Homemade Doughnuts

My sister and I decided to make doughnuts last week. The recipe we used is from allrecipes, and it was incredibly simple. Like cookie dough, all the ingredients get mixed together in a bowl; that's it for that part of the recipe. Then the dough gets rolled out quite thinly (they puff up a lot when they're fried).

Jennifer and I don't have a doughnut cutter, so we improvised and used a glass that was the size we liked to cut the outside of the doughnuts, and we found another extremely tiny circular object in our kitchen drawer that worked just fine for the middle. We had to keep in mind that once the doughnuts get fried they expand, so although the "cutters" we used were a tiny bit smaller than we wanted our doughnuts to be, it was fine; the doughnuts ended up bigger by the end.We just fried them for a couple minutes until they were golden and slightly crispy on the outside, and they had puffed right up.

The recipe suggests that you roll the doughnuts in confectioners' sugar once they come out of the fryer, but we just ate them plain. We found them quite delicious that way, although I'm sure confectioners' sugar or even a glaze or cinnamon sugar would be good too.

Creme Brulee

 I was at a cookware store the other day and couldn't resist buying 4 creme brulee dishes. I've never made creme brulee before, but I've really enjoyed it at restaurants, so I knew I had to make it at some point. I was looking for a kitchen torch yesterday too, but the store didn't have it. I've read that you can use the broiler, however, so I decided to use this method instead.

The recipe I decided to reference is on allrecipes. I didn't follow the steps exactly, as a professional pastry chef had reviewed the recipe and recommended a variation in the steps. She did, however, mention that the amounts of the recipe was fine.

My sister and I decided to make this recipe together. We started by separating the egg yolks from the whites. This recipe only uses the yolks, so we set the whites in the fridge to use for something else. Then the egg yolks get whipped up with some sugar and vanilla extract. Once this step is done, the egg mixture should be creamy and thick.

While we were get the egg mixture ready, I also began to heat the whipping cream on the stove until near a boil. Then we slowly added it to the egg mixture and whisked it really quick. I also had the oven preheating to 375 at the same time as we were heating the cream, and I had added hot water to the pan that the creme brulee dishes were going to sit in in the oven.

Once the cream was mixed into the egg mixture, we ladled the mixture evenly into the 4 dishes. The recipe allows for 5 servings, but we found all the custard fit into our dishes.

The custard went into the oven for approximately 20 minutes. Once it was ready, it was just slightly jiggly in the middle. I believe the pastry chef who critiqued the recipe said the custard should have a gelatin-like jiggle.

Parmesan and Herb Buns

 I decided to make a variation on the baguette recipe on allrecipes this week. This time I added a few new ingredients for flavour, which include Parmesan cheese, fresh basil, and fresh rosemary, and I shaped the dough into buns instead.

Like the baguette recipe, the first step was to mix the ingredients together. This included throwing in just under 1/2 a cup of Parmesan cheese (not the stuff in the can), approximately a teaspoon of fresh rosemary, and 6 nice rosemary leaves that were roughly chopped.

Then the dough gets covered in plastic and left to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Once the dough had risen, I shaped the dough into 4 buns.

Once they were shaped, they had to be left for 30-40 minutes to rise again. Then I put them in the oven to bake at the specified temperature in the recipe. While they baked, I brushed water on the bread to help it brown.

I found the buns were truly delicious with the flavours of the Parmesan, basil, and rosemary. I'd definitely use this combination again, only I felt the dough wasn't as well suited for buns. It's a little bit more dense and not as soft and fluffy as what I like buns to be. I think I'll make baguettes next time instead.