Easy & Quick Baked Doughnuts with a Chocolate Ganache Glaze

My kiddo whom I lovingly refer to as 'Little Miss A' is a huge huge doughnut lover. She has loved those dunkin doughnuts for a long time. Now, she looks at pictures and asks me to make them at home. Guess, shes just like her Dad - ask mom to make something and she will do it types. No complains there. I love to cook food for these two most important people in my life - and it makes me very happy when I see them savoring every bite. Its like 'Mission Accomplished'
Now, traditional doughnuts are fried and then to top it they also have that sugary glaze - too many calories to indulge in on a regular basis. So, I was very fascinated when I saw these doughnut baking pans. I purchased one to make them for her. I saw quite a few recipes that used cake mix to make these baked doughnuts. I do not use cake mix and hence I kinda put baking these aside. Untill this Monday - 'Little Miss A' just sat breathing down my neck - saying doughnut doughnut since she woke up in the morning. So, the evening was spent in making these yummy fluffy treats.
She was happy - and I got the stamp of approval from her dad too.

Ingredients

For Doughnuts

1 cup All Purpose Flour/Maida

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

1/4 cup oil (I used canola)

1/4 cup yogurt

1/4 cup water

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

For Chocolate Ganache Frosting

1/2 cup chocolate chips

2 teaspoons milk

1/2 teaspoon butter

colorfull funfetti for added garnish

Method

To make the Ganache

microwave the chocolate chips, milk and butter in a bowl at 30 second intervals 2 times. Mix well till you get a nice and velvety chocolate sauce. Let this sauce/ganache cool down before you frost the doughnuts.

To make the Doughnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Add sugar, salt, flour, baking soda in a mixing bowl. Mix well and let it sit aside.
In another mixing bowl add oil, yogurt, water, egg, vanilla essence, vinegar and mix well till everything is combined. Now add this mixture into the dry mixture and combine everything well. Do not overmix.

Grease your doughnut pan with oil. 

You can use an icing bag, a doughnut pouring bottle, those ketchup bottles you get or just a simple ziploc back (cut a small hole in the corner to pour the batter). Add the batter to the doughnut mould/pan - just fill half of it (as shown in the picture) 

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes till the tops turn a nice golden brown. Remove them from the pan and let them cool on a wire rack. The color should be like its in the picture below.

Dip the doughnut in the ganache and then let ti sit on the wire rack. You can sprinkle some funfetti for added color.
Savor with a cup of coffee or with a glass of milk.

We baked a total of 12 doughnuts with these measurements. If you do not have a doughnut pan - you can make them in a mini muffin pan (they will resemble doughnut holes) or even a cupcake pan (here the baking time may vary - just insert a toothpick and see its baked through in 12 to 15 minutes)

Chicken Kosha (A Bengali Take on Chicken Achari)

There was a time I used to be intimated to use mustard oil in cooking. But, over time I have understood how to cook with this humble but pungent ingredient.
If it is cooked properly - this oil can make anything taste divine and the golden hue that the dish gets on completion is a sight sent from heaven...... yes, that how I feel.

People who have disliked mustard oil - did not even know that this stuff was cooked in it and they lapped it up with the parathas that this dish was served with. Well.......... that a big compliment in itself.
In Bengal - they make a dish called 'Kosha Mangsho' which a layman calls as Chicken Kosha. I just gave it a twist by making it with the pickling spices.
It is still very much a Bengali dish I feel - as it has the use of mustard oil.

Ingredients

For Marination

2 pounds chicken - I used boneless skinless thighs cut into 2 inch pieces.
1 teaspoon kalonji/onion seeds
1 tablespoon mustard oil (mustard oil is preferred - but, you can use any oil that you are comfortable with)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1  teaspoon ginger garlic paste

For Achari Masala

5 green cardamoms
5 cloves
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf/tejpatta
1 tablespoon fennel seeds/saunf
1 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
1/8 teaspoon fenugreek seeds/methi seeds
5 to 6 dries kashmiri chili (you can add more or less as per your spice preference)
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida/hing

For Curry

1 tablespoon mustard oil (mustard oil is preferred - but, you can use any oil that you are comfortable with)
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf/tejpatta
2 big oinions - finely chopped
2 big tomatoes - chopped
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
1/2 cup beaten yogurt.
1/2 cup water
salt to taste
chopped cilantro for garnish

Method

Marinate the chicken pieces with all the ingredients mentioned under the 'for marination' tab and let it sit for 1 to 2 hours in a refrigerator.
In the mean time - dry roast the ingredients under the 'for achari masala' tab one by one except the asafoetida. Be careful to roast them on a low medium flame and do not burn the whole masalas. Once they are cooled down, grind it to a coarse powder in a grinder. over and keep it aside.
In a kadahi or saucepan or Pan - add 1 tablespoon of mustard oil and let it come to smoking point. Then lower the heat. To this add 1 cinnamom piece and 1 tejpatta. Now add chopped onions and fry till they turn a golden brown. Now add 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste and mix till the raw smell goes off. Then add chopped tomatoes and saute till the oil leaves the sides of the pan. Now get the pan off the heat and stir in 1/2 cup of yogurt. Mix well. Keep it back on the gas stove and keep mixing - be careful that the yogurt does not curdle. Now add the masala powder and salt as per taste and mix well. Add 1/2 cup of water and the chicken pieces. Cover and let it cook for 20 to 30 minutes on medium flame. Check if the chicken is cooked. Adjust the salt. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with roti or rice.

