Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Doughnuts

My absolute favorite grocery store doughnuts are the cake doughnuts coated with cinnamon powdered sugar. They can sometimes be tough to find, often the package will have plain, powdered and chocolate covered. Since it is technically fall, there always seems to be a half empty can of pumpkin lurking in my fridge. These doughnuts are perfect for using up the remaining pumpkin from your last pumpkin creation. Miss F loved these so much she didn't even miss her usual sprinkles. I think shaking the doughnuts in the Ziploc was nearly as exciting as sprinkling. These doughnuts are loosely based on the vegan version from Oh She Glows, de-veganized of course.

Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Doughnuts

½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
6 tablespoons milk
½ cup fresh or canned pureed pumpkin
¼ cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ cups flour

½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two mini doughnut pans or two regular sized doughnut pans with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, milk, pumpkin, sugar, applesauce, brown sugar (sift if clumpy), and melted butter. Sift in the dry ingredients (baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, and flours). Mix until just combined. Spoon the batter into the greased doughnut pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees or until they gently spring back when touched. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully using a butter knife to remove.

Combine the powdered sugar and cinnamon in a Ziploc bag, seal and toss to coat. Transfer the dipped doughnut into a bag with the cinnamon sugar and shake until coated thoroughly.

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Perfect Pizza Crust

Miss F has a game called "Pizza Mania!" At the start of the game, the chef says "Let's all make some delicious pizza." I love to make delicious pizza, who doesn't, but I often resort to buying pizza dough from our local pizza shop because it is just so easy and always foolproof. Confections of a Foodie Bride is a fellow Houstonian and absolutely amazing cook, so I figured her pizza crust recipe would be fantastic. And I was certainly right! And it was nearly as easy as driving over to my local pizza shop and buying the dough.  As the chef says at the end, "You win!"

Perfect Pizza Crust

1 ½ cups warm water
2 teaspoons sugar
4 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for brushing crust
½ teaspoons salt
3 ½ cups flour, plus more for dusting
Cornmeal, for dusting surface

Place water and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and sprinkle the yeast over top. Let stand for 10 minutes - if your yeast doesn't swell or get frothy, buy new yeast.
Add the olive oil, salt, and flour.

With the mixer on low, mix until the dough comes together and mostly off the sides of the bowl (it will not come all the way off of the bottom). You can add flour by the tablespoon if necessary. Let the mixer run for 5 minutes to knead the dough. It should be smooth and slightly sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide into thirds and shape into a ball. This makes the perfect pizza stone sized pizza. Lightly dust a plate with flour and place the balls of dough on top, seam-down. Sprinkle the top with flour, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge. Allow to rise in the refrigerator for 8 hours.

Pull the dough out of the fridge and let it sit, covered, on the counter for 60 minutes while your oven is preheating. If the plan is to only make one pizza that day, dust the extra ball of dough with flour, loosely wrap with plastic wrap, place in a gallon zip-top bag and refrigerate to it within 2 days, freeze if you need to store it for longer.

Place your pizza stone in the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 550, letting it hold at temperature for 30 minutes. Prepare your toppings: grate cheese, chop veggies, cook sausage, etc. Cut a piece of parchment paper to the size of your pizza stone. Dust the parchment paper with cornmeal.

Gently stretch the dough into a round - I hold one edge of the dough ball a couple of inches above my work surface and let gravity do most of the work, while I move my hands around the edge of the dough (like turning a steering wheel). Place the dough onto the parchment paper.

Switch your oven from "bake" mode to "broil." (If you get the option, select the "high" broil setting or 550 degrees. If you don't get the option, don't worry about it.). Top the pizza as desired. Transfer the pizza, parchment included, to the baking stone and broil for 5-7 minutes.

Remove the pizza from the oven, leaving the stone in place. Slice and serve.

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Secret Recipe Club: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

Even though it is still quite warm here in Houston, it is still time to break out the pumpkin no matter what the thermometer says. I instantly gravitated to this recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars from Loving Life for the Secret Recipe Club this month. The bars were perfect for packing in Miss F's lunch and for snacking on around the house while we pretended that the leaves were turning. At least the fall has brought the return of football, so Go Coogs! Go Texans! and Hail to the Redskins!  Be sure to check out all the great recipes shared in this month's exchange.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Line bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. Spray with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar till smooth. Add egg and vanilla and beat till combined. Add pumpkin puree. Mixture will appear curdled. Reduce speed to low and add in dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake until edges pull away from the sides of pan and toothpick inserted comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35-40 minutes. Cool completely in pan. When cool, lift bars out with foil. Fold foil down and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 bars.

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