Glazed Doughnut Recipe.

I am absolutely in love with Doughnuts and when I happened to stumble across a rather delicious sounding recipe for Krispy Kreme style doughnuts, I knew I had to try them. They are honestly bloody gorgeous and just like Krispy Kreme with a lovely soft, doughy middle and crisp outside and oh my, the glaze... so sweet and delicious! I could literally just eat a whole bowl of it but, I think I'd feel a bit chubby after that. I made all different sizes and all of them worked out great and looked amazing and I even used some of the mini ones to make these lovely little Doughnut Cupcakes which, I will be posting the recipe for soon. I have such a sweet tooth and doughnut obsession so, they were the perfect treat for me and if you also love doughnuts and would like to make some homemade doughnuts as good as Krispy Kreme, I highly recommend you try this recipe. There's a great and helpful page to see the original recipe with pictures here.

Remember, if you don't want to make the full 30 doughnuts though (which is roughly what I ended up with :/) don't forget to half the recipe! I started weighing out the ingredients thinking, wow this recipe uses a lot of ingredients and then only when I had already mixed the full amount of yeast with the water did I decide to check how many doughnuts the recipe actually made. 39! :O From then on I started doing a third of the weight of each ingredient however, because I have so much common sense :/ I accidently forgot to do a third of the sugar and vegetable fat and popped it straight into the bowl with the milk, water and yeast etc. so it was all soggy and then there was no going back. I had to make the full mix, my mixing bowl full to the brim and I ended up frying about 30 doughnuts and doughnut holes in the end. It was actually really fun though and definitely worth it for the end result as it's not something I'd typically make in everyday life so, it's quite exciting to be able to make some doughnuts like the ones you buy from a shop. They also taste lovely and even if you do make the full 30 doughnuts, I guarantee you will eat almost all of them, if not all of them. I thought, 30 doughnuts! That's insane, we'll never eat them all but, I think in the end there were only two left which, ended up going to the dogs which, I think they were pretty happy about.  

Recipe - makes 30 doughnuts (about 10 small, 10 medium and 10 large krispy kreme size doughnuts).

For the Doughnuts -

 

3  7g packages yeast (21g total)
120ml water  (40-46C)
530ml milk, boiled, then cooled
170g caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 eggs
113g vegetable fat
 940g plain flour
 vegetable oil for frying

For the Glaze-
115g butter
375g icing sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla essence
100ml evaporated milk

 

Method

 

1. Proof your yeast by adding it to the warm water.  Mix it up and let it rest.

 

2. Scald (bring to the boil) the milk in your microwave or on top of your stove, and let it cool.

3. Combine the yeast, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, vegetable fat and 375g of the flour.

4. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl constantly.

5. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.

6. Carefully stir in remaining flour until smooth.

7. Cover with oiled cling film and let rise in a warm place until double, 60 minutes. 

 

8. After the dough has risen, turn the dough onto a floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour.

9. Gently roll dough to about 6mm thick with a floured rolling pin.

10. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. (I didn't have a doughnut cutter and just used a selection of round objects I found in my house from a Sherry glass, a Cup and a medium sized round cookie cutter. I then used different sized round piping nozzles to cut out the centres.)  Separate the doughnuts and holes, as they take different frying times (but are equally delicious).  Save your scraps - they are both great to test your frying time and to snack on while you're making the rest!

11. Cover and let rise until double, 30-40 minutes. (This is optional, mine were fine without extra rising but, if you want more doughnuts or chunkier doughnuts, feel free to let rise.)

 

12. I used a deep fat fryer to fry my doughnuts which, worked great. If you don't have one I'd use a deep pan half filled with oil. Heat your oil to 180C.
note. use a doughnut hole or scraps to check the temperature and frying times.

 

13. Carefully place the doughnuts in the oil, a few at a time to prevent over browning/burning.  Cook on each side for about one minute. Remove from the oil when bronze and place on greaseproof paper or kitchen towel if you would like to drain a bit of the oil. Leave to cool.

 

14. Now prepare the glaze because it can sit at room temperature. Melt the butter and stir in the icing sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add the milk and stir. If you would like it a bit runnier add a touch more milk or some water until the desired consistency is reached. Now dip the cooled doughnuts into the glaze on both sides and return to the greaseproof paper so, the glaze can set.

 

Then enjoy!

 

Thankyou for reading!

Love Courts x

Mini Egg and Bacon Tarts with Polenta and Pesto Roasted Peppers.

