Doughnuts

We're having Fat Thursday soon and I just couldn't decide what to make for this year's 'feast', until I found these fabulously looking doughnuts on dorotus76's blog. I thanked her (in my mind ;)) for resolving my dilemma and started to make a shopping list ;) These are my first traditional american doughnuts and certainly not the last. I adore their softness and delightfully colourful icing. Don't you?

Serves: makes 20. Preparation: ca. 1 h (incl. deep-frying). Time needed for the dough to rise: 1,5 h + 30 min.

Utensils:

- small bowl (for the yeast),

- 2-3 bowls,

- electric mixer,

- piece of cloth,

- cup (7 cm in diameter),

- thimble (or a really small round cutter),

- tray,

- wide pot or pan,

- paper towel.

Ingredients:

* dough

- 2,5 cup flour,

- 14g yeast,

- 1 egg,

- 3/4 cup warm milk,

- 3 tbsp warm water,

- 1/4 cup caster sugar,

- 1/4 tsp salt,

- 2 tbsp butter,

- 1 tbsp rum or vanilla extract

- 1 l safflower or peanut oil

* icing

- 1 cup powdered sugar,

- 2-3 tbsp boiling water,

- food colouring

Method:

Melt the butter and let it cool to room temperature.

Rub the yeast, with your fingertips, into a small bowl, add one tbsp of flour, one tbsp of sugar, and a little of warm milk - just so it covers the mixture. Stir thoroughly and let it rise for about 15 min.

In a bowl, combine the flour, yeast mixture, cooled butter, and the rest of the dough ingredients. Beat the dough with a mixer for a few minutes, until smooth. It'll be a bit sticky, but that's OK. Form the dough into a ball, put it into a flour-sprinkled bowl, cover with a piece of cloth, and set it in a warm place for 1,5 h to rise (it should double).

Then put the dough onto a floured surface and gently roll out to 1 cm (1/2 inch) thickness. Cut cirles with a cup, and smaller ones in the centre with a thimble. Place them on a floured tray and leave for 30 min. to rise.

In the meantime, prepare the icing: thoroughly mix the powdered sugar with water and just a tiny bit of food colouring. If the mixture seems too thick, add a bit more water, if too thin - more sugar.

Pour the oil into the pot and heat it until it reaches 180ºC/355ºF. (Now, how on earth can I do it without a cooking thermometer? Good question. It's a bit complicated. I myself heated the oil for 15 min. over low heat, then dropped a piece of dough into it, fryed for about 1,5 min on each side and then tasted it. It was golden brown on the outside, a bit crunchy and wonderfully soft on the inside. Thus I decided that the oil is ready ;) Be careful, though, because the oil will change its temperature throughout the frying. If you're not in a hurry, drop a piece of dough into the oil from time to time, to check if it's OK.)

Carefully drop in the doughnuts, 3-4 at a time, and fry them for about 1,5-2 min on each side. Then remove them and pleace them on a piece of paper towel. Drop in the next portion, and in the meantime, ice and sprinkle the still warm doughnuts. Repeat after each portion.

Well, they sure consume time, but consuming them is really rewarding ;)

Valentine's cherry pie

I'm not really into the Valentine's Day - me and my husband celebrate it on a daily basis ;) - but since 14th February is inevitably approaching, I decided to try a recipe that I had found a looong time ago in KUCHNIA magazine. Valentine's cherry pie... I can still remember the first time I saw it. It enchanted me so much that I simply had to buy a heart-shaped tin :) Wonderful sweetcrust pastry and exquisite cherry mixture   - perfect for your very special someone. Perfect on any occasion.

Since the recipe is presumably for a bigger tin than mine, I ended up having some extra dough which I eventually used for some simple-but-special heart-shaped biscuits :) I baked them for 15 min. in 180ºC/350ºF.

Makes about 10 servings. Preparation: 37 min. (+ 30 min. refrigeration). Baking: 50 min.

