Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts

Ah the doughnut pan, it is both a blessing and a curse. Miss F asks for doughnuts nearly every day for breakfast. So on the days when we have no where to be...no school, no gymnastics, no dance class and no swim lessons...I break out the doughnut pan and we make doughnuts. She insists on eating them whole, but uses a fork to stab the doughnut and eat her way around. I adapted the recipe from the chocolate iced doughnuts since they are Miss F' favorite to make a chocolatey doughnut with a simple powdered sugar glaze. The doughnuts themselves are not overly sweet, but the glaze more than makes up for it.

Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts 
makes 12 doughnuts

1 tablespoon butter, melted
¾ cup buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups cake flour, sifted
½ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt

½ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 425. Spray your doughnut pan with non-stick spray.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, and beaten eggs. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together until just combined.

Carefully spoon the batter into the prepared doughnut pan about 2/3 full. Bake for 7-8 minutes, or until the tops of the doughnuts spring back when lightly touched.

While the doughnuts are baking, prepare the glaze by mixing together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together in a shallow bowl.

Allow to cool in the pan for a couple minutes. Remove the doughnuts onto a rack to finish cooling and dip the doughnuts into the prepared glaze.

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Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken

There is just something about pineapple rings that is nostalgic. I picture them laying on top of cottage cheese that is set on a lettuce leaf, with a maraschino cherry in the center of course. No matter how you 'slice' it, they look dated (or nostalgic if you are trying to be nice.) Nonetheless, pineapple slices work perfectly in this recipe. I adpated the recipe from Stephanie Cooks, adding soy sauce to make it more savory than sweet. This is an easy meal, just steam some broccoli on the side and you are set for dinner.  Add a maraschino cherry to the center of each pineapple ring and you are dining in the 1970s.

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple slices, juice reserved
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Juice from one lemon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Place chicken in slow cooker sprayed with non-stick spray. Place pineapple slices over chicken. In a small bowl, combine pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, ginger and cornstarch and stir until combined. Pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or high for 2 ½ to 3 hours. Serve over rice.

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Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

At Miss F's school, they celebrate birthdays with a small party at the end of the school day, Miss F request chocolate chip cupcakes. She loves to snack on a chocolate chip or ten while I am baking. Interestingly enough, her grandad always requested white cake with chocolate chips in it for his birthday. So I decided to recreate it in cupcake form. The issue with grandad's cake was that the chocolate chips always sunk to the bottom. I got mini chocolate chips in order to address the sinking issue. It wasn't 100% effective, but they worked much better than the regular size chocolate chips. The white cake recipe is adapted from The Joy of Baking and the chocolate frosting recipe is my mom's. All the kids seemed to favor the frosting and one of the kids in her class pretended the cupcake was a phone. Thank goodness he had eaten most of the frosting off the top of the cupcake first.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

2 large eggs, separated
1 ¾ cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar, divided
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
½ cup milk
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
¾ cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven. Prepare 24 cupcake pans with paper or foil liners.

While eggs are still cold separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl. Cover the two bowls with plastic wrap and allow the eggs to come to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes).

In a mixing bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In bowl of electric mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add ¾ cup of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a clean bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining ¼ cup of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites until combined. Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Frost with chocolate buttercream when cooled.

Chocolate Buttercream

1 stick butter, softened
3 cups confectioner's sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 to 6 tablespoons milk

Cream together butter, 1 cup of the sugar, cocoa, vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk. Slowly add the remaining milk and sugar, alternating. Makes 2 cups.

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