Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

 

So, it has been a busy time, and I haven’t had much time to develop or practice any hobbies. My interests in smoking meats have waned and it has become difficult to find the time to spend hours preparing and cooking the meat. I have to say that while smoked meat is delicious, I honestly don’t have the time to pursue it.  As time has passed, my interests and needs have changed. While I still desire to find a good hobby for my spare time, I must change my focus. So, I’ve started to look into hobbies that I can pick up and put down as I can. The other issue is my family had some life changes come up and we now pursue a completely gluten free lifestyle.

                Now, I know there are tons of gluten free options offered out there. The problem really is cross contamination. You would be surprised by how places say their chips or fries are gluten free when they are cooked in the same oil as breaded food like chicken tenders or nuggets. Now, while that wouldn’t bother some people, it does for us. So, it really restricts what and where we can eat.

                One of the things that I have missed most from this change is donuts. Without wheat flour, it is hard to make a nice fluffy yeast donut. So, I have been focusing on making a nice cake donut. If you look at it, it is easy to do but getting the texture right has been difficult. I started attempting to make two types of donuts, a gluten-free cinnamon sugar donut and a chocolate ganache donut. Right now, I prefer to focus on the cinnamon sugar donut to go with the apple cider available this fall.

Ingredients

For the donuts:

• 1 cup gluten-free flour blend (I use King Arthur Gluten free flour)
• ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¼ cup dairy-free milk (or regular milk)

For the coating:

·      ¼ cup granulated sugar

·      1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. For the donuts: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease one six-serving donut pan; set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Add the egg, vanilla, oil, dairy-free milk, and vinegar and stir until combined.
4. Optional-Spray the donut baking pan with oil. It will allow for easier removal of the donuts.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared donut pan (Or use a piping bag for a smoother finish - filling each donut until the top of the center. The batter should not cover the center of the donut well where the hole will go.
6. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until the donuts rise and set.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
8. Place a wire rack over a cookie sheet or piece of parchment paper.
9. Carefully remove the donut from the pan. You may need to use a spoon or a rubber spatula to loosen them if they stick. The other option is hit the back of the pan to remove the donut.
10. For the coating: In a separate small mixing bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. One at a time, dip the tops of your donuts into the coating, then flip them to coat the bottoms.
11. Place your cinnamon sugar donut on the rack and repeat until all donuts have been coated.

Now, as for the results, the donuts didn’t get burnt and for me, the donut was pretty good. My wife on the other hand thought it could use more cinnamon. 

However, the biggest issue I discovered is have the donut didn’t get a firm crust. Without the firm crust, it made it difficult to coat the donut evenly. I think the next time, I may cook it at a higher temperature or finish it in the air fryer for a few minutes before coating it.

I think next time I will try cooking at 425°F and using two teaspoon in the donut. I'll update the results the next time I make some. Till next time.

Beginning attempts at crocheting

 Well, the next hobby I wanted to try is crocheting. I mainly wanted to give it a shot because I have two wonderful little girls and I thought it would be interesting to make then toys of out yarn. So, I purchase a Crochet set from amazon.

 

It is the BeCraftee Crochet Hook Set with Ergonomic Handles for Extreme Comfort. Perfect Crochet Hooks for Arthritic Hands, Smooth Knitting Needles for Superior Results & 22 Knitting Accessories. I have to say since I’ve been using it, the grip on handles feels great and don’t bother me at all. There are so many accessories that I don’t even know what they all do.

Now, I didn’t know a thing about crocheting when I started. So, around Christmas time the site Craftsy.com offer a discount on their annual membership. I think you could purchase the member ship for $3 instead of their full price. The site has classes on Fabric Crafts, Yarn Crafts, Food, art and living such as home décor, gardening and writing.

I decided to start with the Startup Library: Crochet by Salena Baca. I haven’t finished the course yet, but I’ve learned a lot. I’ve been able to the chain stitch and the single crochet. I’ve started with some simple patterns to practice but it isn’t much yet.

 

As you can see, my current project isn’t completed yet. I think it might be a play scarf for my two little girls. I’ve been working on it for bit, but I never expected or realize how much time is putting into crocheting. The biggest issue I’ve run into so far is when I’m trying to hook some yarn. I don’t know if it is a problem with the size of the hook or the yard but sometimes my hook goes right throw the yard and it splits. It makes it bit difficult to perform a single crochet, but It still is possible. Does anyone know what causes it?

