toothpick, poke a hole into one side and wiggle it around inside to open up the inside.

~With a pastry bag outfitted with a narrow and long attachment, pipe curd into the donut.

~Brush donut with melted butter and roll in the sugar/zest mixture.

~Allow butter to set and then eat right away.

Enjoy

Blueberry Lemon Curd Galette

Okay, I know this looks messy and like I ruined my cookie sheet but I can assure you it actually came off the sheet beautifully and once it was on a plate you would never know that all the innards leaked out of it.

The beautiful thing about this is that it looks about as far from perfect as could be, but the rustic look is in right? Right? So really, imperfect is perfect now or at least that's what I'm telling myself. The other great thing about this is that you can really make them as big or as small as you want. Because you aren't limited to the size of a pie pan. I ended up making 4 of these (we cut them into 3 or 4 pieces) and I used about 1/2 - 2/3 of this pastry recipe. It was a great recipe to use up the leftover pastry from the chicken pot pies because I was able to make as many of these as I wanted at the size that I had pastry available for. It wasn't like trying to stretch not enough dough into a pie pan. Plus with my little bit of scraps I was going to throw out at the end I decided to do something with them as well so scroll down to the bottom for that.

Recipe from For the Love of Cooking.

The pastry really didn't roll out that well.

But it all tastes the same in the end

Makes 2 Galettes

Ingredients

1/3 Batch of Pastry, divided in 2 

4 C. Blueberries (I used frozen, fresh would work too)
Lemon Curd

5 Tbsp. Sugar

2 Tbsp. Cornstarch

1 Egg

Sugar

Directions

~Preheat oven to 350 F
~Grease a cookie sheet or large baking dish.
~Place 2 rolled out pastry circles onto greased pan (I slid 3 or 4 knives under the edges of the pastry to make it easier to not over-fill it and it helped to just flip the pastry up over the edges when done - see picture above if confused with what I'm trying to say here.)
~Spread lemon curd over the pastry, leaving about an inch around the edge.
~In a bowl combine berries, sugar and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly.
~Scoop berries on top of lemon curd.
~Flip up edges of pastry over the berries and with your hands press together to seal.
~Bake for 30-35 min. or until pastry is golden.

Enjoy

And this is what you can do with the scraps. Roll it out into a long rectangle, scoop a bit of curd in the centre and fold it up and press the edges together with your hands to seal. Bake with the galette at 350 F but for a little less time (say 25-30 min.), just watch them and when they are golden they are perfect.

Coconut Orange Muffins

Hey guess what? I've got another muffin recipe to share.

At one of the local bakeries they make the most amazing muffin. It is orange and coconut and so moist and amazing. Well last night I wanted one of those muffins, so I went on the hunt for a copy-cat recipe, and I found this one (and many others that sound amazing but not exactly what I was looking for). I liked the idea of throwing the whole orange in because I figured to get the amount of moisture and orange flavour it couldn't just be juice and zest. By the way, orange juice is definitely not orange. When you compare it to the colour of an actual orange pulverized in the food processor it looks so pale and yellow. Maybe it also has something to do with I was using Cara Cara's and they are incredibly dark and so so juicy and smooth.

It was really the perfect time to make these because it is right in the middle of 'specialty orange weeks' at the local grocery store. They have a least 8 different types of specialty, organic oranges that they specially bring in for only a couple of weeks a year. So, I had to buy a few different ones to sample.

I made this recipe just as it was written on food.com, but after this batch I might try and change things up a bit with some addition of some banana or pineapple or...we'll see. Big plans though. The first one of these I sampled once they had cooled tasted exactly like what I was going for. Unfortunately, once they rested overnight they didn't taste identical in the morning. But, they still were pretty good and very flavourful so I guess I can't complain.

One thing worth noting with this recipe is that they do not rise (at all). Nor do they melt down and spread out. What I'm trying to say is that if you have the batter all lumpy and uneven in the muffin tins, you'll pull the finished muffins out and they will have the same mountains and valleys that they did going into the oven. So, not the prettiest, but the coconut sprinkled on top helps and I'd recommend smoothing out the top of the batter in the tins gently with a spoon (I know, a big no-no with muffins, or so my Mom says).

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 Medium Orange (I used 2 small minus a few bites), seeds removed, with peel

1/4 C. Orange Juice

1/2 C. Coconut Milk (or OJ)

1 Egg

1/2 C. Butter, softened

1 3/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 C. Shredded Coconut

3/4 C. Sugar

1 Tsp. Baking Powder

1 Tsp. Baking Soda

2 Tbsp. Shredded Coconut

Directions

~Preheat oven to 375 F

~Wash & slice orange and process in food processor until pureed 

~Add in OJ, milk, egg & butter and pulse until creamy

~In a separate bowl, combine flour, coconut, sugar, powder & soda.

