Jelly Filled Donut Muffins

It's a muffin that tastes like a jelly filled donut. Need I say more? 

Just follow this recipe and add your favorite jam or jelly in the middle of the muffin batter and roll in sifted powder sugar instead of cinnamon sugar. The butter coating is optional.

Enjoy!

Apple Pickin' And Finger Lickin' Good Cider Doughnuts

From a very young age I have always dreamed of picking apples in the fall. That is a fact... about me. (That was a Parks and Recreation reference. If you didn't get it, you need to watch or re-watch the 2nd season right now. It is the best show known to mankind.) But that dream was never realized until this past week, at the age of 25 years and 42 days to be exact. 


Let me back up a little. You see, I am a very seasonal person. I have strict rules about what can be done in what season, for example When Harry Met Sally can only be watched in the fall, Christmas music and shopping must not begin until after Thanksgiving, you get the idea. In addition, I hold hard and fast to tradition and always make more out of it than I should. All this just adds to the specialness of moments and conjures up fond memories all year round. 


To me apple picking is a quintessential fall activity, and as I mentioned before, I had been dying for years to add apple picking to my fall repertoire. My husband, knowing this, took me to Oak Glen last Friday to clear our minds and help me realize my dreams. We had an amazing time! 


The trees lining the roads leading to Oak Glen are all beautiful shades of orange, red, and yellow, warmly welcoming you to pick the fruit of their near relatives. 

Apple picking itself is satisfying in a way I can not describe, you will have to experience it for yourself. But maybe you can get a faint idea from these pics of Josh at Riley's Apple Farm...

Not to mention, devouring half a dozen warm Apple Cider Doughnuts at Snow-Line before heading home is the cherry on top of any apple picking trip.

And now that I have gone apple picking, I am pleased to report my friends, it is here to stay (along with the Snow-Line Doughnuts). At least... once a year only in the month of November, of course. 


Josh and I arrived back in good Ol'Glendale refreshed, with an ample amount of apples and a great idea... to make our own Apple Cider Doughnuts!


Well maybe it was just my idea, but regardless it was a great idea because they were amazing! It helped that I was having my friends Allyse and Lisi over for brunch, because it gave me a reason to make them, as well as help eating them. 

Half were rolled in Cinnamon Sugar and half were glazed in a Cardamom Apple Cider Glaze (my personal favorite) and all were eaten.


However, this recipe is not for the faint of heart; making doughnuts is a lot of work! Especially these ones. It requires a lot of time and oil. In fact, I made a point to compliment the lady at my favorite doughnut shop on Sunday for making such great doughnuts and to thank her for all her hard work. (Please no jokes about me being friends with the lady at the doughnut shop.)


Anyways, here is the recipe and some fun pictures of our brunch food and my fall centerpiece.


Apple Cider Doughnuts
*adapted from Smitten Kitchen
-yields about 9 doughnuts + 9 doughnut holes


Doughnut Ingredients

• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tbsp butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• vegetable oil for frying

Topping Ingredients

• Cardamom Apple Cider Glaze ( 1 cup powdered sugar+ 2 tbsp apple cider+ 1 tsp cardamom)
• Cinnamon Sugar (1/2 cup sugar + 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon)

Doughnut Directions

1. In a small saucepan, heat the 1/2 cup of apple cider over med-low heat until it reduces to an 1/8 cup. (About 20-30 min.) Set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, in a med. bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. With the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, or with hand beaters, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium until the mixture is smooth. Add the egg and beat until incorporated, using a spatula to scrape down the sides as needed. Reduce the speed to low and add the reduced apple cider and the buttermilk, mixing until combined. Add the flour mixture and continue to mix just until the dough comes together.

4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle generously with flour. Turn the dough onto one of the sheets and sprinkle the top with flour. Flatten the dough with your hands until it is 1/2 inch thick. 

Transfer the sheet to the freezer for 20 minutes. Pull the dough out of the freezer and use a 2-inch or 3-inch round cookie cutter a 1-inch round cookie cutter (I used my cannoli mold) to cut out the doughnuts. Place the doughnuts on the other floured baking sheet. You can re-flatten the scraps to cut out more doughnuts. Freeze the sheet for 30 minutes. 

5. While the doughnuts are freezing, heat your oil in a low wide pan to 325 degrees and prepare two plates by lining them with multiple layers of paper towels. Also, prepare the two toppings.

