Brown Butter Baked Donuts

So what's the deal here? Am I supposed to call them donuts or doughnuts? I'm left in a conundrum. It seems like it can be either way! I'm going donuts, just because that is how I have always and forever done it. Ok then.

Donuts!

Yes. Baked donuts are a thing right now. They've become such a thing, that even though it seemed silly to get a donut pan, I put one on my Christmas list anyway. These are the first donuts in what I'm sure will be many varieties. They're a pretty basic version with some browned butter and just a regular ole glaze. Nothing too fancy here, because sometimes all you really want is a plain donut.

In the original recipe, there was a whole lot of nutmeg going on. Now don't get me wrong, nutmeg is a perfectly decent spice, but too much of it can be super overwhelming. Also, it seems a bit weird in a donut unless you're going totally holiday-themed. So I'm recommending NO nutmeg. I mean, add a pinch if you really like the stuff, but otherwise, these don't need them.

Brown Butter Baked Donuts

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, browned
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• FOR THE GLAZE:
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 2-4 Tablespoons water or milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

1. Place one of your oven racks in the upper third and preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease your donut pan and set aside for now.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together your flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Set that aside for the moment.
3. Brown your butter. Basically you melt your butter over medium-high heat until it starts turning brown and gives off that lovely nutty aroma. It changes pretty quickly, so keep your eye on it. Put that aside to cool a little.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together your egg, buttermilk and vanilla, then add in your browned butter and whisk some more.
5. Add those wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Dollop the dough into your prepared pan, about 3/4 full of batter per donut.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes. You can insert a toothpick or testing device to make sure that they are cooked through, as the tops do not really brown. Let them cool in the pan a little before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Now, make your glaze. Whisk together your sugar, milk/water and vanilla until you get the consistency you like. When your donuts are cool, dip them with the top side down into the glaze. You can sprinkle with toppings at this point or dip both sides to get more of a completely glazed donut thing going on. Set for 30 minutes and eat within two days before they go stale.

(Adapted from Joy the Baker)

In Pictures:

Whisk together your flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.

Brown your butter. Marvel in the delicious smell.

Whisk together the butter, egg, buttermilk and vanilla.

Mix your wet with your dry. Love the brown better specks.

Dollop into your donut pan and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes.

While they're baking, whip up your glaze. Some powdered sugar, milk and vanilla do the trick.

The tops don't brown or anything, so be careful not to overcook. These are also mostly a little overfull.

Let them cool in the pan a little, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Then dip in your glaze. You can just dip one side, or dip both if you want it fully glazed. Let those sit for 30 minutes if you can before chomping down!

Supernatural 9x10 "Road Trip"

Confused. Look confused and alarmed.

Well guys, the hellatus is over, though it hardly felt like a hiatus at all to me! Time flies and all that (especially during the holidays). Anyway, last we saw the brothers Winchester, things were not so good. Sam was possessed by Gadreel and killed Kevin, then left Dean alone in the aftermath. Castiel regained "his" grace by killing another angel and stealing his, and Crowley was still left tied up in the basement.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, Dean can at least finally tell Castiel why he had to be so very rude to him some episodes ago. But they don't have much of a plan for how to find and get Sam back. Because the only way to get Gadreel out of Sam's head is to get Sam to realize he's being possessed. Enter Crowley, who previously had hard-wired an angel and was able to get inside his brain, or energy, or whatever angels are made of.

Meanwhile, Gadreel is still doing Metatron's bidding, killing angels on a mysterious list. After he kills his heavenly prison tormenter, he's assigned the angel who was in prison with him all that time, and while you may hope that Gadreel would have some doubts about killing him, he of course is so focused on this greater good and redeeming himself, that he doesn't stop to think that maybe mass angel murder isn't really the way to go. Once you trust one deceiver, I guess you just trust them all.

I'll point you out of my brother, Gadreel, just you watch!

Anyhow, Dean must make a reluctant deal with Crowley for his help - to take him with them into the outside world. A field trip, as it were. They find one of Crowley's ex-minions to help track down the Impala that Gadreel also took, because he's just a dang jerk, and are able to track down Gadreel after he's just killed his best bud. It's a good thing they have Castiel all angel-powered up now, or things would not be going so well for Dean in getting Sam back.

They take Gadreel to some dingy warehouse for Crowley to work his mojo on him. He pokes Sammy's head with some needle things and is able to access some of the angel code. Namely, they are able to figure out that he's Gadreel, which Castiel gets very upset about indeed, and would very much like to kill him and all that. But no, he's still in Sam's body. We can't have none of that. But apparently Gadreel is so used to being tortured that it's going to be very difficult to access Sam in this manner. The only way they can think of is to have someone else also possess Sam and find him inside his head.