~Fold in wet ingredients to dry.

~Scoop batter into greased or lined muffin tins.

~Sprinkle tops with coconut

~Bake for 20-22 minutes

Enjoy

Hearty Raspberry & Orange Pancakes

I struggle with pancakes and because of that I'm kinda scared of them. Give me yeast doughs or pastry any day, but not pancakes. But, I'm trying to slowly get over my fears. Unfortunately it's not working so well. As you can see these are a bit dark on the outside. The funny thing I find with pancakes is I rarely have ever eaten a golden pancake like you see in magazines. I don't know how they do it, but I've never managed it, nor has my Dad who loves his perfect pancake. I think it all has to do with the type of pan you use. So I'm going to blame this one on the pan. The good thing though is while they don't look all that appealing they actually are. They look black and burnt, but they never seem to taste like that, and these ones are full of amazing flavour inside.

These are very heavy pancakes due to the greek yogurt and whole wheat flour in them, kinda like my Yogurt Waffles. One of these (and a few bites of a second one that I shared with Kona) was plenty. Top it off with some butter and some lemon curd and you are good to go.

One other thing, I know that it kind of defeats the purpose of putting dairy yogurt and soy milk in this, but for some reason I believe vanilla soy milk (even the fat-free variety) makes thicker and more flavourful pancakes. Try it and see (even with Aunt Jemima mixes it makes it taste home made).

Adapted from Baking Bites

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

1 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp. Salt

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Egg

2/3 C. Plain Greek Yogurt

1/2 C. Vanilla Soy Milk

1 Tbsp. Orange Juice

1/2 Orange, zested

1 Tbsp. Butter, melted

1 C. Raspberries, fresh or frozen & thawed

Directions

~In a medium bowl, combine flour, powder, soda, salt & sugar. Mix and set aside.

~In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, yogurt, milk, OJ, zest & butter.

~Pour dry ingredients into wet and stir until combined.

~Preheat a griddle or skillet and grease lightly.

~Scoop batter into hot pan (if too thick and doesn't spread, gently spread with the back of a spoon), and sprinkle top with raspberries. 

~Cook until brown and then flip and again cook until brown.

Enjoy

Margarita Cake

I could say a lot about this cake but I'll keep it simple because I could go on about it all day. So let me just tell you that this is the most amazingly moist cake you'll ever eat. And the fact that you could get drunk just off the glaze is good enough for a lot of us who eat this. Plus, it is so incredibly simple to make. Just throw everything in a bowl, mix and you're all set to enjoy.

This recipe was given to us by a neighbour but I actually tracked her source down to allrecipes.com.

Serves 8

Ingredients

Cake

1 Pkg. Lemon Cake Mix (use a Brand Name variety, not a store brand. I made this mistake and it was not good)

1 (3.4 oz) Pkg. Instant Lemon or Vanilla Pudding mix 

4 Eggs

1/2 C. Oil

2/3 C. Water

1/4 C. Lemon Juice

1/4 C. Tequila

2 Tbsp. Triple Sec Liqueur (or if you don't have this substitute Grand Marnier - but it changes the flavour quite a bit so only do this in a pinch)

Glaze

1 C. Icing Sugar

1 Tbsp. Tequila

2 Tbsp. Triple Sec (or Grand Marnier)

2 Tbsp. Lime Juice

Directions

Cake

~Preheat oven to 350 F & grease and flour a bundt pan.

~Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat for 2 minutes (30 sec if using stand mixer)

~Pour batter into bundt pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

~Cool in pan for about 15-20 minutes before transferring to a platter to finish cooling

Glaze

~Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix until smooth.

~Drizzle over mostly cooled cake.

Enjoy

**A couple of hints:

~When the cake has just come out of the oven and is still in the pan, poke holes in the bottom and pour a small amount of tequila over the cake.

~Make a larger batch of glaze and as soon as you pull the cake out of the pan, drizzle a portion of the glaze over the cake and allow it to soak into the hot cake. Then glaze as usual with the remaining glaze when the cake is warm to cool.

