Tasty Thursday: Paul's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Dad passed away 3 years ago, about a week before his birthday, which is today.  Every year since then on his birthday  I have made his cookies to honor his memory. I also make them for our Christmas Eve visit to his grave. And of course whenever I feel like eating some.

He spent a lot of time perfecting this cookie recipe over the years. We in my family think this is a really fantastic classic chocolate chip cookie.
Big, thick, sometimes somewhat doughy bakery style cookies are all the rage right now, made with a ball of dough the size of a baseball.
These cookies are not those cookies. These are lightly crispy, and golden on the outside and chewy on the inside.
I thought I had put this recipe on here already but apparently not.
Every time I post about these cookies elsewhere, I get requests for the recipe.
So here it is.

Paul’s Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Paul Bartholomew)

Preheat oven to 350

Cream together:

 4 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups white sugar 

1 ½ cups shortening

Slowly mix in:

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

4 cups flour (put in ½ cup at a time)

1 TBSP vanilla

Add 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Roll into walnut size balls. Place on un-greased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake @ 350 for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will be just light golden around the edges and may look slightly raw in the middle when it’s time to take them out. Cool on the cookie sheet. Makes about 4 to 6 dozen cookies.

Tasty Thursday: Auntie's Sugar Cookies

I am sharing this again because I am making these again for my kids for Valentine's Day. They are my very favorite Sugar Cookie (although Otis Spunkmeyer's Butter Sugar Cookies are a close second). This recipe is halved from the original (shared here) and I added vanilla and butter.

Here is a recipe card you can download.

 Amy’s Auntie’s Sugar Cookies – Famous Mormon Recipes - Adapted by Amy W

3 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter (room temp.)
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
    Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening and butter. Stir in sugar.
In a separate bowl, mix milk, eggs and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture. (If dough is too dry, add milk 1 TBSP at a time.)
    Roll dough onto floured surface and cut out shapes (1/4” thick dough works best). Place on un-greased cookie sheet (or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper) and sprinkle with sugar, (omit this step if decorating with frosting). Bake 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
 *These bake up soft and light at 1/4" thick.
The thinner you roll them, the crispier they will be.


I use the Wilton's Buttercream Frosting Recipe when I frost these cookies.

 

Tasty Tuesday: Baking Powder Drop Biscuits

Last week my sister posted on Facebook about her made-from-scratch biscuits and gravy. (She used to live in KY/TN). It had me craving biscuits.  And since I do the easy kind, (no rolling) it was not a big deal to satisfy that craving.  It is a basic recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook.

Sunday after church I served them with Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup.

Baking Powder Drop Biscuits 
Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook 

2 cups AP flour 
2 TBSP sugar 
1 TBSP baking powder 
1 tsp salt 
½ cup shortening 
1 cup milk 

Heat oven to 450. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening using pastry blender until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk just until everything is wet. Do not over mix. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet greased with shortening or lined with parchment. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.



Try! Devour! Enjoy!

 

Tasty Tuesday: Skillet Chicken Thighs

Weekly, if not daily, The Stay At Home Chef posts recipes that even my tasteless palate is drooling over. And every so often I get up the guts to try a new recipe. I had it on good authority that chicken thighs are quite tasty, so I hauled our family out of our boneless-skinless chicken breast comfort zone to try Skillet Chicken Thighs and we were not disappointed.

The recipe is simple and straightforward. I felt awesome when I plated the chicken, as most of the time when I cook this way it either ends up burned or underdone. I followed the recipe exactly (other than forgetting to turn down pan #2* to medium heat at one point) and I was totally successful!

Everyone liked it except one kid (who is not a meat eater unless it's bacon, a hot dog or a burger.) And the only comment on flavor other than "yummy!" was that maybe I should have spiced under the skin as well as on top. That may have been my error. I plan on asking the chef. :)


* I cooked 4 thighs in 2 separate pans to feed our family of 6.
 

