Hot Doughnuts Now!

Hey, y’all! I think I saw G-d last weekend when I made some yeast-raised, raspberry-pomegranate filled, vanilla-glazed 100% white flour doughnuts. My eyes rolled back in my head and (almost) every pleasure circuit in my brain lit up. If that’s what crack feels like, it’s a good thing I don’t like to smoke. Whoo hoo!!

In order to be a responsible carb-head, I tried today making both white flour and whole-wheat flour doughnuts, thinking that the whole-wheat ones might light up enough pleasure circuits to be really good, but not addictive. I think that experiment was a success, but if you want the full-blown, Nirvana-inducing, mind-altering experience, I recommend 100% white bread flour in these. Just don’t blame me if you can’t stop.

Make these with a friend, your spouse, or your kid(s). It’s much easier to get a groove going if you can make the whole frying, filling, glazing process a sort of assembly line.

(To read my whole article on doughnuts, with additional info on frying, and with 2 cake doughnut recipes, click here.)

From my upcoming book – “Vegan Doughnuts Increase Your Pants Size”:

Yeast-Raised Doughnuts

Recipe By: Lisa T. Bennett (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens)
Serving Size: 24
Preparation Time: 1 hr to prepare, 3 hrs (or overnight) to rise

2 packages yeast (or 4 teaspoons bulk yeast)
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup non-hydrogenated shortening (like Spectrum), melted
1/3 cup unbleached sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour, or a mix of the two)

1. If using standard dry yeast, mix yeast with warm water (about 110 F – should feel barely warm to your wrist). If using instant or “Rapid Rise” yeast, mix yeast with the first cup of flour instead of mixing it with the warm water. Otherwise, follow recipe as shown, mixing water with soy milk (water doesn’t have to be warm).

2. Combine soymilk, melted shortening, sugar, and salt.

3. Add 1 cup of flour, beat well.

4. Add enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough. Mix well. (This can be done with a mixer or you can use a strong spoon and build some muscles. I used a stand mixer.)

5. Place dough in a well-oiled bowl; turn to oil top. Cover with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator for at least 3 hours or as long as overnight. (Putting dough into a ziplock back also works.)

6. 1 hour before serving: Remove dough from refrigerator. Punch dough down.

7. On lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/3 inch thick.

8. Cut with floured doughnut cutter (see notes). Place on baking sheet and let rise until very light (30-40 minutes).

9. Heat oil to 370 F in saucepan (use candy/deep-frying thermometer) or in electric deep-fryer with thermostat. **Be careful not to overheat oil or it will smoke and can catch fire. Never leave hot oil unattended!!**

10. Fry for 2 minutes or ’til browned, turning once. **Do not fry more than 3 full-sized doughnuts at a time or the oil will cool down and the doughnuts will be oily.**

11. Drain doughnuts on paper towels and while warm, roll in granulated sugar or cinnamon-sugar mix, powdered sugar, or dip the doughnuts into one of the glazes listed below. Drain the dipped doughnuts on a cooking rack set over a cookie sheet to catch the excess glaze. Allow them to cool for a few minutes to allow the glaze to set before moving or serving them.

Notes: for regular glazed doughnuts with holes, cut with a doughnut cutter or use a round (or whatever shape you like) cutter for the outside, and a much smaller cutter for the hole.

For Jelly-filled Doughnuts: You’ll need about 7 or 8 ounces of your favorite jam or jelly. Stir it up to loosen it (or warm it slightly if it’s really stiff). Fill a pastry bag (or a sturdy ziplock bag with a corner snipped off) with the jam/jelly.

Cut the doughnuts with no hole in the center (I made mine heart-shaped, but round is easier). Follow all the directions above for raising & frying. Allow the doughnuts to cool just until they won’t burn your fingers. Take a chopstick or something similar and poke a hole into the side of the doughnut and sweep the chopstick in an arc to make a pocket for the jelly/jam. Fill a pastry bag with your favorite runny jam or jelly. Insert the tip of the pastry bag into the hole of each doughnut and fill. Glaze with they’re still warm.

Doughnut Glazes

Recipe By: Lisa T. Bennett
Serving Size: 24
Preparation Time: 0:10

2 cups unbleached confectioners or powdered sugar.
3 tablespoons liquid (or more)
1 teaspoon additional flavoring

Use 3 tablespoons of liquid if you want to drizzle glaze on doughnuts, and up to 6 or maybe even 7 tablespoons if you want to dip doughnuts in a very thin glaze (this is my preferred method!!).

Vanilla Glaze: use water for liquid and vanilla extract for flavor.

Lemon Glaze: Use lemon juice for water and grated lemon zest (organic) or lemon extract for flavor.

Orange Glaze: Use orange juice for liquid and grated orange zest (organic) or orange extract for flavor.

Coffee Glaze (good on Chocolate Doughnuts): use strong coffee for liquid and coffee extract for flavor.

Peppermint Glaze (for Chocolate Doughnuts): Use water for liquid and peppermint extract for flavor. Add a pinch of beet powder to color pink if desired.

Notes: If you’re making an entire batch of one flavor doughnuts, you can add flavoring agents to the dough as well. For example, one tablespoon of lemon zest will make lemon doughnuts even more lemony!

Star Spangled Breakfast

Star Spangled Breakfast, originally uploaded by teeveeolantern.