Currently, I’ve only been working with chain stitches and single crochet. The class by Salena Baca also covered half double crochet, double crochet and triple crochet. After learning the different techniques, it’ll cover how to read a crochet pattern and then go over some projects such as headbands, scarfs, cowl and a bulky hat. I have to say the one I’m looking forward to most is the hat. I’m from Michigan and during the winter, it can get so cold. I have such a big head that it makes it difficult to find hats that fit. Maybe, I’ll be able to crochet a warm hat for myself.

Now, my eventual goal is to make some amigurumi figures. I saw an interesting guidebook for making Harry Potter characters. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do that at some point. However, I may focus on animals. I think my interesting all started from this little creature right here.

 

At one point, it was my daughter’s favorite toy. She received it from her baby sister when she was in the NICU. Hopefully, I’ll be make something similar and be able to donate it other children at the hospital.

I think for this week, I may try my ice cream maker out again. I have a new recipe that will hopefully taste better than the last one.

Veggie gardening with family

 

Instead of trying to make actually edible ice cream this week, I decided to try something else. One of my favorite activities besides reading and video games is cooking and nothing is better then cooking with fresh indigents. So, last year, I started a container garden with my oldest daughter (2 years old). It went great and we both have a lot of fun water and taking care of our plants.

So, this year, we are starting earlier this year using two aero gardens. We have one 9 pod aero garden bounty.

I decided to try aero garden’s chimichurri pod set. The set contains three pods of parsley, oregano and cilantro. I’m honestly looking forward to this pod the most because I love fresh cilantro for salsa and Mexican dishes.

My other aero garden is an old seven pod garden. I purchased tomato and jalapeno pod set from amazon. I don’t believe it’s a typical set offer directly from aero garden because it doesn’t have any pod spacers. We’ll see how well the set does.

Besides the aero gardens, I’m hoping to start growing from seeds some thyme, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, bell peppers, and strawberries. I plan on using 12-inch pots for my plants or do you think I should build a raise flower bed?

Frozen Yogurt Remix

 

Attempt number two at making frozen yogurt. This time, I will be following the Cuisinart recipe as it is written. One thing that really surprised me was the cost of the vanilla beans. I honestly didn’t expect to vanilla beans to be so expensive at the store. I followed the same steps as before and boy did the honey vanilla reduction smell delicious.

Now, after reducing the mixture whisking it together, the ice mixture finally looks like French Vanilla Yogurt.

 

Now, after freezing the mixture, it was time to taste it. I have to say that it still tasted too much like plain greek yogurt. I think if I do this recipe again, I would try using a vanilla flavor yogurt.  As the cold weather is still around, I think I’ll try a different hobby for a bit.

Ice Cream making

 
So, the first hobby that I wanted to try was making Ice Cream. Who doesn’t love the cold treat? My only problem is that I have an allergy to lactose in Milk. So, I figure I can give it a shot at making some non-diary ice or frozen yogurt. So, as with most people during this pandemic, I purchased something that I normally wouldn’t have. I purchased a Cuisinart Gelateria ICE-70 series ice cream maker.

Another good thing about the ice cream maker is that it came with several recipes to start one. So, I decided to try the Frozen vanilla yogurt recipe.

Rich Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

Makes about 4 cups (eight ½-cup servings)

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoons honey

¼ cup water

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

4 cups whole milk, plain Greek yogurt

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1¼ cups granulated sugar

 Pinch kosher salt

1. Add the corn syrup, honey, water and scraped vanilla pod to a medium

saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and then simmer until reduced by

half; cool and reserve.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the yogurt, vanilla seeds, reserved honey vanilla reduction, vanilla extract, sugar and salt together. Whisk until the

sugar has dissolved. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours, or overnight.

3. Press Ice Cream and then Start/Stop. Pour the mixture through the

spout and then cover with the cap. Let mix until thickened. The frozen

yogurt will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired,

transfer the frozen yogurt to an airtight container and place in freezer for

about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

 

Since I was in hurry, I didn’t release that I didn’t have the vanilla bean called for in the recipe. So, I substituted vanilla extract. As you can see, the ice cream maker did a good job making ice cream.

The frozen yogurt looked delicious and had the right texture. However, the plain Greek yogurt taste overpowered the vanilla extract. I have to say I wasn’t able to eat all the frozen yogurt. Next time, I tried followed the recipe exactly.