Tasty Tuesday: Best Brownies

Okay so I know I have found a fabulous brownie recipe already, but seriously, it is really expensive to make them. SOOO much butter! And even half a recipe produces a lot of brownies. And of course I am always game to try a new brownie recipe.
I came across this one on Pinterest. I can't find the actual pin because I forgot to "like" it and the board it was on had 1000+ pins. I got a little lost. :)
BUT I did click through to the actual post (which was here )so it was in my history. And they found it at AllRecipes.com.

 I prefer using the AllRecipes version, just because the frosting ingredients are separate from the brownie ingredients. Makes more sense to my brain. The recipes are the same.

My frosting looks a little funky because I mixed it by hand so it is not smooth. Tastes great anyway!

These are fudgy brownies, just my style and the whole family gave them 2 thumbs up. It makes and 8" x 8" pan of fairly thick, frosted brownies. This is a keeper!

Tasty Tuesday: Cheater Cherry Cheesecake, again.

Cheater Cherry Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts, but I rarely have cream cheese on hand so I don't make it often. I named it "Cheater" because it is not baked like traditional cheesecake .My mom just called it cherry cheesecake. A few people have likened it to the Jell-O No Bake Cheesecake you can buy at the grocery store. They are very similar. Cool, smooth and creamy, with the zing of the cherry to complement the sweetness.

When I had "real" cheesecake for the first time I thought it was nasty! LOL  They are different. I love traditional cheesecake now. I even had a cheesecake buffet at my wedding reception. (My excuse was that my husband-to-be loved it.)

This is a make ahead dessert because while it is quick to assemble it takes a while to set up in the refrigerator.
This is what it looks like if you jump the gun. :)

Still tastes AWESOME, just not such an appetizing presentation.

I posted the recipe a while back, but since I made it for my birthday last week, I am sharing it again, with photos and updated with a couple of tips.

Cheater Cherry Cheesecake
By: Linda B (Amy’s Mom)

Filling:
1 8 oz package cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup Powdered sugar
1 pouch Dream Whip   

Filling Instructions:

Mix Dream Whip according to package directions*. Set aside. (If you need to reuse your mixer, like I do, just use a spatula to scrape it into a small bowl and set it aside.) Cream together powdered sugar and cream cheese.  Add the prepared Dream Whip to cream cheese mixture.

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 5-6 graham crackers, crushed)
3 TBSP powdered sugar
6 TBSP melted butter (I have cut it back to 4 TBSP and while slightly more crumbly, still workable.)
 or 1 store bought graham cracker crust


Crust Instructions:

Melt butter. (You might be able to melt it right in the pie pan if it is microwaveable. It saves washing an extra pan and you don't waste butter.) Mix crumbs and sugar into the butter and press gently into pie pan. (If you press too hard, the crust might stick and refuse to come out of the pan. I know this to be true.)
Pour cream cheese mixture into pie crust. Refrigerate until firm, at least 6 hours. 1 can cherry pie filling

1 can cherry pie filling

Top with 1 can pie cherries. Keep refrigerated until served.


* To make Dream Whip, empty one pouch into bowl of electric mixer. Add 1/2 cup of cold milk (I used coconut milk because I was out of regular and it was fine) and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Mix on low speed until blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix on high speed for 4 minutes or until topping thickens and forms peaks.


ENJOY!!

 

Tasty Tuesday: An Oldie but a Goodie; Peanut Butter Blossoms

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/cookies/peanut-butter-blossoms/

As a kid I never liked peanut butter anything. Peanut butter was totally gross. But as I get older my tastes seem to change and I eat many things that I didn't like as a kid.  Not long after I got married, my mother in law made these when we lived near them and I tried them and was hooked. I have since added lots of peanut butter "things" to my list of likes. I made these the other night for my husband. (Peanut butter cookies in just about any form are some of his favorites). I ate WAY too many of them. :) It makes about 50 cookies.

The recipe I use is from my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. They have conveniently provided the recipe HERE on their website (which, FYI,  is a great resource for lots of cooking and baking tips and recipes!)

Enjoy!