Orange & Almond Brownie Batter Truffles

Every Christmas it seems I crave good truffles. For a long time, I wanted to make a vanilla truffle, but a few attempts later, I think I've given up because I can't for the life of me find a decent recipe. The thing is, every year we make Buck Eyes, and they always look so amazing and professionally done sitting there on the platter. The only problem is I'm not a peanut butter fan, so even though they look amazing, they don't taste amazing to me. So that brings me to the non-peanut butter truffle hunt. Because I want something pretty and professional looking for myself too.

Now, I found this recipe over at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and put my own little spin on it. It originally called for the truffles to be dipped in almond bark, but as I was not running to the store and only making these because I had a little bit of time to kill and all the other ingredients in my panty, I decided to forgo the almond bark. Instead I just used regular dipping chocolate and added a bit of almond extract into the truffle. Then, that got me thinking. I'd just reached past the orange extract, something I don't normally use often and I love orange truffles so it was an easy 2+2=yummy truffles. Anyway, I just had a dribble left in the bottle, so I used 1 tsp. of the orange extract. Next time if I had a bit more I might increase to 1 1/4 tsp just for good measures. I was going to try that this go, but replace the extra little bit with a bit of orange liqueur, but what do you know, we're all out of that too. Surprise, surprise. Maybe next time a hint of peppermint would bring on the holiday spirit also.

One important thing to remember if you decide to make multiple batches / flavours of these truffles is that once they are dipped you need to put some sort of marking on the outside of them so you know which flavour is which. Get creative, but try to keep things consistent from batch to batch, year to year ie. we always use a white chocolate drizzle on our Buck Eyes.

Some suggestions for the garnish:
~Orange zest (I used this for the orange flavour)
~Chocolate sprinkles
~White chocolate drizzle (I use this for buck eyes)
~A white chocolate dot
~A sprinkle of coconut
~A sprinkle of ground almond powder (I use this for the almond flavour)

One of the greatest things about this recipe is that they were so incredibly easy. No oven, no double-boiler, not stove-top cooking, and all the ingredients will be in your pantry if you ever do even the most basic of baking. Feel free to dabble around in the flavour combinations, or if you just like plain, just use 2 tsp of vanilla as the flavouring.

Makes 2 1/2 Dozen

Almond Truffles

Orange Truffles

Ingredients

Almond Truffles

1/2 C. Cocoa Powder

1 C. Sugar

1/2 C. Flour

2 Tsp. Vanilla

1/4 Tsp. Almond Extract

1/2 C. Butter, melted

Milk Chocolate Dipping Chocolate

Garnish

Orange Truffles

1/2 C. Cocoa Powder

1 C. Sugar

1/2 C. Flour

1 Tsp. Vanilla

1 1/4 Tsp. Orange Extract

1/2 C. Butter, melted

Milk Chocolate Dipping Chocolate

Garnish

Directions

~In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

~In a microwave safe dish, melt butter. Mix in extracts.

~Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix to combine.

~Roll batter into bite size balls and place on a wax paper lined tray.

~Melt chocolate and dip truffles into chocolate and garnish right away (unless garnishing with the melted white chocolate. You'll have to wait for the milk chocolate layer to set first.)

~Place back on the wax paper lined tray and refrigerate to set.

Enjoy

Spiked Pink Lemonade Slush

Well, I got a new blender...and it was the weekend...and it was my first summer holidays in 3 years. You want to know what I did?

These were good, and I'm not just saying that because they had alcohol in them. You could probably make this work without the alcohol, by just adding some raspberry juice in instead of the raspberry liqueur and then omitting the vodka.

You can't get anything better than raspberry and lemon, and then by combining them, this drink is amazing. This drink wasn't strong by any stretch of the imagination, so feel free to increase the alcohol concentration as you see fit. You probably would want to increase the vodka, because any more liqueur and this drink would start to get sweet (which it isn't by these measurements. It's just refreshing and light.)

Makes: 1 - 5 C. Blender Full  (about 3-5 drinks depending on your choice of glass)

Ingredients

4 C. Ice, divided
2 1/2 Shots Raspberry Liqueur (Sour Puss)
2 Shots Citrus Vodka
1/2 Can Lemonade Concentrate, frozen
2 C. Watermelon, cubed

Directions

~Place 2 C. of the ice in the blender. Blend to crush.
~Add in liqueur, vodka, lemonade and watermelon. Blend again to combine
~If it looks too thin, add in part or all of the other 2 C. of ice and blend again to combine.
~Serve immediately.