6. Take the doughnuts out of the freezer and fry 3 at a time until deep golden. You can test them with a toothpick, like a cake, to check if they are done as well. Place the fried doughnuts on the plates. Roll the warm doughnuts in the cinnamon sugar, but let the ones you want to glaze cool a little before glazing. And most importantly, serve fresh and warm!

Look at that spread! Everything thing was delicious and the company was fantastic, thanks Allyse and Lisi!

I used the some of the apples I picked at Oak Glen as place markers.

My fall centerpiece, made of stuff lying around my house, acorns I found at Oak Glen and glittered, and some beautiful leaves shed by our neighborhood trees. 

And a yellow rose from the plant my dear friend Abigail gave me :)

Portland: The City of Doughnuts

 You may have heard that Portland is the City of Roses, but we ALL know that Pasadena is the City of Roses. I mean why would the ROSE PARADE be held in Pasadena if it wasn't the City of Roses? But I am not trying to slight Portland at all; I am just trying to say what it should be known for is so much greater than its current self-assessment. After visiting Portland last week for Josh and I's anniversary and experiencing the sights, sounds, and most importantly, the tastes, I believe Portland is the City of Doughnuts! Which is way better! Am I right?

Let me explain. Most of you are probably already aware that the famed Voodoo Doughnut resides in Portland, but many of you may not have had the chance to experience the delicious magic they are conjuring there (pun intended). Well I have!

 Naturally, this was the first thing on my "things to eat list" while visiting Portland, but as hyped as I was on eating there, I had no idea how great the doughnuts would be! On our first visit (yes we went twice) we had to get the famous Maple Bacon Donut; we also decided on the colorful Cap'n Crunch Donut since I love Cap'n Crunch and colorful doughnuts (apparently I stopped maturing after 9).

Both were great! I have had a couple Maple Bacon Doughnuts in my day, but this was by far the best. The maple frosting was so thick and mapley and the fact that they placed the bacon on top in full strips, instead of all chopped up, not only made the doughnut look that much cooler but also complimented the sweet glaze with salty perfection. Yum! On to the Cap'n Doughnut. Soo sweet! But in a good way! All I could say was, "Crunchatize me Cap'n!" 

The cereal was kind of soft since it had been sitting on top of the frosting, but my husband and I both agreed this was what made it so good. It's kinda like when you leave your Teddy Grahams box open resulting in a little softer, more delicious version of the original. 

The second time we visited Voodoo was to bring home a souvenir for my parents. This time around I got a Jelly Filled Voodoo Doll Doughnut, since my Dad loves jelly filled and since it was the most iconic one there, another Maple Bacon of course and, after receiving a suggestion from our friend Beckee, a Portland native, we decided to finish off our box with an Oreo Crumb Peanut Butter Doughnut.

The Oreo Peanut Butter Doughnut was to die for, a female's dream. To give you an idea of how good the Jelly Filled Doughnut was I will quote my dad, "I ate half of the doughnut this morning, and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to go home and finish it off." So Voodoo, you get two thumbs down for inferring witchcraft, but two thumbs up for your doughnuts. 

But thats not all the doughnuting we did! On our first day in The City of Doughnuts we happened upon, thanks to Yelp, Tasty N Sons. I was starving so I decided I needed an appetizer before our meal. I decided to get the Chocolate Potato Doughnut with Creme Anglaise. 

A doughnut is an appropriate appetizer right? Regardless if my logic is correct or not, it was phenomenal! Served fresh out of the frier, this cake based doughnut hole was so moist and not overly sweet, which is why the sweet creme anglaise was such a perfect partner. The rest of our meal was amazing too, I suggest you eat there if you are ever in Portland.

So there you go. Portland is The City of Doughnuts. And I am sure there are other doughnut gems I didn't even get to. But I believe this is proof enough. And if Portland follows in suit with Pasadena, I believe we will have a Doughnut Parade one of these days. Oh the possibilities! 

What You Should Eat Before You Die

According to LA Weekly's article 99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die, Bob's Donuts at the Original Famrer's Market in West Hollywood is just that, a must eat to rest in peace.

So me, my husband and my mother and father in-law sat down at a cold metal food court table on a late Thursday morning to give Bob's a shot. Jonathan Gold, the author of the list,  advises ordering the plain donut, which we tried to an extent, ours was just covered in crumbs. It was pretty darn good. We even ordered a chocolate glaze, which was even better! Great in fact! But I have always been a sucker for donuts with a crispy outside and a soft middle, like old fashions or fritters, so of course I ordered an apple fritter too.

