I have never made sourdough doughnuts before so I did a google search and came up with this from Baking Sense. I added some ginger and lemon to this recipe and came up with my own filling.

INGREDIENTS

Doughnuts

1 cup whole milk, warmed to about 120°F
1 large egg (room temp)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
224g active sourdough starter
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar for dough + 1 cup for rolling after frying
2 teaspoons ginger
Zest of one lemon
Zest of one orange
1 teaspoon table salt
Canola Oil for frying

Filling

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt

 

I gotta start thinking “kinda healthy & delicious”.  I used this recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups oats (old fashioned or quick)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup wheatgerm
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg

Raspberry Filling
1 pint raspberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine raspberries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Simmer 2 minutes while continuing to stir constantly until sauce is thick and translucent. Remove from heat and set aside.

Combine oats, flour, sugar, wheatgerm and cinnamon in a food processor. Process until oats are finely ground. Add oil and egg, and pulse until combined. Press half of the crumb mixture evenly on bottom of a 9×9 baking pan/dish. Pour raspberry filling over crumbs, spreading evenly. Top with remaining crumbs and gently pat mixture down. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let bars cool completely before cutting into bars.

These are kinda like Entenmann’s Donuts but not.  If you have a donut pan, you can make them in about 30 minutes.  No yeast, no frying, just sprinkles.  I started with this recipe. Eat them all in one day. You are in quarantine so there is no reason not to exercise. You’ve got this.

INGREDIENTS

Donut
1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt (strained so it is not too wet)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cake flour (all-purpose will work too)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoon corn syrup
2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Sprinkles for decoration

DIRECTIONS

Doughnut: Preheat oven to 350. Grease donut pan with oil or cooking spray.

Whisk together the sour cream/yogurt, egg, vanilla, butter, oil, & sugar in a bowl.

Add flour, soda, & salt, & stir together until well combined.

Fill donut pan with batter & bake for 12-16 minutes or until the top is springy to the touch & the sides are turning golden brown. Remove from oven & let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.

Glaze: Place chocolate, butter, corn syrup and water in bowl and place in microwave. Melt in 20 second increments. Whisk in powdered sugar. Use immediately.

Assemble: Dip donuts in chocolate glaze and place on a glazing rack.  Put some paper towels underneath so you don’t get chocolate drips everywhere.  Add sprinkles.

 

You gotta love this month’s baking challenge with the Home Baker’s Collective.  A dedicated pie. This one goes out to one of my quarantine partners and my best friend–my husband, Michael. This could be one of his faves.

INGREDIENTS

Pie Crust:
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup crisco (cold)
1/3 cup unsalted butter (very cold)
6-7 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Filling:
14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 bananas, sliced

Topping:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Crust:
Stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter and crisco  until pieces are pea-size. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl Repeat, using 1 tablespoon water at a time, until all the dough is moistened. Divide in half. Form each into a ball. Cover each ball with plastic wrap and refrigerate while making pie filling.  Roll out bottom crust (this makes two so you can keep one frozen for later use) and place in pie plate.  Freeze for at least 20 minutes while heating oven to 350F. Line with parchment or foil and fill with pie weights (use rice or uncooked beans if you don’t have weights). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until cooked through. You should take out the pie weights for then last 5-7minutes to make sure it is browned.

Filling:

Fill a medium pot with water and place can of condensed milk (label off and NOT opened) in the pot.  Simmer for 2 hours.  Let it cool before opening. It will be thick and lucious. Slice the bananas and place them into the bottom of the crust. Pour/spread cooled condensed milk over top.

Topping:

In a large bowl, whip cream, sugar & vanilla until stiff peaks form. Top pie with whipped cream and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

The Home Bakers Collective issued a macaron challenge. “What kind of macaron are you?” After many years of fussing with French macarons, I’ve moved over to the Italian way of doing things.  Espresso shells filled with chocolate ganache and caramel.

INGREDIENTS

Shells
210 g almond flour
210 g powdered sugar
2 tablespoons espresso powder
170 g egg whites (split in half/85g each)
230 g sugar
155 g water

Chocolate Ganache
170 g chopped chocolate
170 g heavy cream
1 teaspoon powdered espresso

Caramel
198 g sugar
120 g heavy cream
4 tablespoons butter, cubed
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

DIRECTIONS

Macaron Shells:
Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Sift together flour, powdered sugar, and espresso powder twice. Set aside.