 

I made this recipe a fair few weeks ago now but, I completely forgot to post about it until now. I really enjoyed it at the time as it was very different to any of the meals I've ever made before and I always think it's nice to try new things. The roasted red peppers with polenta, pesto and halloumi were absolutely gorgeous and really flavourful and the mini egg and bacon tarts were really tasty and cute. It did take quite a bit of time to prepare everything and to get everything ready but, it was definitely worth it as it all tasted delicious in the end. The peppers actually didn't take long to prepare at all and so if you are a fan of polenta, pesto, red peppers and/or halloumi then I would definitely recommend giving these peppers a try as they are quick, tasty and a really unique little side dish that could accompany so many different things from pizza to quiche or chicken to sausages. Whatever you like. I am in love with halloumi and pesto at the moment so they were particularly great for me as well. I then served them alongside my little egg and bacon tarts (a vegetarian version for me ofcourse and real bacon for the family)  and they went together great. The slight sweetness from the peppers went perfectly with the savoury flavour from the tarts.

 

I will admit though that the preparing of the tarts didn't go too well initially :/. I didn't really feel like putting greaseproof paper and baking beans in the bottom of each individual little pastry case and so  I decided to just pop them straight in the oven without the baking beans and thought, what could possibly go wrong? Well, apparently the whole tart goes wrong. The pastry sinks and collapses and goes all soggy and although, I already knew this was likely to happen for some reason I thought, ten minutes in the oven... I'm sure they'll be fine. They weren't. Me and mum were there trying to stretch the hot pastry; burning our hands and just so you know, it doesn't work anyway. And then we decided to squash some raw pastry into the holes and cracks and risk the oven again and at that point the cases weren't looking too professional but, once the filling was added I think they actually worked out quite nicely so, it all worked out in the end. I think they look really sweet and I love the cheerful little yellow egg yolk perched on top.

 

If you decide to make these little tarts yourself, and I really hope I haven't put you off as they are really yummy and quirky, don't be lazy like me and use some baking beans :P... or don't I guess, it seems it all works out in the end anyway. I really enjoyed them served warm with the peppers but, it is also suggested to eat them as picnic food with ketchup and I think that sounds really yummy. If you do decide to give this recipe a go or to just try the peppers or the tarts I hope you really enjoy them!

 

Recipe

 

For the mini egg and bacon tarts- makes 6

 

375g packet of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry

8 rashers bacon (or veggie bacon)

1 small red onion, finely diced

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp. chopped sage

75ml single cream

1 egg, beaten

6 egg yolks, separated (the whites can be used to make meringues or frozen and used later).

 

For the pesto polenta peppers- serves 4

 

2 tbsp. olive oil

1-2 tbsp. pesto

1x 500g pack ready-made polenta, cut into medium cubes

1 large red onion, cut into wedges

4 pointed red peppers, halved and deseeded

1x 225g pack lighter halloumi, sliced

handful of fresh basil leaves to serve.

 

Method

 

To make the egg and bacon tarts-

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. On a lightly floured surface roll the pastry sheet out until it is a few centimetres larger all around. Trim the edges, cut into 6 even squares, then use each square to line each hollow in a large, 6-hole muffin tin, or 6 individual ramekins. Don't worry if the corners stick up or look untidy. Chill for 20 minutes.

  

2. Line each pastry cup with a square of non-stick baking paper and fill with baking beans or dried pulses. Bake for 10 minutes then carefully remove the paper and beans and return to he oven for a further 5 minutes, until the pastry is just golden.

3. Meanwhile, lay 6 bacon rashers on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes. Set aside.

 

4. Chop the remaining 2 rashers of bacon and gently fry with the onion in the olive oil for 10 minutes, until the onion has softened but not coloured. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the sage, cream and beaten egg. Season.

 

5. Tuck a bacon rasher into each pastry cup, curling it around to fit. Divide the onion-and-cream mixture between the tarts and place one whole egg yolk in each. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the bacon rashers are just brown. Set aside to cool for a few minutes before turning out.

 

 

To make the pesto polenta peppers-

 

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. In a small bowl, mix the olive oil and pesto together until well combined. Put the polenta and red onion in a large mixing bowl and drizzle with half the pesto mixture. Toss until well coated.

 

2. Scatter the polenta and onion on a baking tray. Nestle the pepper halves on the baking tray and brush each with the remaining pesto mixture. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes and then top the peppers with the halloumi slices and cook for a further 10 minutes until golden.

 

3. Finally, scatter over the basil leaves to serve.

 

Now enjoy!

 

 

 

Thankyou for reading!

Love Courts x