This was by far the better donut! (I know I've blogged on apple fritters before, but I am convinced that to not blog about every good apple fritter I eat would be doing my audience an injustice, so here we go again) It was just perfect. It had a super crunchy outside covered in a dark caramelized glaze that gave it that great "lightly burned sugar" flavor. The inside was so moist, some fritters can be very dry, and the apple filling was the cherry on the top, or should I just say apple in the middle? I highly recommend that you stop by and indulge in one next time you're at the Farmer's Market or even just in the area. You won't be disappointed.


So Jonathan I agree with your inclusion of Bob's Donuts on your list, however any person in their right mind would choose the apple fritter over the plain donut before they kicked the bucket. But don't worry Jon, you still have time, just like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman did.

Dessert, Animal Style

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentines Day. Mine was pretty low key in fact we didn't do much of anything until the evening when we went out for dessert. That's my favorite part of the holiday anyways, the excuse to indulge in chocolates and goodies of every sort. The rest of the holiday's traditions, being loving to one another and showing your affection, should really be practiced 365 days of the year.

Josh had not told me where we were going that evening for dessert, so I was pretty much bugging him all day, kinda like a child would pester their parents about what they are getting for Christmas. I couldn't help it! The thought of not knowing what I had to look forward to was driving me insane. Luckily, my anticipation was relieved when we finally pulled up to this spot in West Hollywood called Animal.

The place was booked solid of course, being Valentine's Day and all, so we respectfully took our seats outside to wait for bar seating which took about an hour. After spending the last half an hour making up jokes (The one I made up was  best: What do you get when you put a calculus problem and an apple into a cannon and shoot it into clouds? Apple pi in the sky!) we finally took our well earned seats.

Hole-y Donut!

As a sweet-a-holic if there was one meal of the day I could eat over and over it would be breakfast. And if someone was holding a gun to my head and said I could only one thing for breakfast for the rest of my life it would, without a doubt, be donuts. Ok, ok enough hypotheticals.

Now nothing will ever dethrone my favorite donut of all time, the chocolate old fashion, but recently I have come across a certain type of donut that is biting at its heels. It's nothing new, just a rediscovery of an old classic and although small in stature it's not small in taste.... that's right my friends I am speaking of the donut hole. But not all donut holes are created equal. Here are two donut holes that are a "hole" lot better than the rest.

Our first suspect, the brioche donut holes (pictured above) at La Mill Coffee Boutique in Silver Lake. These delights are made from rich homemade brioche dough, fried and covered in powder sugar. These are a must if you visit La Mill for breakfast, who also roasts and brews my favorite coffee in LA. They come out hot and melt in your mouth upon consumption. Make sure you spend the extra 50 cents on the Madagascar vanilla dipping creme, it is a perfect cool companion for the warm treat.

Our second suspect is a little harder to obtain, but still a tale worth telling. While on my honeymoon in Hawaii my husband, who is originally from Oahu, said we had to go get Leonard's Malasadas. At first I was a little hesitant but once he told me they were Portugese fried donuts, I was in. 

Leonard's Malasadas are a little bigger than the Lamill donut holes and a lot less dense. In fact, they have the airy texture of a traditional donut; definitely delicious   and definitely worth trying if you are ever in Oahu, especially since they have been a Honolulu staple since 1952. But make sure you don't order the creme filled malasadas, it ruins the simplistically sinful taste of sweet fried dough.

So fill that hole in you stomach with some holes. I promise you will be left gasping hole-y donuts!

Frikin' Fritters!

Donuts... Everybody loves them, but few eat them, and for a good reason. We all know where those empty calories go! As a good friend once said, eat a donut in your mouth gain a donut around your middle. However, every once in a while it feels oh so good to be bad and embrace your inner Homer Simpson. For me, today was that day.

Happy Donuts on Noe and 24th St. has been taunting me ever since I passed by it months ago and today fate brought me to it's doorstep. It is not much to behold from the outside; lets face it... a bird poop stained canvas awning doesn't quite entice the taste buds. In fact, it is not much to behold from the inside either; again bugs trying to escape the donut case like it was alcatraz doesn't scream delicious. Yet, I found the dingy atmosphere to be quite appropriate. In fact, it even enhanced my sense of rebellion against the norm of healthy eating. 

Regardless of the appearance, once you bite into an extra large apple fritter all cares go out the window. The the amber colored glaze makes the outside of the fritter so crispy, crunchy and sweet, which pairs quite nicely with the pastry's soft and airy inside. And then something wonderful happens! You discover a buried treasure of apple pie filling towards the center that makes you go... yumm.wav

If you are ever in Noe Valley, I would recommend stopping by. But make sure you only do so once a year  :)