Split egg whites in half.  Place 85 g in bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment. Do not start to whisk.

Place the other 85g in bowl with powdered sugar, almond flour, and espresso powder. Mix until combined into paste.

Make the syrup by putting the sugar and water into a medium pot.  Let the sugar boil and get to 244 degrees f.  While the sugar is heating, begin to whip your egg whites to medium-stiff peaks.  Turn the mixture on slow if you achieve the desired peaks and the sugar is not quite ready.  Once the sugar is ready, quickly pour it into the egg whites in a constant steady stream down the side of the bowl while the eggs are whisking at medium speed.  Continue whisking until the meringue is room temperature.

Add 20% of the meringue mixture to the almond/powdered sugar paste.  Once incorporated, add then rest of the egg whites until they are incorporated and the the batter falls from then spatula like lava.

Fill piping bags and pipe out macarons onto baking sheets.  Tap sheet to get rid of any air bubbles and then let them rest for approximately 20-30 minutes until a skin forms over the top.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees while they are drying out.  Bake each tray for 10 minutes and then rotate them and bake for another 10 minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and let cool.  Refrigerate for several hours or overnight before filling.

Chocolate Ganache

Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat stirring occasionally. When cream starts to boil, turn it off and stir in espresso powder. Pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth.  Allow ganache to cool before putting in piping bag.  

Caramel
Pour sugar into an even layer in a medium saucepan.

Heat on medium-high heat.  When the sugar starts to melt (you will see it liquify on the sides) then use a rubber spatula to mix.  The sugar will clump up at first but then will eventually melt. Make sure to keep it moving so it does not burn.

Once the sugar has melted, stop stirring. Allow sugar to cook until the sugar has turned to a little darker amber color to get a deeper caramel flavor. Once you get the desired color, immediately remove caramel from the heat. It will burn quickly so keep watching.

Slowly pour the heavy cream into the caramel and whisk until incorporated. It will bubble up so be careful. Add the butter and whisk until combined.

Let cool on counter for 30 minutes.

Assembly

Remove shells from refrigerator. Pipe a dollop of caramel in the center of a shell, surround it with the chocolate ganache and then cover it with the top shell.  Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Pete and Amy gave me a ton of tangerines from their home. I decided to make some marmalade and then some linzer-esque tarts with ginger. Very SoCal. Very crumbly, very good. Use any shape cookie cutter you want.  I used rectangles and diamonds. I included the recipe for the marmalade in the link below.  You can also use any marmalade or jam you desire.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon ginger
1 1/2 cups butter softened
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup Tangerine marmalade

DIRECTIONS

In bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix together butter, sugar, and vanilla until combined.  Don’t over mix.

Add flours, ginger, milk, and salt. Mix on low speed until it comes together and there are no more butter streaks. Again, please don’t over mix.

Empty out bowl onto plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Line two baking sheets with parchment. Take dough from refrigerator and roll to 1/4 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut your shapes.  Take half the cookies and cut out a window using a smaller cutter.

Place cookies on sheet and refrigerate for another 30 minutes and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake cookies for 20 to 25 minutes until slightly browned. Let cool.

Dust the tops with powdered sugar.  Turnover the bottoms so that the clean side will be on the bottom of the cookie.  Spread some jam over the cookie and then cover with top.  Let set for a few moments.

Remember those Snowballs from Hostess?  With the pink marshmallow dome?  Well that is what this reminds me of.  The Home Bakers Collective issued our first challenge “A Swiss roll in your Favorite Drink.”  I am not much for drinking but I had one of these years ago in Hawaii and I loved it.

INGREDIENTS

Strawberry & Pineapple Jam
800 g fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
400 g fresh pineapple, cored and cubed
792 g sugar
115 g lemon juice

Strawberry Swiss Roll
3 eggs, seperated
1/4 + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons freeze dried Strawberries, pulsed until very fine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
75 g cake flour, sifted

Coconut Meringue
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white wine vinegar
4 large egg whites
136 g sugar
40g unsweetened coconut flakes

Coconut Whipped Cream

238 g cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon coconut cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Jam

In a large bowl mash strawberries and pineapple.  Transfer to a saucepan then add sugar and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower to a simmer.  Stir often until the mixture reaches 220 degrees F. Place in a bowl and let cool in refrigerator.

