Fruits of My Labor

Remember how I was saying I got this ridiculously fun, but hard work job of frying donuts? Well this lovely assortment of donuts, all made by me, is a mere sampling of my handiwork. Yes, this is what I get to be surrounded with while I'm working. I'm a lucky girl.


My physical therapists are also lucky. Because they're getting this lovely assortment of donuts. And to top it off, Wilma the Knee has decided to regress so I'll be in physical therapy for much much longer. They probably will get more donuts. Wilma has decided to continue to swell and cause me pain (which I faithfully report on a 0-10 scale, 0 being pain free and 10 being agony. Today is about a 4 1/2.) The doctor says that I'm still in the normal range for recovery, just at the bottom of it. So I am no longer allowed to ride my bike, work out, take long walks. It's highly annoying. No working out means no eating donuts. Shoot.


So while I'm pretty much laying on the couch icing and elevating (again) while I'm not at work, I've taken up a new hobby. Partly because interesting TV dies around 2:00. I've begun to knit. I'm currently looking for something cool to knit so that I can buy some of the buttons on this website. One of my physical therapy team members (yes, I have a team) just had a baby. So I made her this cute baby beanie and old man style cardigan sweater. The set is modeled by the oh so lovely Travel Bear.


Don't worry, I'm still cooking, it's just hot here and I thought you might like to see what I've been up to.

Pumpkin: It's a Vegetable

Oh so you know that I've been focusing on vegetables all month. How I promised to spotlight them and show you hot great all these different vegetables are. Well Peabody and Helen threw yet another blog event into the mix that I simply wanted to participate in... Time to Make the Donuts! Only problem is that it is a donut event. Yes those delicious fried rings of dough that are ridiculously fattening. In a month that I'm focusing on vegetables. Who ever heard of a cabbage donut?

But, have no fear. I found a pumpkin donut recipe. Pumpkin is a vegetable. Pumpkin is very good for you too. It's loaded with phytonutrients which helps keep our skin young and protected from sunlight. Even when it's mixed with sugar and flour and deep fried.

So I was up in Michigan to celebrate my birthday on Sunday. Yay! I love birthdays! Really, I just love birthday cake and cards. I don't even care if I get presents as long as there's cake and cards. SO my sister M, my mom, my stepdad, Brain, and I were all up there and I figured this would be perfect because then the Brain and I aren't left trying to eat all the donuts in one morning before they get gross. Fried food doesn't stay good long usually.

I mixed the dough the night before, and Mom and I did a late night run to Meijers for buttermilk, baking soda, and what we could find for a donut cutter. The next morning, my sister M, helped bring sheet pans of raw donuts over while I was putting them in the oil. She also brought over empty pans for me to put the cooked donuts on. M also helped roll the donut holes in the spiced sugar. The Brain taste tested several of the donut holes as soon as M could roll them in sugar. My mom supervised to make sure I didn't catch the kitchen on fire while deep frying. And my stepdad helped by testing the experience of waking up to warm frosted donuts.They were delicious. I'm so glad we weren't left with all of them. I would have happily eaten them. And, because they were cake donuts, they stayed good until around 1pm when we fled from their delicious subliminal call to eat them. They might be good even longer than that. If you can get them to stick around that long.
And I didn't catch the kitchen on fire. Whew!

Pumpkin Donuts with Powdered Sugar Glaze and Spiced Sugar Donut Holes

from Bon Appetit

Spiced Sugar:

1 cup sugar

4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground nutmeg

Donuts:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

2 large egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp buttermilk

1 cup canned pure pumpkin

Canola oil (for deep frying)

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

Whipping cream

For spiced sugar:
Whisk all ingredients in medium bowl to blend.

For donuts:

Whisk first 8 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until blended (mixture will be grainy). Beat in egg, then yolks and vanilla. Gradually beat in buttermilk; beat in pumpkin in 4 additions. Using rubber spatula, fold in dry ingredients in 4 additions, blending gently after each addition. Cover with plastic and chill 3 hours.

Sprinkle 2 rimmed baking sheets lightly with flour.

Press out 1/3 of dough on floured surface to 1/2- to 2/3-inch thickness. Using 2 1/2 inch diameter round cutter, cut out dough rounds. Arrange on sheets. Repeat with remaining dough in 2 more batches. Gather dough scraps. Press out dough and cut out more dough rounds until all dough is used.

Using 1 inch diameter round cutter, cut out center of each dough round to make donuts and donut holes.

Line 2 baking sheets with several layers of paper towels.

Pour oil into large deep skillet to depth of 1 1/2 inches. Attach deep fry thermometer and heat oil to 365°F. to 375°F. Fry donut holes in 2 batches until golden brown, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Fry donuts, 3 or 4 at a time, until golden brown, adjusting heat to maintain temperature, about 1 minute per side. Using slotted spoon, transfer donuts to paper towels to drain. Cool completely.

For powdered sugar glaze:

Whisk powdered sugar and 4 tablespoons milk to blend. Make this up to 3 hours ahead.

Add donut holes to spiced sugar and toss to coat. Spread donuts on 1 side with glaze. Arrange glazed donuts, glazed side up, on racks. Let stand until glaze sets, about 15 minutes.