 

Tasty Tuesday: Pinterest Reviews

I have been trying to use my Pinterest pins once in a while, so this week you get not one but two recipe reviews from my Pinterest Boards. One is originally from my "Breakfast Recipes to Try" Board but got moved, and the other one is from my "Desserts To Try" Board.

Crockpot Breakfast Casserole from All Kinds of Yumm







As you can see from the pin photo caption, this was not a hit. 5 out of 6 of us ate it. 1 out of 5 liked it.
I moved the pin to my "Pinned Recipes Tried - Just Okay". I have since wavered a little in my original decision to likely not try it again. I might try it again with bacon and a different style of hash brown. Maybe some onions. :) And probably on a camp-out in the dutch oven.

Kiss'n Cupcakes (these didn't have a name so I named 'em) from http://foodtalk.pinapic.co/?p=200






This one went over a little better. I mean, cupcakes? It's hard to ruin those.

I used a Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge cake mix and Hershey's Kisses.
I followed the very difficult directions of baking the cupcakes for 5 minutes then setting a Kiss (unwrapped of course) on top of the mostly raw batter, then finished the baking.

I served them warm. They cooled for 5 minutes tops. Probably not even that. The one I cut open to photograph was still exceedingly hot. :)

As you can see, the kiss held it's shape (no surprise to me, since they do that with Peanut Butter Blossoms.) One of the pins I saw for this described them as a "molten" center. It was not exactly "molten" as described in that particular pin, but they were very soft and warm. Definitely not the gooey fudgy type liquid I expect in a Molten Chocolate Cake.
This pin was accurate in that it does sink to the middle, though closer to the bottom and even all the way to the bottom and create a chocolate center. A soft chocolate kiss center. :)

I think overall they are a fun treat, and I will make them again. I am going to get the mini kisses though and sprinkle 3 or 4 on each one to spread the chocolate around a bit more.

Have a great week!

Tasty Tuesday: Chicken and Asparagus Skillet

A few weeks ago, my sister shared this recipe with me that she got out of Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications "Chicken Dinners" Spring 2012--(previously published as Ultimate Chicken 2010).

I like asparagus, I like chicken, so I made this for dinner Sunday night. It was really tasty! Not only that but everyone actually ate most of what they were served (except for Littlest Miss picky pants, but that was no surprise). 

Chicken and Asparagus Skillet
Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications "Chicken Dinners" Spring 2012, with **additions by Alyssa A.


Ingredients
4 slices cooked bacon, coarsely chopped

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (Freeze for 1 hour and slice into ½ inch thick cutlets while semi-frozen.)
 Salt & ground black pepper
McCormick garlic herb seasoning**

1 14.5 oz can chicken broth
2 TBS all-purpose flour
½ lemon’s zest

1 lb asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
1 yellow summer squash, halved crosswise and cut into 1/2" slices

Lemon wedges

Instructions
1) In large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove, drain on plate w/ paper towel. Drain all but 1 TBS of bacon grease from pan.

2) Season chicken w/salt & pepper, and McCormick garlic herb seasoning. Cook chicken in hot drippings over med-high heat for 1-2 minutes or until brown. Remove; keep warm.

3) Prepare a large bowl of ice water. In large saucepan, cook asparagus in boiling water for 3 minutes or until crisp tender; drain. Immediately plunge in ice water to stop cooking. Set aside.

4) In a medium bowl whisk together broth, flour and lemon peel.

5) Chop Bacon and Slice Lemon wedges.

6) Cut squash. Add squash to skillet, cook 3 minutes.

7) Add broth mixture to skillet. Cook broth mixture, stirring until thickened & bubbly. Add chicken and asparagus. Cook 6 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Sprinkle with chopped bacon. Serve with lemon wedges.

*Freeze chicken breasts for 1 hour and slice into ½ inch thick cutlets while semi-frozen. Season and let thaw while the bacon cooks.
 
Another version: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chicken/chicken-and-asparagus-skillet-supper/
After dinner, we decided it would have been nice to have some rice or pasta with it, to fill it out as a meal. And I agreed with my sister in that the McCormick Seasoning helped boost the flavor.

