Category: Stupid Easy

These recipes are seriously easy and delicious!
Do-Nut Pass on these Donut Hole Muffins

Do-Nut Pass on these Donut Hole Muffins

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My cooking gadget addiction strikes without warning.  Standing in Michaels one day, supposedly JUST browsing with NO intention of buying anything when BAM!  I became the proud & puzzled owner of a donut hole pan.  Yes, a donut hole pan.  I have 4 or 5 mini-muffin tins that would do the trick, but nooo, in a moment of weakness, I bought one.  I already own donut pans, which in my defense, I justify by saying baked donuts are much better for you than fried ones…  Which would be fine except I RARELY eat donuts much less make them from scratch.

Just another excuse to feed my gadget addiction.

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Opportunity Knocks

The pan stayed in my cabinet, forgotten, until recently.  After Head of the Charles in Boston, we decided to take a side trip to Vermont to see the Fall colors.   Really, we were actually in search of pie.  We stayed at a cute little B&B, the Trumbull House Bed and Breakfast in Hanover.  Each morning, we were served a delicious basket of baked goods. Their Donut Hole Muffin in the basket was a standout, buttery, tender with a nice crunch from the cinnamon sugar coating that covers the ENTIRE muffin.

See, there was a reason I bought a donut hole pan. LOL.  So without further ado, here is the recipe for Donut Hole Muffins courtesy of the Trumbull House in Hanover Vermont.  These are really easy.  There aren’t any eggs in the recipe if you were wondering.  If you use your donut hole pan (doesn’t everyone have one?) and it has a dark finish, decrease the temperature to 350 degrees.  I baked them for approximately 12-14 minutes.  Test early, 20 minutes might be too long.  You can bake these in mini-muffin tins or in a regular-sized muffin tin.  Increase the baking time for the regular-sized tin to 20-25 minutes.

You’ll love these.

Put them on your muffin or donut bucket list.

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Donut Hole Muffins

Delicious BAKED Donut Holes
Course desserts
Cuisine American
Keyword baked donuts, cinnamon sugar, donut holes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground mace

Wet Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter melted
  • 1/2 cup milk

Topping

  • 1/4 cup butter melted
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini-mu!in cups or DONUT HOLE PAN
  • Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and mace in a large bowl.
  • Stir in the milk. Stir flour and baking powder together and add to milk mixture. Stir until just combined. Fill the prepared mini muffin cups or DONUT HOLE PAN about half full.
  • Bake in the preheated oven until the tops are lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.
  • While muffins are baking, place melted butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon.
  • Remove muffins from pan while warm, dip each mu!in in the butter and roll in the sugar-cinnamon mixture.
  • Let cool and serve.
Stupid Easy: Homemade Vanilla Extract

Stupid Easy: Homemade Vanilla Extract

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DSC02426Hard to believe the holidays are just around the corner!  Unfortunately, I am not a brick and mortar shopper, thank goodness for online shopping.  I’m the one dragging my feet in the malls and whining “are we done yet?”  To appease me (get rid of me), my family will tell me to go to the nearest bookstore (unfortunately there aren’t as many nowadays) or cookware store and they will retrieve me when they are done.  So as you can imagine gift buying is not high on my bucket list of things to do.  I do like giving gifts from my kitchen.  This year I’ll be adding homemade vanilla extract to my holiday goodies. I am really excited.  It is so simple its ridiculous.  I did find beans at Costco but a good online source is Beanilla.  Use the 2nd grade which is actually better for extract as the beans have less moisture in them.  I used vodka since it does not impart any flavor.  Rum and bourbon have been suggested but they will add their flavor to your vanilla.  I made my first batch a couple of weeks before Halloween and put them in the pantry.  Occasionally I take the bottles out and give them a peek and a shake. The extract will sit for about 8 weeks before I slap a cute label on them and give them to friends and family. My recipe source comes from a favorite blog Smitten Kitchen but I did find another site that described the process incredibly well, Will Cook for Friends.  Worth the time reading through both.  Next year I will start earlier so my tiny bottles of liquid gold can sit for longer.

 

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Stupid Easy: Vanilla Extract

Ingredients

  • Vodka no need to buy expensive vodka, I got mine from TJ's
  • Vanilla beans I used bourbon madagasgar beans
  • Bottles 4 to 8 oz size I put mine in the dishwasher, you can sterilize bottles in boiling water if you want
  • Tincture of time Allow min of 6-8 weeks, it will have a nice brown color and should smell like vanilla not alcohol
  • I ordered glass bottles from Amazon in 5 ounce size.

Instructions

  • THIS IS STUPID EASY.
  • Split vanilla beans lengthwise leaving the top inch unspilt (to keep the bean in one piece)
  • Scrape seeds from inside the bean and reserve for bottle. This is optional. If you do not plan to strain your extract the seeds will stay in clumps so not really pretty.
  • If necessary cut beans in half cross wise to fit in bottles
  • Place beans in bottle or jar. I used 2 whole beans for 4 ounces of vodka
  • Fill with vodka/alcohol so beans are fully submerged. Remember those cute little funnels you bought and never used? Break them out now.
  • Cap and store at room temp away from light. Shake occasionally.
  • It is up to you if you want to strain the extract or leave the beans in the bottle.
  • Depending on when you started you now have weeks, maybe even months to design cool labels for your vanilla.
  • How easy is that?
Summer: Alfresco Meals & the Bacon Caper

Summer: Alfresco Meals & the Bacon Caper

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I love alfresco dining and today was the perfect day to enjoy breakfast outside.  Banana blueberry pancakes made by my daughter, crispy bacon, a big bowl of fresh berries and mangoes (another reason to love summer), and yogurt with homemade granola. Perfect!  We set up outside in the garden, wait, forgot the coffee, back inside, grab the pot.  Back outside….WHAT? Sammy our dog, who has never, ever, ever eaten anything off the counter or table (a point of pride for us);  who will sit in a car surrounded by food including banana bread, egg rolls, fried chicken wings AND not touch any of it; HAS EATEN THE ENTIRE PLATE OF BACON, in a matter of seconds gobbled up 10 slices of bacon and licked the plate clean.  I’m still mad at him…..

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Well, we still have pancakes.  I will share the easiest way to cook perfect bacon despite not having a photo of said bacon, just the dog who ate the bacon.

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Oven Cooked Bacon

Ingredients

  • 1 pound of thick cut bacon
  • Variations:
  • 1/4 to 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2-3 T maple syrup
  • 1/4 tsp. cayenne
  • 1.4 tsp. black pepper

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set wire rack on top. Lay bacon slices on rack. Do not overlap slices. Place in oven and bake 15-20 minutes until desired doneness. The bacon cooks perfectly, lays flat and best of all you don't have to stand at the stove watching it fry! Clean up is relatively easy, especially if you line your pan with foil.

Variations:

  • For a sweet bacon, sprinkle bacon with brown sugar and bake as directed, spice it up by adding cayenne to brown sugar and sprinkling on bacon.
  • Brush with maple syrup , bake as directed.