While Dean wants Castiel to do this, as obviously he is the more trustworthy of the two gents, he, alas, cannot. Because angels need permission to possess and la di da. But Crowley, now Crowley doesn't need permission. So Dean must make another deal - if Crowley can get Sam out, then he's free to go. So, Crowley smokes out of his body and into Sam's.

You have a little something there. Let me get it for you.

Enter Sam's brain. He's in a dream world where he thinks he's working on some ghoul case involving cheerleaders. Crowley shows up, and thanks to the secret code word from Dean, Poughkeepsie, he's able to convince Sam that things are not as they seem. Which is further evidenced by Gadreel showing up in his past possessed body and basically trying to beat them up a bunch. But Sam is strong enough and manages to take control.

So, Gadreel leaves his body and heads back to his previous one, that of Tahmoh Penikett for those that wanted to see more of him. Crowley also vacates the joint, just in time for Abaddon to catch up with him. Abaddon has some minion demons in tow with her as well, but they don't seem to be super attached to her as their leader. The battle for control over Hell commences now, I guess.

Then we have our final moment near the car. Sam is upset with Dean for lying to him again, because he was happy to die for the cause and yada yada. Dean is like, I'm poison so I'm going to go off on my own and kill Gadreel because everyone around me dies and boo hoo. Sam's like yeah you just go, just GO! Even though that's not the real problem here, just GO!

And Cas is left to look conflicted, as Cas is wont to do.

Random Thoughts:

- Have we seen Crowley's smoke before? I feel like maybe we have, but I forgot it was different and red. Kinda cool that he gets special smoke. Oh gosh, that sounds so ridiculous when you say it without context.

- You can be double possessed? Has that ever been a thing before? Hmm. I'm trying to think back and I'm not sure it was ever a thing before, but I could be wrong. Anyone remember?

- That little girl the angel bestie was holding was a bit creepy. Seriously, go back and watch her. She'll freak you out.

- I'm sure people are going to be quite upset that things between Sam and Dean are strained yet again, and that they are not hunting together, etc. and so forth. I'm sure it won't last long; it never does.

- I kind of would like to see Dean get into trouble like this sometime instead of it always being Sam who gets possessed and whatnot. I'm sure it's a conscious choice on the writers' part but it does start to become very samey.

- In case you're interested, I'm hosting a Blu-Ray giveaway that's open until this Sunday 1/19. Go enter it HERE.

Quotes:

Dean: I ain't rubbing you.
Crowley: God, no.

Crowley: The poor giant baby is in trouble again, isn't he?

Castiel: I have a vehicle. It stopped four miles from here, inexplicably.
Dean, minutes later, like he was expecting it: Yeah. It's out of gas.

Crowley: Really? What are you, a pimp?
Castiel: I like it.

Crowley: Eat me.


Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Giveaway! Seasons of Mad Men, Nurse Jackie, Weeds and Boss on BluRay

And the winner is... Megon Burkit! Congratulations! Hope you enjoy the BluRays! (Winner was chosen at random)

Christmas may be over, but that doesn't mean you can't still get a gift! I've got a prize pack of some random seasons of TV shows to give away today. Are you ready? Are you into it?

This is called a bit of Jen cleaning out her collection of shows she doesn't watch. I used to watch Mad Men, but I don't anymore. I know, sacrilege and blah blah. But my loss is your gain, people! I also never watched any of Nurse Jackie, Weeds or Boss. These are a bit random in the seasons department, I admit, but maybe some of you are missing some of these, or know just the right person for each one of them.

Or maybe you're a hoarder. No judging here.

The seasons up for grabs here are: Mad Men season 6, Nurse Jackie season 4, Weeds season 8, and Boss season 2. These are all on Blu-Ray (fancy!). That makes this pack worth about $100. I thought about splitting them up and doing separate giveaways, but you know what? I have even MORE stuff I can give away coming up, so let's be generous! None of these are opened or have ever been viewed, so you're not getting used sets or anything. BRAND. NEW.

HOW TO ENTER:

You can enter up to three times in the following ways:

1. Leave a comment here

2. Like my Facebook page and leave a comment there

3. Follow me on Twitter and RT the tweet about the giveaway

Entries will be accepted until Sunday January 19th at 11:59pm, and a winner will be chosen at random.

So, get entering! Spread the word! I'd love to have more of these giveaways, and it's more encouraging for me when lots of people enter.

Crescent Cookies (aka Mexican Wedding Cookies)

When I was a kid, I hated these cookies. I also did not know them as Crescent Cookies, but as Mexican Wedding Cookies, so maybe eating something called a wedding cookie did not sit well with the young me. Actually, no, it was the nuts. I absolutely, positively, did NOT want nuts in my cookies. You give me a chocolate chip cookie with hidden nuts in it and my nose would wrinkle in disgust. And these cookies? These are chock FULL of nuts!