 

Tasty Tuesday: 2 Recipe Reviews

We have tried 2 new recipes this month so far,  Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup and Secret Ingredient Mac and Cheese.

 Both were a hit with the majority of the family and will be staying in the recipe rotation.

With the soup, I put the cooked and crumbled bacon directly in the soup before I served it, just because it would make a more fair distribution. :) Some of us like our bacon a LOT and would leave little for anyone else.

The Mac and Cheese got a substitution due to the cost of the Frank's Hot sauce being $4+ a bottle and the store brand $0.97. One of these days I will get the Frank's just to see how it compares heat-wise.
Everyone liked this one a lot, even the Mac and Cheese hater who said it was okay. Everyone that is, except the boxed Mac and Cheese lover, who would not even taste it.

Give them a try and if you like them, give the chefs some love!

 

Tasty Tuesday: Sugar Cookies Revisited

Tomorrow is the playgroup Valentine Party, for which I am responsible for providing cookies for the kids to decorate. In initially we only had 6 kids coming, so I started out making them a giant heart to decorate. But then I got another RSVP so I had to abort that and switch to regular sized cookies, because there weren't going to be enough to go around. I had already used 10 and a half cups of flour. My kids will get the ginormous ones. :) I am sure they will appreciate that.

To make the huge hearts, I used the heart shape from my spring-form pan that I never use because I don't know how. :) It is about 8 inches tall and 7.5 inches wide at the widest part. What kid would not love a cookie that big!

 I used my go-to sugar cookie recipe, Aunties Sugar Cookies, but I changed it up a little bit. I replaced half the shortening with butter, and added some vanilla for a little flavor. Don't get me wrong, I love these cookies as I usually make them but they don't stand alone well. They need the frosting. :) But now, I can totally munch on one with nothing on it. Just a little sweet, and ever so slightly buttery. YUM!
The dough turns out a little wetter and not as stiff, but I was still able to work with it just fine to roll them out. You can always add a little flour if you like. And as you can see in the photos, I used parchment paper on my cookie sheets.
I had to roll out the big ones directly on the floured parchment, cut them out, and then lift the parchment onto the cookie sheet. It worked beautifully. The big cookies baked about 7 minutes longer than the regular ones.


And 'cause I love you, here is the new and (I think) improved Auntie's Sugar Cookies recipe. (This is half of the original recipe.)

Auntie’s Sugar Cookies – Famous Mormon Recipes - Adapted by Amy W

3 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup shortening
½ cup butter (room temp.)
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
1 ½ tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
    Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening and butter. Stir in sugar. In a separate bowl, mix milk, eggs and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture. (If dough is too dry, add milk 1 TBSP at a time.)
    Roll dough onto floured surface and cut out shapes (1/4” thick dough works best). Place on un-greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar, (omit this step if decorating with frosting). Bake 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
 *These bake up soft and light at 1/4". The thinner you roll them, the crispier they will be.

Happy Valentines Day!

 

Tasty Tuesday: Amish White Bread

Today I am sharing a recipe for bread that I got from 2 different places without realizing it was the same recipe. My dad and sister make bread on a fairly regular basis and a while back I asked them for the recipe and they passed it on. I never used the recipe. :) Then the other day I wanted to make bread and decided to see what I could find online. I found a recipe here that sounded good. And it was! Boy howdy was it good! Soft and slightly sweet, it needed nothing on it to enjoy. Usually I have to smother my bread with butter and homemade jam to enjoy it. Not this stuff. I could not stop eating it.
Even miss picky-pants the youngest ate it and wanted more.

When I copied into a word doc to save it I discovered that I already had the recipe. The same one my dad gave me. Guess next time I need to check my files for recipes I want to make before I hit the world wide web. There is usually a reason they are there.

Amish White Bread
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amish-white-bread/detail.aspx

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

I am linking up at Debbie's Tuesday at the Table at A Quilter's Table.


