Baked vs Fried Donuts

Baby FAN loves donuts, so instead of feeding her the really fattening storebought fried donuts, decided to try my hand at making it myself.  At least I can control the type of oil used to fry the donuts.  Was browsing the net for a good and easy recipe to use and stumble upon this site Secret Donut Recipe.  Followed the recipe step by step and was able to come out with quite a decent donut.  I fried half the batch and bake the other half a batch at 200 deg celsius for 8 minutes.  The donut turn out quite well actually although personally still feel that fried one taste nicer.  I will definitely make this donut again but going to bake all the next time, at least it's heathier (since less fat) and it's also less messy and I don't have left over oil that I dunno what to do with it.

Baked Donuts



Fried Donuts


Fried Donut vs Baked Donuts
 


Here's the recipe:

Yeast-rised Donuts
(1 dozen donuts)

 

Ingredients & Directions

• 2 cups of all purpose flour 
• 1/2 cup of warm mashed potatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of warm milk
• 5 teaspoons of yeast (2 packets) 
• 2 Tablespoons of oil

1. Microwave 1 cup of milk so that it is warm (not hot) add the 5 teaspoons of yeast (2 packets) and a pinch of sugar and stir. Let stand for about 5 minutes. 
2. In a bowl combine flour, mashed potatoes, salt and sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, add the milk mixture (from step 1) and oil.
4. Mix the dough well by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook for 3 minutes.
5. Prepare your kneading surface by spreading a few tablespoons of flour on a smooth surface.
6. Put the dough in the middle of the flour and sprinkle a little flour on top and on your hands. Knead the dough a few times.
7. Once the dough has been kneaded, spread it out to be a half inch thick with your hands or with a rolling pin. Cut out the donuts.
8. Place the donuts on a floured pan to let rise as you get the oil ready. Let them rise for a total of ten minutes (it takes about five minutes for the oil to heat up).
9. Pour about a half inch of oil (vegetable oil) into a cast iron pan. An electric fry pan works great also.
10. The oil needs to be about 360 degrees which on my stove is about Medium to Medium High. If the oil starts to smoke it is way too hot.Test the oil with some of the scraps of dough and when it is ready cook the donuts until golden brown on each side.
11. Allow the donuts to cool on a rack or on some paper so that the oil soaks off.
12. For the baked version, I actually let the donut raise for about 1 hour before baking it in a pre-heated oven at 200 deg celsius for 8 to 9 minutes.  I coated the donut with an egg wash before baking to give it a brownish tinct.  For baked donut, take the donut off the oven once the bottom of the donut turns brown, do not over baked or it will be hard.
13. Served donut with icing sugar or chocolate glaze coating.  Enjoy!

Pig Pancake with Ice Cream

Wanted to make waffles for the kids but my waffle maker suddenly went up in smoke, so I was left with some waffle battle.  Decided to try making pancake with the waffle battle using my newly bought pancake pan that I bought from Giant for $3.95.

The pancake looks great and it tasted quite good but the texture was a little too dense and hard.  I served it with ice-cream and the kids just gobble up.

Cauliflower Soup

My kid's love soup, have tried making pumpkin soup, broccoli soup for them.  So this time round I tried making Cauliflower Soup.  What I like about this soup is that it doesn' need to use flour to thicken up but uses potatoes instead.  The kids gobble up the soup and Hubby says it tasted a little rough, not as smooth as the normal soup I made (I think it's the potatoes).

Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients & Directions 

• 
  
  2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 head cauliflower, chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (omitted this)
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry (omitted this)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (omitted this)

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in potatoes and carrots and cook 5 minutes more. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in cauliflower, cover, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, 10 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Puree in batches in a blender or food processor, or in the pot using an immersion blender. Return to low heat and stir in milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg and sherry. Heat through. Serve garnished with parsley.