Bread Pudding

I always wondered how this bread pudding tasted - the recipe always made use of stale bread and eggs with milk and spices together baked to a golden brown - served with ice-cream and some kind of sauce....... which was generally a bourbon sauce as bread pudding is a delicacy from the Southern States of America where bourbon and whiskey are loved plenty.
I had tasted this amazing bread pudding at our favorite restaurant "Bubba Gump" and had fallen in love with the bread, nutmeg and cinnamon together with that awesome sauce.
Had been wanting to recreate this dish for a long time - but, never came around to making it. The other day I had baked white bread at home and somehow it was not used up. Home made bread tends to get spoilt in 2 days. Hence had to use it up. That's when the hubby asked me to make this dish.
The recipe is a little bit from here, a little from there. Frankly, its the same recipe if you see it everywhere, just a teaspoon extra of this or a pinch more of that.

Ingredients

7 cups bread - bite size pieces of white bread or baguette
2 tablespoons butter - melted
2 cups milk
2 cups sugar - you can use brown sugar to get that brown color.
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg powder
1/2 teaspoon allspice powder
4 eggs
1/2 cup black raisins
1/2 cup pecans - chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. On a cookie sheet spread the bread pieces and then cover the bread with the melted butter. Put this cookie sheet int he oven and get the bread a little crisp, say for 10 minutes. In the meantime - in a big mixing bowl take the milk, sugar, spices and eggs and mix well and make it into a custard. Add the raisins and the pecans and then the crisp bread to the mixing bowl and cover the bread with the custard mixture. Take a 13X9 baking dish and grease it. Now add the bread and custard mixture to it. Bake it in 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes. If the top starts getting brown, just cover it with an aluminum foil and bake for the full 45 minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce.

You can just add a bit extra zing to this pudding by soaking the raisins and the pecans in 1/4 cup bourbon for 24 hours (or more) and then use it to make the bread pudding. It will be a slight bit boozy and will have a southern kick to it.

Quick Guacamole (in the food processor)

It was one of those wintry February evenings when we were just too bored and were trying to think of what to do to make it a fun evening - the winter this year was too harsh and most of the times we were stuck inside the home.
So, it was going to be movie time with some chips and store bought salsa. But, then I saw this beautiful avacado that was sitting on my kitchen counter saying so lovingly....... pick me up.
So, we quickly whipped up this guacamole in the mini chopper (the handheld one) and savored it with some corn chips while watching Ice Age.

Ingredients

1 avocado
1/2 red onion
1/2 tomato
1 green chilli (you can add more if you want the heat)
juice of half a lemon
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (optional)
Chopped cilantro for garnishing (I did not have any cilantro and hence there is no garnish in the pictures)

Method

Cut the avocado, remove the seed and scoop the flesh into a mini chopper. To this add the onion, tomato and green chili, lemon juice, salt & peppers and mix in a pulse motion 5 to 6 times. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Savor with chips
Snack time - guacamole and chips.

Pretzel (Jalapeno & Pepper-jack cheese stuffed) - We Knead to Bake # 8

Bread #8 for the month of August in the year 2013 that we at "We Knead to Bake" were going to bake was hard pretzels.

After moving to the United States - hard pretzels were a delicacy and we used to eat it like the sev gathia (Indian snacks) that you get in India - I distinctly remember the same mention in one hindi movie too ........ sorry cannot recall the name of the movie - but do remember the actor who said it - it was Paresh Rawal.
So when Aparna who pens at My Diverse Kitchen gave us an option to bake soft pretzels if we liked - I said yes to it.
I had a soft pretzel only once at a mall. It was stuffed with cheese and pepperoni and had a nice sprinkle of white crystals of salt on top. I wanted to bake this one. However, could not use pepperoni as we were having guests over and they did not eat pork. So, the idea of the stuffing was some spicy cheese with jalapenos - hence the pepper jack cheese and jalapenos stuffed pretzels came into being in our kitchen.
Loved making these pretzels and stuffing them. We had it with a side of nacho cheese and some marinara sauce.
Again - an awesome bread that we made int eh group - a new learning for me.

I had baked this bread in time for the group - but, due to health reasons I could not write a blogpost and hence it is coming a tad bit late here on my blog. But....... as the saying goes........... its better late than never.

I adapted this recipe from "Guy Fieri - on the food network" & from "My Diverse Kitchen"

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm water, 110 degrees F
2 packages active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/2 cup for work surface
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 cups grated pepper jack cheese
4 jalapenos (seeds and veins removed) - chopped fine
2 tablespoons coarse sea salt

Method

Mix the yeast, sugar and warm water and let it sit for about 15 minutes till it gets nice and frothy - this is to proof the yeast.
You can mix this dough by hand too - however, I used my stand mixer. In a food processor or a stand mixer, using the dough blade combine the flour and the salt. Add one egg and the frothy yeast mixture and mix until the dough comes together.  Do not over mix, you just want the dough to come together.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times with your hands.  If dough feels sticky, add a little more flour.  Form the dough into a ball and make 12 equal portions of the dough.
Grate the pepperjack cheese and chop the jalapenos and keep them together on your work surface - I divided them into 12 equal portions each (as we were going to have 12 pretzels)
Roll one portion of the dough into a rectangle shape as shown in the above picture. Add one portion of the pepperjack cheese and jalapeno mixture. Roll the strip into a tube and form into a pretzel shape by looping and crossing the ends over each other, then tuck back onto the loop and pinch to seal.  Transfer to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  Repeat with remaining portions.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine remaining egg and milk.  Whisk to combine and set aside.  In another small bowl take the coarse sea salt.  Brush the pretzels liberally with the egg wash, then sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake 18-20 minutes until light golden brown.  Transfer pretzels to a wire rack to cool. Serve with cream cheese and hot coffee.