Not gonna lie, I still don't much like my chocolate chip cookies with nuts in them, and actually I was quite skeptical that I would even enjoy these, but being one of my boyfriend's favorite cookies, decided I would try them. And you know what? I really like them! Yes, they are full of nuts, but they're pecans, and I think we can all agree that pecans are pretty great. I can pass over a walnut any day, but pecans are perfectly pleasant.

I guess this is a sign of growing up - liking cookies with nuts in them. I'm an actual adult now?! But I still like to eat boxed macaroni and cheese! Oh well.

These cookies are really simple to make. They're not overly sweet, but can satisfy your sweet tooth when you're having a craving. You can make them into different shapes, hence the name of Crescent Cookies as you can make them in a crescent shape, but I have most often seen them in balls, as made here.

Crescent Cookies
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 28 Cookies
Prep time: 00:10 

Cook time: 00:10 

Total time: 00:20

A typical holiday cookie treat, chock full of toasted pecans.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 5 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups chopped and toasted pecans
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the vanilla and water and mix together. Stir in flour and salt, then fold in the pecans, making sure they are evenly distributed.
3. Using walnut-sized portions, roll into crescent or round ball shapes. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F. While still warm, roll in powdered sugar.

In photos:

Toast and chop up your pecans. Or you can buy them already toasted if that's how you roll.

Dough it up! Cream together your butter and sugar, then add in the water and vanilla. Stir in the flour and salt.

 Then fold in your pecans until they are evenly distributed.

 Scoop out walnut-sized amounts onto your cookie sheet. You can keep them pretty close together as these don't really spread. As you can probably tell, we used a scoop for these. I highly recommend it. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F. They won't look much different coming out, but they will smell good.

While they're still warm, roll them around in powdered sugar.

Keep on rolling, rolling, rolling.

And you'll have a whole pan full!

Most Popular / Most Overlooked Recipes

I may be a few days behind the New Year, but I figure you get a week of reflecting back, right? Sure you do! Right now I'm reflecting on what baking/food posts on these here blog have been the most popular, and which have been the most overlooked. As you know, or you maybe don't know, I often give props to TV shows that I love, and also those that are underappreciated, so I figure, why not do that with some of my recipes too?

Now normally I would probably just do this for 2013, but because this is a brand new thing I haven't done before, I'm going to do alllll of my baking posts! Which maybe isn't as fair because the 2013 ones don't have the benefit of time like the older ones for most popular, but oh well! This is not science! Or is baking a science? An art? My boyfriend and I could not quite decide. It's an artful science! That you get to eat!

Onward!

Five Most Popular Recipes

Heath Toffee Bits Cookies

These are REALLY amazing. Soft, chewy, full of chocolate and toffee bits. Yum.

Homemade Fiber Bars

I know this is blurry. It was taken quite a while ago and sadly the camera I was using was not the best! Nonetheless, these are an alternative to buying fiber bars at the store.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Souffles

 I mean, who doesn't want to dig into their very own gooey chocolate chip cookie souffle?

Chewy Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are quite flat, so you may think they wouldn't be chewy. But they ARE! Pretty great chocolate chip cookie option.

Summer Berry Bundt Cake

This is probably just taunting you right now, huh? So summery and delightful! One of the best bundt cakes I've ever tasted, that's for sure.

Five Most Overlooked Recipes 

* These are a little more opinion based than the straight most-popular above. I included ones that have low numbers that I also think are really good, rather than just low numbers alone. *

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 

It saddens me that these have not been very popular on here. Of course, they're one of the older recipes before anyone knew about this blog, so that could be one contributing factor. Nonetheless, an older recipe does not mean a worse recipe (just sometimes worse photos!). These are great for anyone who likes peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. They are soft and delightful and not OVERLY peanut butter-y.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

 Literally my first recipe posted on here - EVER! You can see I did not know how to take pictures in the right kind of lighting. Maybe one day when I make this again I will update it! Anyway, this is something that is made almost every single year for Thanksgiving. It rolls your pie and your cake into one, and you really won't be able to resist the topping. One of my all-time favorites.

Nutella Swirl Peanut Butter Chip Blondies

 These are actually a more recent recipe. I'm not sure if Nutella is passe now or people see blondie and think I'd rather have a brownie, but in either case, they would be missing out. These are a great little bar with flavors that compliment each other without overwhelming each other. If you like Nutella at all, you should try this!

Cookie Bars 

These are serious crowd pleasers. I don't think I've ever had someone NOT like these. They are, granted, super sweet. But man, the gooeyness that the marshamallows give to these bars just send them over the top into amazingness.

Coffee Cake Muffins

 These are a great morning muffin. Or even a dessert muffin. You can make them in these big muffin tins so you eat only one, or do a regular-sized variety, but then you're gonna eat two. Or three. 

There you have it! I hope you do check out some of those overlooked ones. Honestly, I wouldn't post about them if I didn't fully back them as being really good. I also apologize for the terrible nature of some of the photographs. Yeesh! I swear I'm getting better! I mean, the toffee bits cookies ones are decent, right?!