Strawberry Swiss Roll

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a 12 x 17 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Add 1/4 cup sugar and whisk until sugar is dissolved and yolks are lightened in color. Drizzle in coconut oil, whisking constantly, until incorporated. Whisk in milk, vanilla, and salt.

Sprinkle sifted cake flour and dehydrated strawberries over batter and fold until combined.

Using a whisk attachment, beat egg whites until frothy in stand mixer. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and beat on high speed until whites hold medium peaks.

Fold a small amount of egg whites into batter to loosen it, then add the remaining egg whites.  Fold until just incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared jelly roll pan spreading the batter into an even layer using a large offset spatula.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the top is springy and edges are just starting to brown.

Remove from oven. Carefully invert warm cake onto a piece of parchment.  Peel off parchment paper backing from bottom of cake.   Dust a clean tea towel with powdered sugar and lay on top of cake. Flip cake over on to towel.  Carefully roll up the warm cake in the towel. Let rolled cake cool completely before unrolling and filling.

Coconut Roulade

Line an 12 x 17 inch jelly roll tray with the baking paper, and preheat the oven to 325ºF.

Mix the cornstarch, vanilla and vinegar together in a small bowl until smooth then set aside. Whisk the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until stiff,  then whisk in a little sugar, and a little of the cornstarch paste, and continue adding until they are completely mixed in.

Sprinkle half the coconut onto the prepared pan evenly. Spoon the egg white mixture over the coconut. Smooth out the surface with on offset spatula. Sprinkle with the rest of the coconut.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes, until golden colored.

Place a towel on the counter, topped with a sheet of baking paper, sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar and turn out the meringue onto the paper. Let cool.

Coconut Whipped Cream

Place cream in cold bowl from stand mixer.  Using whisk attachment on medium speed, whisk until cream is medium to stiff peaks.  Fold in coconut cream and vanilla extract.

Assembly

Unroll strawberry sponge and add an even layer of jam followed by an even layer of whipped cream.  Slowly, re-roll the sponge.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Place chilled roll on parchment. Take the cooled meringue and wrap around like a blanket.  You want the trim it so it covers the sponge and just has one seam.  It is okay if it is a little longer since you will trim the ends. Place seam side down and trim ends.  Serve chilled.

I have no idea where I got this recipe but I’m sure there are only so many ways to make a biscuit.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour (I used White Lily)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk

Topping
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup honey

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Cut butter into dry ingredients using a pastry cutter until it resembles course meal. Refrigerate the mixture for about 15 minutes to keep the butter very cold.

Remove from refrigerator and pour in buttermilk.  Mix with a spatula until just combined.  Do not over mix. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface.  Gently pat it into a rectangle until it is 1/2″ thick.  Fold the dough over itself about 4-5 times and then gently pat into another square about 1 inch thick.  Using a sharp knife slice into 12 squares. Try to do a clean slice in each direction so you don’t compress the layers and inhibit height.  I cut the outer edges too and then fold them back over themselves to make one more biscuit.  It doesn’t hold up as the first 12 but I like odd numbers in baking.

Place them gently on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 10-12 minutes.

While baking, melt butter and honey together and then whisk.  Put aside.

As soon as the biscuits come out of the oven, brush the honey butter mixture over the biscuits and let cool for a minute before devouring.

 

The Irish-Italian mixture worked well for my family so why not try it with Biscotti?

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted almond flour
1/2 cup toasted rye flour
1/4 pound of crisco
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon whiskey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon sea salt for topping
1 tablespoon sugar for topping

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Sift flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder into a bowl. Cut in crisco until small crumb consistency.  Add beaten eggs, vanilla, and whiskey until just combined. Fold in caraway seeds and raisins.

Split dough into 2 equal pieces.  Form two longs about a foot long each and about 1 1/2 to 2″ wide.  Roll them in sugar and salt. Bake them for approximately 25-30 minutes until cooked through.  Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes.  Slice each loaf into 1/2″ pieces on a slant. Place them on the cookie sheet and return to oven to toast for approximately 15 minutes.  Remove from oven, flip over to other side to toast evenly.