While a donut with white frosting and a generous topping of rainbow sprinkles was never turned down, sugar donuts were always my favorite when I was a kid. I liked the subtle crunch of all that extra sugar on top of a light, fluffy donut. They’re still a top choice for me now, although I think they’ve lost their top ranking to plain, old-fashioned cake donuts. These sugar-topped donut muffins combine the best features of these two types of donut in a package that is easy to make and far lower in fat than a deep-fried pastry because it is baked in the oven.
The muffins in question here are fairly plain, with just a hint of nutmeg and splash of vanilla. Once baked, they are rolled in sugar and left to set a bit before being served. The result is a muffin with a fairly crisp outer layer that is very similar to the coating on a sugar donut. Sugar donuts typically use a yeasted dough. These use a fairly typical muffin batter to produce what would be a cakey donut. I used oil in the batter to help keep the muffins moist inside, imitating their deep-fried namesakes.
The oil has a second function here, too. It keeps the sides and base of the muffin soft – softer than using butter, since butter will caramelize with the muffin’s sugar while in the oven and eventually firm up the sides that are in contact with the muffin pan. This softness is important because it provides a good surface for sugar to stick to when you’re roling the muffins in sugar. Many donut muffin recipes that I’ve seen in the past call for a muffin to be dunked in butter before being rolled in sugar. This is effective, but not entirely necessary (especially since it adds quite a bit of fat to the recipe). Plenty of sugar will stick to a hot-from-the-oven muffin without applying any butter to its sides and base. I prefer to brush the top of the muffin with just a little bit of butter, then roll the whole thing in sugar. Be careful with your fingers when you handle the hot muffins, and place them on a wire cooling rack after dipping them to let the sugar fully adhere.
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Part cooking tool, part toy and – dare I say it? – all fun. I absolutely love the look of this Head Chefs Kids Kitchen Utensils set. Each kid-sized kitchen tool starts with a poseable figurine and is then topped off with a kitchen tool head. The concept sounds strange, but the execution is fantastic. The set is made entirely of food-grade silicone and includes a spoon, a spatula, a whisk, a measuring cup and a basting brush. The figurine handles not only bend in both their arms and legs, but have small suction cups attached to the bottoms of their feet to allow them to “stand” upright on a countertop.
The vast majority of kids cooking tools are only kids tools because they’re slightly smaller than regular kitchen tools. These are in a different league. They’re not inexpensive at almost $50 for the set (they’re sold individually, too), but they bring such a fun flair to the kitchen that they would still make an awesome gift for a culinarily inclined kid – or kid at heart.
via rare bird finds
Yogurt, sour cream and buttermilk can all be lumped into the same category when it comes to baking. They’re all dairy products that help to tenderize baked goods and can be a bit on the tangy side. At least, plain yogurt can be a bit on the tangy side. For years, it seemed like the only way you could buy yogurt was pumped full of sweeteners, flavorings and mashed up fruit. Plain yogurt has definitely enjoyed a resurgence in popularity over the past couple of years. Not only does this mean that we now have access to better quality yogurt, but there are more types of yogurt to choose from. Greek yogurt is the obvious example of this, as at least 50% of all recipes that include yogurt now seem to specify “Greek-style yogurt” over any other kind.
Greek yogurt is known for having a much thicker, creamier consistency than regular, non-Greek yogurt. It gets this texture from the way that it is produced, not from the introduction of gelatin or other stabilizers to the finished product. It starts out the same way as any other yogurt, with milk and an active yogurt culture, but before packaging the yogurt is strained to remove some the the excess whey from the yogurt and make it thicker. You can find flavored Greek yogurt cups in many shops, but the basic Greek yogurt is plain and has a slightly tart taste to it.
Most stores these days carry Greek yogurt. If your local markets don’t, or if the larger containers are prohibitively expensive, you can make your own approximation at home by straining regular plain yogurt. Simply line a sieve with a piece of cheesecloth (you can also just use a very finer strainer, if you don’t mind loosing a little bit of yogurt) and place some of the regular yogurt inside. Let the whey drain out for about 15 minutes, then measure out the required amount and continue with your recipe. If you want to make a bigger batch, you can strain a larger amount of your yogurt in the fridge, leaving the strainer over a bowl to drain for a couple of hours. You can then store the thickened yogurt in an airtight container until you’re ready to use it. Since Greek yogurt doesn’t use stabilizers, try to choose a natural yogurt, if possible, as a substitute.
When I was little, I was once given a kids “spy kit” that included things like a magnifying glass, a badge and something that looked like a book, but was really a treasure box. The box was the best part of the kit; it really looked like a book and when it was on a shelf, you’d never even know it was there. I like to think that the same idea is behind the very sweet Romeo and Julienne Cutting Board. The cutting board is made from solid beechwood and is cut into the size and shape of a book. It has notches around the binding, a title and author/designer printed down the side, and it measures about 6×9.5-inches. The title is obviously a cute foodie play off of “Romeo and Juliette.”Perhaps, if the cutting board were actually a book, it would be about to star-crossed vegetables – things that don’t really seem to go together at first – coming together at last in a sweet dish or a savory one. I’m imagining potato chip cookies for the sweet and a spaghetti frittata for the savory.
I always make too much spaghetti when I cook it for dinner. In fact, I always make too much pasta of any shape. In an effort to control the problem, I used to try and measure out how much pasta I was using with a scale or a measuring cup, but since I inevitably ended up throwing an extra handful or two into the pot (it never really looked like enough just sitting there!), I have long since given that up and am resigned to the fact that I’ll just always have more pasta than I can eat in one sitting.
Making a frittata is one of the best ways to use leftover pasta. You can use any size or shape of pasta, regardless of whether it was cooked with sauce, sausage or any other extra ingredients. The leftover pasta is stirred into a mixture of eggs and cheese, then cooked the same way that any other frittata is: cooked until set on the stovetop, then cooked under the broiler to finish it off. Spaghetti is my favorite type of pasta to use in a dish like this. My leftover pasta almost always has some marinara sauce still on it, and I mix that leftover sauce into the frittata as well. For this particular frittata, I also stirred in some fresh diced tomato and some feta cheese – delicious! The eggs hold everything together well and the dish is so unique and tasty (not to mention easy) that you’ll probably make it again and again. Vary the cheese and other add-ins to suit your tastes.
You can cut down on the number of egg yolks by substituting 2 egg whites for one of the whole eggs. I wouldn’t recommend cutting back on the number of eggs, however. The eggs are what give the dish structure, hold it together and make it really exceptional – not to mention that they keep it from being a sticky pile of leftover noodles.
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