Enjoy

Margarita Cookies

I had to laugh one day when I was sitting in class. I don't actually remember what was being discussed exactly, it probably was about an upcoming exam and what you should do in order to get the best possible mark. Well, all I remember was the instructor blurting out that she really liked chocolate and tequila. While I didn't agree with her on many points that she discussed in class, I do have to agree with that statement. It wasn't the only time I've had an instructor give a hint on how to boost your exam mark. One time in high school the teacher said she like Reese's and so the next test we wrote one guy in the class stapled a King Size Pack of the chocolates onto his test before he handed it in. I wonder how that turned out for him?

So, as you can probably figure out, these cookies were a good match for me. Unfortunately, I started making them and really didn't have all the ingredients and I'm not talking about sugar or flour. I mean, my limes were all the colours of the rainbow (1 was green, 2 were yellow and 2 where purple), so I salvaged the one that still looked like a normal lime and added in some lemons as substitute. Unfortunately it seems that every time I go to make something with lemons I have limes, and vice versa. I also didn't think I had any oranges, but then I found some satsumas in the bottom of our citrus bucket. Well, I don't think satsumas really zest very well to begin with, and these ones were pretty ripe so they would have nothing to do with zesting. Then I realized I'd taken my tequila to the cabin and left it there. So I replaced that with Triple Sec.

All in all, these cookies are more like citrus shortbread than Margarita Cookies. But, I really wanted to make them for the weekend and this was the last chance I was going to have to get in the kitchen so I had to settle for these changes. I'm going to post both what I did and what the original recipe was, because I really liked the flavour of what I ended up with, but would still like to try the lime and tequila pairing just to see what that's all about. What I ended up with was a citrusy sugar cookie / shortbread like cookie that was perfectly bite size and yummy. And by bite size I mean extremely tiny (smaller than even my small cookies I make), but that's okay right?

One final note, I found the directions on this recipe really wordy and so I really was just scanning through looking for what I knew should have been there. This caused one problem and I beg you not to repeat my mistake. The recipe said place cookies on a lined baking sheet. I didn't do this. I never line my sheets as I've never had a problem with them. Sometimes I don't even grease them when called for, because things just seem to come off of them easily. Anyway, don't make this mistake. Please, please, please GREASE the cookie sheet. Because these cookies are brushed with egg yolk and then rolled in sugar, the edges caramelized onto the sheets and I could not get them to come off. The first 3 or 4 slid off perfectly when I pulled the trays from the oven and quickly scooped them off, but they cooled (and hardened) quickly after that and it was the point of no return. I ate a lot of part cookies as I was trying to  transfer them to racks, and I made a huge mess. So again, GREASE your cookie sheets. That's all.

I got this recipe from All Things Yummy and it looks like the recipe originally came from Dorie Greenspan's Sables au Citron but Smitten Kitchen adapted it to what it is today. How's that for a credit? Whew!

I'm going to put the original recipe in black, and what I used instead beside in green for easy reference.

Makes: 5 1/2 Dozen

Ingredients

1 C. Butter

2/3 C. Icing Sugar, sifted

2 Egg Yolks, at room temp.

Pinch of Salt

2 Tsp. Tequila (4 Tsp. Triple Sec)

Zest of 2 Limes (1 Lime)

Zest of 1/2 Orange (3 Lemons)

2 C. All-Purpose Flour

Coating:

1/2 C. Clear Sanding or other course sugar (1/3 C. White Sugar)

2 Tsp. Flaky Maldon Sea Salt (1 1/2 Tsp. Sea Salt)

Directions

~GREASE cookie sheets.

~Put the butter in mixing bowl and beat until smooth.

~Add in the sifted icing sugar and beat again until the mixture is smooth and silky.

~Beat in 1 of the egg yolks (reserving the other for later), salt, tequila and zest.

~Beat in flour just until the flour disappears.

~Divide the dough into 3 balls and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

~Form each ball of dough into a log that is approximately 1 - 1 1/4 inches thick.

~Wrap the logs in plastic and chill again for 2 hours (1 hour).

~Preheat oven to 350 F.

~Combine your two ingredients for the coating.

~Beat your remaining egg yolk.

~Brush logs of dough lightly with the egg yolk and then roll in the sugar coating. (I found it easiest to do both the brushing and the rolling on a spare cookie sheet. Then to press the coating in I transferred the log to another piece of plastic and rolled it up sushi making style and pressed the coating in this way.)

~With a sharp knife, slice each log into cookies (about 1/4" thick) and place on the cookie sheets.

~Bake for ~8 minutes or until edges where the egg coating is starts to turn golden but the rest of the cookie is still light.

~Remove trays from oven and pull cookies off right away.

Enjoy