THE LOVELY CRAZY

As a reward to ourselves for finishing the floor laying week (what a freaking week, I will share some pictures soon) I stayed home for a little while yesterday morning and made some donuts for the mr ( I got to bake and do a little knitting and he got donuts.) Initially I was gonna make a cake, had it on my agenda for a cake at some point this week, but last minutes I felt the need to use my unused donut pan. I think it was a good call. Donuts don’t require as much pumpkin puree.  I roasted a pumpkin a few days ago for the purpose of baking a cake with it but have slowly eaten most of it (on accident) so that there was just enough left to make the donuts. I have no willpower when it comes to roasted squash, I can’t stop eating it.

Anyway,  I had me a mighty fine morning of trashing the kitchen, using my pretty mixing bowls, basking in the glory of the residual heat coming from the oven, and making the house smell all nice and fall spicy. And now there are donuts in the house with lots of sprinkles and only the mr to eat them. He really really likes them, like a lot. (me “don’t eat all those f*ing donuts dude, save some for later!”)

Another reason donuts were a good call, they are easy to share. Maybe I should go drop off a few to a friend. Any takers?

The donut stuff. Flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt are in that bowl. Then we have pumpkin puree(homemade or canned) soy milk(or any milk), brown sugar, cinnamon, oil, and apple cider vinegar

All the wet stuff gets mixed together and the dry stuff plus the cinnamon gets whisked together too.

Wet into dry and mixed until combined.

Scoop batter into well greased donut pan and don’t do what I did and overfill (I always forget not to overfill). My fist batch came out a little bit bigger the expected with holes. No biggie.

Once pan is filled,  pan goes into preheated oven. Bake until golden perfection (about 15-18 minutes or until a tester comes out clean)

Slightly overflown donuts cooked to all the goodness and popped out of the pan to cool on a cooling rack.

Glaze stuff. Powdered sugar, cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, a splash of vanilla, and a bit of soy milk….Mix it all together and that’s that.

Completely cooled donuts (very important to be completely cooled) go heads down into the bowl of glaze.

All glazed and looking good but I think somethings missing…..

Pumpkin, chocolate, sprinkles. BOOM!!!

Happy Friday!!!!

makes 10 donuts

For donuts

  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup soy milk (any milk works)
  • 3 tablespoons neutral oil like canola
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

For the glaze

  • 7 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons soy milk
  • splash vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • sprinkles!!!!…optional

Preheat oven to 350

In a big bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt, and the cinnamon. In a separate bowl mix together the pumpkin puree, sugar, soy milk, oil and the apple cider vinegar. Dump the wet mixture into the dry and mix until combined.

Ready the donut pan by really making sure it is well grease. Fill each donut mold about a 3/4 way full. I use a spoon but you could transfer that batter to a piping bag if you want. Place pan into oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until the donuts are golden brown and a fork stabbed into one comes out clean. Pop donuts out of mold and let cool completely on a cooling rack.

Note. I have one pan that does 6 at a time. I had to wash, dry and re-grease the panto bake all the donuts.

Once donuts are cooled, gather the glaze ingredients. In a shallow bowl whisk together the sugar, cocoa, and salt. Add in a splash of vanilla and then the soy. Mix together until a glossy not to thick but not to thin consistency . If its too thick, add in another splash of milk, to think, more powdered sugar.

To glaze, take each donut and place face down in glaze and give it a little twirl.  Remove and place back on cooling rack (glaze size up) and cover with sprinkles. (optional)

Then eat the donuts

Any uneaten can be placed in airtight container for 2-3 days or can be stuck into freezer.

Another cold and blustery week… but it’s the middle of January in Vermont so its to be expected.( I just wish I could walk outside for more than 5 minutes without my nose ruining and having the snot freeze to my face) Yup, cold and busy. My Dad has come back to Vermont for a long visit (he moved to Michigan a few years ago… jerk)  So while he is here I have been trying to put in as much  time as possible with him  all the while trying to do 8 million other things,   I figured I owe him a little bit of my time (and lots of food) for helping to raise me…I am such a good daughter. (2 thumbs pointed at me with a big smirk..) 

 Let me take you through a few little happy highlights of my week. 

The father and I went for a little hike with the pup on one of the milder temperature days… I drove to the trail, locked the car doors and off we went. After getting cold enough where I couldn’t feel my hands-feet-face… we made our way back to the car. And I reached for the keys…and shuffled around in my pockets….and felt around in all my pockets again…. and again. Finally, I had to admit it, I dropped the keys. I got a little panicky (I was so cold and the car key is like 300 bucks to replace) but we did the only thing we could do. I stuff everything back in my pockets and off we went in search of the key. We got lucky, my dad found the key only a few minutes into the trail!!! Hooray! A happy hike with a happy ending.

Me and this little made some donuts, but screw the donuts(sweet potato with chocolate frosting).. look at the overalls! I decided a long time ago that when I have kids, they will be wearing nothing but overalls. Osh Gosh FOREVER! 

 FARM SHARE PICK UP!!! I was starting to go through veggie withdrawals.

 Shadow hearts for Valentines Day! I love Valentines Day..… or maybe I just love hearts and pink. Either way, I am getting ready for some V-day recipes! This one is a definite go….

 And beet dyed coconut sprinkles…I mean, talk about happy. 

 A late Christmas gift from Nicks mom. Every year she gives us s few of her hand thrown pieces….. love!!

 And I gave the mister a haircut!!! He has been asking me for about 2 months now to cut it, but  for some reason we just haven’t gotten around to it.  So finally this week it happened, and I can see his lovely face again!

How can you not be happy when your piece of ginger looks like a little man. (right after I took this picture I cut his legs off)

Flowers from our garden last summer….. Sunflowers are my favorite (these are teddy bear sunflowers)…. I love looking back at old picture, especially ones from opposite seasons, like flowers in winter or pictures of snow in summer. There like little glimpses of whats to come. I can not say it enough, I am so lucky to live in VT..we have excellent seasons so there is always something to look forward too!

So yeah, a few little happy happys…..

Hope you all have some happy happys too! 

-C