Crispy 100% Whole Wheat Waffles with Mimicreme Ice Cream, Blueberries, and Strawberries

Lisa’s Basic Vegan Waffles
This is a very basic, plain waffle. If you use unbleached flour, it is very light in color and texture. Adding whole wheat pastry flour helps give it a bit more “presence”. I like a 50/50 blend of unbleached and whole wheat pastry flour in these, as I do in most pastries. I have found that 100% whole wheat pastry flour makes really great, light pastries – better than a 50/50 blend.  These waffles were 100% whole wheat and they were feather light!  Feel free to change the flavoring extract, or leave it out altogether. The sugar is also optional, but it helps with browning.

Recipe By Lisa T. Bennett
Serves 6 if they’re polite and not too ravenous
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

2 cups soy milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups flour,(unbleached all-purpose, whole wheat pastry, or a combination)
1 tablespoon unbleached sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Pre-heat your waffle iron per directions. Set it on “medium” to begin with, until you see how your first waffle turns out.

Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Lightly whisk wet into dry. (Don’t worry if there are a few small lumps.) The batter should be like a medium pancake batter. Spray waffle iron with non-stick pan spray. Ladle the batter onto your waffle iron and close lid. Bake for 5 minutes and test. If you can’t get the lid open easily, let it bake for another minute and try again. Remove waffle when it is golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately with desired toppings.

Note: the five-minute timing works perfectly for my very ancient standard waffle iron. Newer ones might bake faster.

For more waffle recipes and an article on the whys and wherefores of waffles, see the May 2005 article in the sidebar.

About that “homemade” ice cream….I used Sweetened Mimic Creme from Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe. I added a bit of vanilla extract, but otherwise, I poured about 2 cups of straight Sweetened Mimic Creme into my Cuisinart ice cream maker (one of those with the pre-frozen sleeves), and it worked like a charm. The ice cream “churned” in about the time it took me to dust off the waffle iron and mix up the waffle batter. The Mimic Creme is a cashew-based ice cream/dessert mix, so it has a bit of a nutty flavor, but we like that, so it was a hit at our house.

Whole Wheat Biscuits

Whole Wheat Bisuits, originally uploaded by teeveeolantern.

Light Whole-Wheat “Buttermilk” Biscuits
Make sure you use whole wheat pastry flour, or your biscuits will not be light at all!
Recipe By: Lisa T. Bennett
Servings: 12
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

2 cups soy milk (up to 2 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup Spectrum Organic shortening

Pre-heat oven to 450 F. Spray a 9X13 pan lightly with pan spray or grease lightly with shortening.

Add vinegar to soymilk and set aside to sour. This is your “buttermilk”.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.

Cut shortening into flour until it resembles coarse meal with a few pea-sized pieces of shortening remaining. Mix in 2 cups of soured soymilk quickly. Don’t overmix the dough or your biscuits will be tough. Dough should be wet, but still hold its shape when scooped. Add more plain soymilk if necessary. Spoon dough into 12 equal pieces. Quickly shape each by hand into a biscuit, dredging the dough in a bit of extra flour if necessary to hold its shape. (My mother just drops hers from a spoon into the pan and flattens the tops lightly with her hand.) Bake ’til lightly browned, 12 – 15 minutes.

Makes 12 large (“cathead”) biscuits or 24 two-bite hors d’oeuvres-sized ones.
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Notes: Placing the biscuits close together will cause them to rise up and will yield tall biscuits with soft sides (classic Southern biscuits). Leaving a little space between them with make them crusty all over and a bit shorter and wider.

This biscuit dough is quite wet. The extra moisture creates steam on the inside of the biscuits after the outside has begun to set from the high heat of the oven. This steam causes the biscuits to rise high and light.

Make sure you use whole wheat *pastry* flour, not bread flour. The pastry flour makes much lighter biscuits because it’s lower in gluten. (see my March 2002 article on Biscuits and Cornbread to understand why this is important.)

Variation: Substitute Earth Balance for Spectrum Organic Shortening for a more “buttery” flavor. Omit salt, as the Earth Balance is quite salty already.

Vegan Banana Bran Muffins

Since David was home today for the MLK holiday, I made muffins while he worked on figuring out this blogging/picture thing.

For some reason, I was having a craving for old-school bran muffins. I checked some of my newer vegan cookbooks, and then decided what I wanted was more likely to be found in an old-fashioned omni cookbook. I pulled out the old favorite, The Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (that red and white checked one your mom and grandmom used) and found a banana bran muffin recipe. I veganized it, and here it is. It works great, but I think next time I’m changing the sugar to Sucanat, and doubling it. I really wanted them to be sweeter.

Vegan Banana Bran Muffins

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Recipe By: LTB (adapted from BH&G)
Serves 12

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup wheat bran

2 tablespoons flax seed

4 tablespoons water

1 cup ripe banana, mashed

1/4 cup soy milk

2 tablespoons canola oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Prepare 12-cup muffin tin by spraying with pan spray or lining with paper liners.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in bran.

Grind flax seeds in dry blender jar or spice grinder. Add remaining ingredients to blender, blend ’til smooth, and then add to dry ingredients.

Mix just until moistened (don’t overmix). Fill muffin tins almost full.

Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.

When the muffins are ready, let them cool for just a few minutes in the pan before turning them out. If you leave them in the pan to cool, the crusts will steam and get soggy.

If you want to keep your muffins warm for just a few extra minutes during breakfast, you can turn them halfway out of their cups, leaving them on their sides in the pan. That way, the steam can evaporate but the residual heat from the tin will keep them from getting cold too quickly.

Drink at least one extra glass of water with every muffin, or they’ll do the exact opposite of what you expect from a bran muffin.  And don’t overdo it if you aren’t used to a high fiber diet.  Freeze the leftovers and eat them one or two at a time.