I'm back!

As I look back at the last time I posted (October!) I realize that it coincides perfectly with the start of my new job.  For the last 8 months, I have been so focused on my first graders that my poor blog has been neglected.  The good news is that somehow in the midst of a busy school year, I have been baking away!  For me, baking has always been relaxing... a nice break from crazy kids and lesson planning.  I thought since this is my first post in forever, I should do a recap of some of the yummy treats I've made over these past months:

December - lots of holiday treats... including Christmas cake pops, dark chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream and crushed candy cane, and milk chocolate mini cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and chocolate sprinkles!

January - Birthday cake and cupcakes for Matt's 30th Birthday!  Cinnamon swirl cake with cream cheese frosting, sprinkles, and not-so-well-planned-out "Happy Birthday" letters!

Also, vanilla cupcakes with raspberry buttercream.

March - Lemon layer cake with lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream.

April - I took a cake class and learned how to stack a layer cake and make buttercream flowers!

May - Sugar cookies and chocolate covered strawberries for a first grade tea party, almond berry cake for Mother's Day and wedding cake pops for Katie and Chase.

That gets me pretty caught up to June... and what a baking month June was!  I'll save that post for another day.  

Perfect Pear Crisp

If you ask Matt about his favorite dessert, he will say pear or peach crisp. I love it too. This weekend I went up to the fruit stand by our house and found some beautiful pears. They almost looked too pretty to cut up! I made a few changes to a pear crisp recipe that I found on Smitten Kitchen. The main change is that I did not have brandy. Instead I used a little almond extract. The end result was delicious, so I think it was a good substitution! I was able to use a vanilla bean that I bought a while ago and it was really fun. I've never baked with a real vanilla bean before. The vanilla and brown butter in this recipe gave the crisp a wonderful flavor. It was different from the usual cinnamon and nutmeg and I think it really let the flavor of the pears come through.

Pear Crisp with Vanilla Brown Butter

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Topping:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup almonds (I used sliced almonds)

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Pulse together flour, almonds, sugar, and salt in a food processor until nuts are finely chopped. Add butter and pulse until just blended. Coarsely crumble in a shallow baking dish and let chill in refrigerator for 1 hour (or up to 2 days in advance, covered).

Filling:

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon flour

3 lbs. pears, peeled and coarsely chopped (I used 7 ripe bartlett pears)

1 teaspoon almond extract

Scrape seeds from the vanilla bean into a small saucepan. Then add the whole pod and butter. Cook over medium-low heat, swirling pan occasionally, until butter is browned and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Be careful that the butter turns just brown - you don't want it to burn!

Stir together white and brown sugars, flour, and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Add pears and almond extract and toss to combine.

The pears already tasted delicious at this point... I couldn't wait to taste them after they came out of the oven with the crumbly topping!

Discard vanilla pod from butter mixture and toss the butter with the pears. I let my butter cool for about 10 minutes while I peeled and chopped my pears.

Spoon filling into a large baking dish and sprinkle with topping. Bake at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes, until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbling.

Cool for about 10 minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Blueberry Ricotta Muffins

Who doesn't love blueberry muffins? They are the perfect start to a morning. This was a delicious recipe that wasn't too sweet and had just the right texture - light and fluffy, but hearty enough to make a good breakfast or snack. I loved the brightness of the lime zest, as well.

Blueberry Ricotta Muffins

Adapted from Culinerapy

3/4 cup ricotta, at room temperature

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2/3 cup sugar

Finely grated zest of 1 lime

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk the ricotta, eggs, and vanilla together, then stir in the melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lime zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant - yum!

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix these dry ingredients in with the lime-infused sugar. Pour the ricotta mixture on top of the dry ingredients and gently but quickly stir to blend. The batter will be thick and heavy. Gently fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter evenly in the muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops of the muffins are golden and springy to the touch.

Doughnut Time

I think Matt just became the most popular officer in the West precinct. He brought in 3 dozen doughnuts. I don't know what it is about cops and doughnuts, but they do have a special appreciation for this sweet treat.

Ever since Matt's grandpa gave us a deep fryer, I have wanted to try making doughnuts. Now that we have brought out the deep fryer for some other tasty treats (french fries, onion rings, sweet potato fries, beer-batter fish and chips...) I figured it was doughnut time. As I was searching for a recipe, I came across many types. Some doughnut recipes have a cake-like batter, while others have a yeast dough. Since I've recently become a little more confident with yeast dough, I decided to give it a try. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com.

Crispy and Creamy Doughnuts

2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (105 - 115 degrees)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup shortening

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 quart vegetable oil for frying

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.

In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix for a few minutes on low speed.

Beat in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic (I used the dough hook attachment for this).

Let the dough rise, covered, in a greased bowl until doubled in size. The dough is ready if you touch it and the indentation remains instead of springing back.

On a lightly floured surface, gently roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a doughnut cutter, or a set of small cookie cutters in different sizes.

Doughnut cutter that used to be my Grandma's

Place doughnuts onto a cookie sheet, cover, and allow to rise again until doubled in size.

Don't forget to save to doughnut holes! I used the scraps to make some twisty shapes. They weren't pretty, but they were delicious.

Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees. Slide doughnuts into the hot oil and fry on each side until golden brown - just a minute or two for each side. Remove from hot oil to drain on a rack and top with glaze.

Glaze station!

Since this was my first time making doughnuts, I wanted to try out a few different kinds of glazes. The favorites seemed to be maple and plain glaze, and Matt loved the ones that I tossed in cinnamon sugar. The trick is to get the toppings on while the doughnuts are still warm. That way, everything sticks and coats the doughnuts nicely. Here are the toppings I used:

Cinnamon Sugar topping

This was the simplest and one of the tastiest, in my opinion! I just mixed about 1/2 cup sugar with a few tablespoons of cinnamon and tossed warm doughnuts in the mixture.

Powdered Sugar topping

Simply toss warm doughnuts in powdered sugar until coated.

Maple Glaze

found at Prudence Pennywise

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons maple extract

4 tablespoons milk

Mix ingredients together until smooth and brush onto warm doughnuts with a pastry brush.

Chocolate Glaze

from allrecipes.com

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a double-boiler over hot (but not boiling) water, combine chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add in vanilla. Using a small spatula, spread over warm doughnuts.

Classic Glaze

found with the doughnut recipe at allrecipes.com

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 tablespoons hot water (or as needed)

In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in hot water until the glaze is thin, but not watery. Dip warm doughnuts directly in glaze, turning to coat. Place on cooling rack to harden and allow excess glaze to run off.