Week 9 Halloween Donuts

Easy Baked Glazed Chocolate Doughnuts

This makes a much healthier treat.  They may be baked instead of fried, but taste just as delicious and they're soft, chocolatey and generously covered in a sweet glaze.

 Ingredients

·       2 cups all-purpose flour

·       ¼ cup cocoa powder

·       1 1⁄2 cups sugar

·       2 teaspoons baking powder

·       1 teaspoon salt

·       1 large egg lightly beaten

·       1 ¼ cups whole milk

·       2 tablespoons butter melted

·       1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·       2 teaspoons vanilla

For glaze coating:

§  1 ½ cups powdered sugar

§  ¼-1/2 cup milk

For the colorful glaze frosting:

§  2 cups powdered sugar

§  1/4 cup melted butter

§  1/4-1/2 cup milk

§  1 tsp Vanilla

§  Assorted Food Colorings

Instructions

·    Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease 3 (6 section) doughnut pans well.

·    Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

·    In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, vegetable oil, and vanilla.

·    Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.

·    Spoon the batter into the baking pans, filling each one a little more than three-quarters full.

·    Bake for 17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then tap the doughnuts out onto a sheet pan.

To Make Glaze

Combine milk, powdered sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and mix well with a mixer. This glaze should not be thick like frosting, it should be more of a pourable consistency and you may need to adjust your amount of milk accordingly. This is simply to seal the donuts and help keep them fresh and moist. Spoon glaze over the donuts. Allow to cool completely (much of the glaze will soak into the donuts).

To Make Frosting Glaze

Once donuts have cooled, you can add some sweet colorful fun with frosting. Combine powdered sugar, melted butter, 1/4 cup milk and vanilla in a medium-size bowl. Mix well with a mixer. Add more milk as needed. This glaze should not be as runny as the first glaze, but should not be too thick as you will be spooning it on to the donuts. Once desired consistency is reached, divide your frosting into separate bowls and add your food coloring. Spoon over tops of donuts and top with sprinkles. Enjoy!

Week 7 Cinnamon Bun Caramel Corn

Cinnamon Bun Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

·       7 cups air-popped popcorn

·       1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar

·       1/4 cup light corn syrup

·       1/2 cup unsalted butter

·       1/2 teaspoon salt

·       1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·       1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

·       1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·       6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Special Ingredients

·       1-2 large baking sheets

·       wooden spoon

·       a sturdy pot

·       double boiler

Directions:

1.      Preheat the oven to 200°F. Spread the popcorn out onto 2 large baking sheets-- or 1 if it all fits! Set aside.

2.     Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a medium heavy-duty saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until butter has melted. Next, bring to a boil while stirring occasionally. Once boiling, stop stirring. Allow to boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and quickly stir in the baking soda. The caramel will immediately foam and bubble. Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon. Pour the caramel over the popcorn and toss gently until all of the popcorn is coated.

3.     Bake caramel corn for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan(s), then break apart any large clusters. Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or microwave (stop and stir every 10 seconds if using a microwave), then drizzle over caramel corn. Allow to cool.

4.     Make ahead tip: This caramel corn tastes great for up to 2 weeks if stored in an airtight container. Wonderful recipe to make ahead of time for holidays and entertaining.

Recipe Notes:

1.      If you do not have a popcorn maker at home, you can simply add 3 tablespoons of popcorn kernels to a brown paper bag. Seal the bag tightly by folding over the top.  Microwave the popcorn for approximately 1 minute, 45 seconds on High, or up to 2 minutes, depending on your microwave.  This method will make 5 cups, so you'll have to do it twice. Alternatively, you can use natural-style microwave popcorn that has no butter added to it. Or, you can make it on the stove-top by adding 2 tablespoons of oil, then your popcorn kernels, stir to coat the popcorn kernels and place a lid on the pot. Once the popping has slowed down, turn the heat off.

Baking Soda:

All ingredients in candy recipes serve a particular purpose, much like baking recipes. It’s not like cooking where you can add or take away an ingredient and still have the dish turn out fine. No, no, no. In candy-making and baking, everything plays a part in the finished recipe’s structure, flavor, and texture. That being said, I know some of you might be a little curious about the use of baking soda in this caramel corn recipe. It’s not included just for kicks– the baking soda serves an imperative role. And here’s what it does:

Nerd Alert:

Baking soda’s job in the caramel is to react with the acid (the brown sugar and corn syrup). This reaction creates tiny carbon dioxide air bubbles. You’ll see this reaction happening in step 2 of the written recipe below. The caramel sauce bubbles and foams up once the baking soda is added. Once the caramel has cooled on your popcorn, the air bubbles inside the caramel create a softer texture. This softer texture means you won’t be breaking your teeth on rock-hard caramel. Rather, the caramel on this caramel corn is chewy with a slight crunch.

Week 6 Pretzel in a bag

I’m super excited to share this kid-friendly recipe!  Best past…no electric mixer required just a zippered plastic bag.  Easy Peasy!

Pretzel Ingredients:

• Gallon Zippered Plastic Bag ~ make sure it seals well.
• 1 1/2 C. warm water (120°F-130 F)
• 1 Tbsp. rapid rise yeast (active dry or instant yeast works well)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 3/4 to 4 C. flour
• Coarse sea salt for sprinkling or 1 TBS cinnamon and 1 cup of sugar

After making pretzel dip in...

• 1/2 cup of baking soda
• 3 cups of warm/hot water (you will be dipping the entire solution in

Pretzel Directions:

In a gallon zippered plastic bag, add the warm water and yeast.  Seal the bag and have the kids squish/shake to combine.  Don’t worry, there will be some yeast lumps when your done squishing. It’s ok, I promise.

Next, add the sugar and salt. Seal the bag up again, and shake some more. Add 2 cups of the flour into the bag (you will be adding the rest of the flour in a bit).  Seal bag and knead with fingers to blend all the ingredients together.

Add remaining flour to the bag a little at a time.  Seal the bag and knead until dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the bag.

Once everything is combined, turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes until smooth and elastic  Form into a ball and cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap.  Let the dough rest 10 minutes or until dough doubles in size.

Ready to form the pretzels?

We cut our dough into 12 similar sized balls.  Although, make your pretzels as big or as small as you like.

Start by rolling the dough into a long snake, lasso,  or rope.  Make sure your surface is floured to keep the dough from sticking.  Once you have a long snake, form it into a pretzel shape.  It took the kids a few tries, but they caught on pretty quickly.  Dip the pretzels in the warm water-baking soda solution. Lay the formed pretzels on a baking stone or lightly oiled baking sheet.

Let the pretzels rest until they are doubled in size, and bake. (we skipped this step and they were fine)

Bake at 425° F for 12-15 minutes.  Turn the oven to broil for the last 5 minutes to get the tops nice and brown.

Enjoy!  They taste best when they are warm, although are still yummy once they cool.