Baked Pepper Jelly Cream Cheese Donuts

Inspired by my favorite donuts at Ike & Jane and by the desire to make donuts without having to fry them and subsequently dispose of vast quantities of oil, I adapted a recipe for baked donuts on 101 Cookbooks to create Pepper Jelly filled donuts with a cream cheese frosting. They certainly wowed the crowd with a flavor similar to sweet rolls paired with the slight heat of the jam and the creaminess from a dab of frosting.

Baked Pepper Jelly Filled Donuts with Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks. Makes 1 1/2 - 2 dozen medium doughnuts.

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
Couple pinches of nutmeg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 jar of pepper jelly
1 cup Confectioners Sugar
4 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 stick of butter, softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla. extract
Optional: 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
Optional: sugar to dust

1. Warm milk slowly in the microwave until its about as hot as the average hot water out of your kitchen sink. But err on the side of less warm because if the milk's too hot you may kill the yeast. Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk into a large bowl. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, nutmeg, and salt. Add the flour and stir just until the flour is incorporated. Pour the mixture into a food processor and pulse with the dough blade; otherwise use a hand or stand mixer on medium. If your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. The dough should pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. I actually skipped this last step for lack of counter space and things turned out fine, but do the following if you choose: turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

2. Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place. Heidi Swanson suggested turning on the oven at this point and setting the bowl on top. I left mine in the dining room and obviously (see image below) things rose just fine. Let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
 

3. Punch down the dough and roll it out to about 1/2-inch thick on a floured surface. Use a 2-3 inch cutter  (cookie cutter, wine glass, etc) to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you are not creating filled donuts, here is when you would stamp out the smaller inner circle for the hole. Over estimate how big the hole needs to be because a small hole will simply expand together when cooking. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes. If you are not baking them all right now, leave the shaped donuts on a baking sheet, covered, overnight for second baking the next day. They are best when eaten immediately. An hour before you are ready to bake the donuts, take them out and let rise in a warm place before baking.

 

4. Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - start checking around 8. In this case, under-baking is better than over-baking.

5. Remove the doughnuts from the oven. Optional: brush with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Pipe jelly into the insides and spread cream cheese frosting on top.

The Sweet Treat That Never Stops Flying

This week I have a recipe for Hummingbird Cake to offer you from The Joy of Baking website. I'd never heard of this delightful cake until I had a slice at The Grit. To me, it's like a banana bread cake with the added notes of pineapple and roasted pecans. Because this is not the sweetest cake, a cream cheese frosting adds the perfect touch even for non-frosting lovers. 

Hummingbird Cake Recipe

1 cup pecans, roasted and finely chopped

3 cups flour (A Tip: Never scoop directly from the flour bag with a measuring cup because the amount will be packed tighter and yield more flour than if you spoon flour from the bag into a measuring cup)

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 large eggs

3/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

8 oz. can crushed pineapple, do not drain

4 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed

                    Icing

                    2 cups of Confectioners Sugar

                    8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature 

                    1 stick of butter, softened 

                    1 tsp. vanilla. extract

                     1/2 cups pecans, roasted and finely chopped

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spread all the pecans on a baking sheet and brush evenly with butter. Roast in the oven for about 8 minutes, tossing about halfway through. When done, chop finely until, you have 1 1/2 cups. Leave the rest whole for cake decoration.

2. Grease two cake pans with either Pam or butter and line the bottoms with a round of parchment paper. 

3. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together. 

4. Mix together the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, pineapple, mashed bananas and 1 cup of pecans.

5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir with a fork until combined. 

6. Divide the batter between the two cake pans and cook for 25-30 minutes.

7. To prepare the frosting, use a mixer to combine confectioners sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and 1/2 cup chopped pecans.

8. When the cake is completely cool, frost and decorate with whole roasted pecans as you see fit.

I attempted to draw a hummingbird sipping nectar from a flower with my pecans...

Here I cooked the batter in a scone pan, producing these adorable individually-sized cakes.

Red Velvet Cake to Change Your World

I die for a moist cake.

If you are like me, the flavor of the cake could not matter less - it's ALL about moistness. In Athens, my favorite place for cake is The Grit. This amazing vegan restaurant serves up beautiful moist cakes that stun and surprise (try the Big Mama Blue!). P.S. I'd gladly accept The Grit Cookbook as a donation in kind for being such a great blogger :D



The following cake recipe is from legendary Brooklyn cake master Cake Man Raven, who is now the main reason I want to visit New York City. I have to also credit my new favorite blog Luvin Spoonful whose absolutely gorgeous pictures of this cake blew me away. This blog is also where I got my recipes for Tangy Cabbage and Lentils with Fennel and Raisins.

Southern Red Velvet Cake ala Cake Man Raven

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cups of cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of fine salt
• 1 tsp of cocoa powder
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp of white distilled vinegar
  
• 1-1/2 cups of vegetable oil
• 1 oz. of red food coloring
  
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract.

• Frosting: 4 cups of Confectioners Sugar, 1 lb. of cream cheese (room temperature), 1 lb. of butter (softened) and 2 tsp. of vanilla. extract.

Instructions

1. Sift together all dry ingredients.
2. Add liquid in an electric mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until well incorporated.
3. Slowly add dry ingredients to bowl, until all ingredients are combined.
4. Bake @ 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
5. Frosting: Mix together the cream cheese and the softened butter. Gradually add confectioners sugar until it reaches desired sweetness and smoothness.
6. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and frost the cake. Serves 10-12

I dub this cake the best I've ever made or eaten. I think the key is buttermilk and now I'll never go back.

With my best cooking buddies, this cake was the best Valentine's Day treat ever!