 
 

Tasty Tuesday: Fudgy Brownies

Friday night, my son asked me to make brownies for movie night. I had not yet found the perfect brownie recipe. I still really like Betty Crocker boxed brownies! (I know some of you are cringing.)

But now, even though they are a tad pricey to make, and calorie intense, and make enough to feed an army, I bring you a truly fabulous brownie. My ENTIRE family of 6 all agreed these are the best homemade brownie we have had yet.

Fudgy Chocolate Brownies by Nikki Elkins for the Martha Stewart Show

Ingredients
Makes about 48 2-inch brownies
•    Nonstick cooking spray
•    6 ounces unsweetened best-quality chocolate, chopped
•    2 1/4 cups (4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
•    1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
•    1 1/2 (12-ounce) bags mini semisweet chocolate chips
•    6 large eggs, room temperature
•    3 cups sugar
•    1 1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
•    1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
Directions
1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13-by-18-by-1-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; spray parchment with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2.    Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water; remove from heat and let cool. In a medium bowl, mix together flour and chocolate chips; set aside.
3.    In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt on high until ribbons form, 7 to 9 minutes. With the mixer on low, slowly add melted chocolate. Fold in flour mixture.
4.    Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Brownies may seem underbaked, but will continue to cook as they cool.
5.    Transfer brownies to a wire rack to cool. Transfer cooled brownies to refrigerator; chill at least 2 hours. Invert chilled brownies to remove from pan and peel off parchment paper. Reinvert brownies and trim edges. Cut as desired. Brownies will keep, wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated, up to 7 days. Brownies may be frozen for up to 3 months.
From The Martha Stewart Show, February 2011

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Fudgy Chocolate Brownies - Martha Stewart Recipes

 I am sure any neighbor would love a few of these added to a holiday goodie plate!

 

Check out Tuesday at the Table hosted by Debbie!

* Edit to add a half recipe.

Fudgy Chocolate Brownies (halved)

Ingredients
Makes about 48 2-inch brownies
•    Nonstick cooking spray

•    3 ounces unsweetened best-quality chocolate, chopped
•    1 1/8 cups (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

•    3/4 cups all-purpose flour
•    3/4 (12-ounce) bag mini semisweet chocolate chips

•    3 large eggs, room temperature
•    1.5 cups sugar
•    2 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
•    3/4 teaspoons coarse salt

Directions
1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; spray parchment with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2.    Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water; remove from heat and let cool. In a medium bowl, mix together flour and chocolate chips; set aside.
3.    In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt on high until ribbons form, 7 to 9 minutes. With the mixer on low, slowly add melted chocolate. Fold in flour mixture.
4.    Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 32 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Brownies may seem underbaked, but will continue to cook as they cool.
5.    Transfer brownies to a wire rack to cool. Transfer cooled brownies to refrigerator; chill at least 2 hours. Invert chilled brownies to remove from pan and peel off parchment paper. Reinvert brownies and trim edges. Cut as desired. Brownies will keep, wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated, up to 7 days. Brownies may be frozen for up to 3 months.
From The Martha Stewart Show, February 2011

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Fudgy Chocolate Brownies - Martha Stewart Recipes

 
 

Tasty Tuesday: Homemade Cranberry Sauce

A friend of mine, who loves cooking, has a new blog, The Stay At Home Chef. She has already posted several great sounding recipes and as a bonus, she includes cooking tips a the bottom of each post. I have already learned a few new things. Such as, you don't just dump the bag of cranberries into a pot and cook them. Kind of like dried beans, there is the prep work of rinsing and sorting.

 My kids have always loved eating the jellied cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, so I never really made any attempt at making my own. This year, though I had to try Rachel's sauce after hearing her talk about how 2 gallons of it disappeared at a church function.

I served both and the only reason the jellied stuff was touched at all was because I was teasing my kids about how much they loved it in the past.

Everyone, including me, the non-cranberry sauce person, thought it was delicious. I did not use the jalapenos in mine, but I imagine that it is pretty darn tasty too.

Here is the link for the sauce recipe, Jalapeno Cranberry Sauce,  and I hope that you will take a minute to peruse her site and leave a comment (and let her know I sent you.)