Utensils:
- bowl,
- baking tin,
- rolling pin,
- cling film.

Ingredients:
* dough
- 2,5 cup flour,
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar,
- 250g butter,
- 2-3 tbsp vanilla sugar,
- 5-6 tbsp ice water,
- pinch of salt.

* cherry filling
- 450g cherries (either fresh or tinned),
- 1/2 cup brown sugar,
- 3 tbsp potato starch,
- 2 tbsp vanilla sugar,
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon.

Method:

Put the flour, sugar, cold butter, and salt 1) either into a bowl - and, using your fingertips, rub the ingredients together 2) or into a food processor and pulse it until the mixture resembles crumbs. Gradually pour in the water until the crumbs come together as a dough. Form the pastry into a ball, cover it with cling film, and put it in the fridge for 30 min.

Grease the tin with a bit of butter. Roll out half of the pastry and line the tin with it, making sure that about 2,5-3cm of it overhangs the tin. (Since my heart-shaped beauty turned out to be too high on the sides, the pastry didn't overhang ;)  and I just secured the excess of the pastry).

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/390ºF.

Gently mix the cherries with the rest of the filling ingredients and place the mixture onto the layer of pastry.

Roll out the rest of the dough and cut stripes, as many as you need to form a checked pattern (or make a lettice crust if you want). Fold the overhanging excess of the pastry onto the stripes and press it with a fork.

Bake for 20 min. at 200ºC/390ºF, then lower the temperature to 160ºC/320ºF and keep baking for another 30min.

Let it cool and sprinkle it with powdered sugar.

Bon apetit! ;)

Oreo Mousse

Pure awesomeness.

Overwhelming sweetness captured in a heavenly deliciuos mousse. Oreo biscuits, caramel, and nuts make it undeniably, unquestionably...unputdownable.

Recipe by Tomek Woźniak.

Servings: makes 3-4 (depending on the size of the dishes). Preparation: 15min. Refrigeration: 1 h.

Utensils:
- 1 bowl,
- mixer,
- spoon,
- 3-4 dishes/cups/glasses.

Ingredients:
- 200g Oreo biscuits (+ 3-4 for decoration),
- 1 Snickers bar,
- 100ml double cream,
- 100ml Greek yoghurt.

Method:

Crush the biscuits into crumbs (e.g. using a rolling pin :>). 

Chop the Snickers bar into tiny pieces.

Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks, stir in the yoghurt, then add the biscuits and Snickers, and stir.

Pour into individual dishes and decorate with chopped biscuits.

Refrigerate for 1 h.

Do enjoy.

Jam biscuits

My first jam biscuits ever! :) Sooo sweet and crunchy...Look out: even plain ones, without jam, disappear in no time ;) Recipe found in November's KUCHNIA magazine.

Serves: makes 20 (double) biscuits. Preparation: 33 min. + 2,5h. Baking: 12-14 min.

Utensils:
- 1 bowl,
- mixer,
- cling film,
- biscuit cutter (any shape),
- thimble (or a really small round cutter),
- baking paper,
- 2 baking trays.

Ingredients:
- 230g butter (room temp.),
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar,
- 2 cups flour,
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract,
- 1/2 tsp salt,
- apricot jam (or any other, really).

Method:

In a bowl, mix the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt, and mix. Gently form the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and place it in the fridge for 2 h.

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to about 4 mm thick and cut out biscuits with the cutter. Using a thimble, cut 1 or 2 holes in half of them. Place all of them on a baking tray (I had to use two).

Since I used an asymmetrical, snail-shaped biscuit cutter ;) I arranged them alternately (left/right-side-up) on the tray, to stick them later by their rough sides.

Place the trays in the fridge for 30 min.

Heat the oven to 165ºC/330ºF.

Bake the biscuits for 12-14 in., until they are lightly golden brown.

Let them cool.

Spread the whole biscuits with a thin layer of jam an then cover them with the holed ones.

And there you go :)

Or...you don't.