I am linking up at Debbie's blog, A Quilter's Table Tuesday at the Table feature.

 

Tasty Tuesday: Cider Donuts

A few weeks ago, I cam across a recipe for cider donuts, from the King Arthur Flour website.It looked good so I pinned it on my Pinterest board for breads to try. Then Debbie, at A Quilter's Table mentioned she was getting a donut pan after seeing another recipe for cider donuts. She suggested that we make our donuts and then share the results this week in her link-up party, Tuesday at the Table.

So, this weekend, I made Cider Donuts, with King Arthur Flour's recipe.

They look delicious right?

Well, I will admit they were more edible than this batch of donuts that was made with my fabulous Wilton Pan.
 

My son made these donuts using the recipe from the package and they had an odd flavor and dry and chewy. They looked delicious though!
We do want to try these again because I was out of cake flour and buttermilk so we did substitutions and my son pretty much made them without me looking over his shoulder, so there may have been errors. Has anyone else used the Wilton recipe with success?

The Cider Donuts, upside down, cooling.

Now, the Cider Donuts, also looked promising and smelled really good baking. But they were a disappointment as well. Not nearly as much as the first ones, but still nothing special.

The donut part was pretty good, with a good texture and fairly moist, though it could have been a little more so. The flavor was just a little too subtle for me. It needs to beef up the spices I think, to really pack a punch and there was really no cider flavor that I could taste.

BUT here's the caveat. The recipe calls for Boiled Cider, and is linked to their online store where you can purchase said item. I checked one local store for anything like what they linked to and came up empty. So I Googled a how-to and made my own by boiling down some cider. I may have needed to let it reduce even further to get a flavor like the store-bought kind, which may have caused my cider donuts to be less than cider-y.

On the left is the boiled cider, on the right is regular in the amount I started with.

Okay, so that is the donut part of the review.
The glaze was another matter entirely. Here are the ingredients.

    3 tablespoons boiled cider or thawed frozen apple juice concentrate*
    1 1/2 cups sugar
    2 tablespoons corn syrup or honey
    1/4 cup water
    *If you use apple juice concentrate, add 1 teaspoon lemon juice; the concentrate isn't nearly as flavorful as boiled cider.

You can see that boiled cider makes another appearance, as I expected it to. And I chose to use honey, which I would not do again, because that was almost all I could taste. If I concentrated I could taste the slightest hint of apple. But I am thinking that I should not have to concentrate to taste apple in a cider donut. So honey is out.
And then:

To make the glaze: place all the glaze into a saucepan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is dissolved.

Bring the mixture to a boil, cover the pan, and boil for 3 minutes

Remove the cover and boil for a few more minutes, until the syrup reaches soft ball stage, 240°F on an instant-read thermometer.

Remove from the heat, and cool slightly.

Carefully dip the doughnuts in the warm syrup; reheat the syrup if it's thickened too much. If you dunk them completely, place them on a piece of greased parchment or waxed paper, to set. If you dip just the tops, place them on a rack. Top immediately with chopped nuts, if desired. Note: any extra syrup will hold for up to a week, covered, in the refrigerator.

See my highlight there in the directions? That threw me. I have made candy, so I know what soft ball stage is, and I could not reconcile that with what I normally see on a donut. But, in the interest of being as true to the recipe as I could, I did as directed.

It is not a pleasant thing to bite into a donut, only to have the topping stick to your teeth and rip away from the rest of the donut. And as I said, it really just tasted of honey. So, the glaze was a total disappointment.  After a few hours out in the air, most of the glaze melted into the top of the donut, which was far more edible, except for a small ring where the donut crisps at the edge of the pan. It remained sticky there.

So, what this all boils down to for me, is that this recipe is not a keeper. I would rather try a new recipe than continue to tweak this one until it is delicious.



I hope Debbie had better luck with hers.

She will have a link-up up for anyone to post their recipes for donuts, so please nip over and check them out and add one your self!

And lastly, if you have made or are going to make this particular recipe, I would love to know what you think!