A Learning Experience

I came home today starving, so I reheated some gyozas. Amazing, folks!  I made a huge batch of these on Sunday, and froze them.  It only needed half a pound of meat (I used ground chicken), and it made about 30 pot stickers! All you have to do is sear the bottom and then steam them for 3 minutes.

                      YUM







I also must make a confession.  Today, I may have done something that was less than brilliant.  See, I have an addiction.  With popcorn.  Literally every day when I get home, immediately after dinner, I will make some stovetop popcorn.  I will then bring the pot in the living room for some quality time with my roomie and some Real Housewives.  Today didn't go so smoothly.

Yeah, the pan was so hot that it melted the carpet...my roomie's carpet. Awk.  Hopefully she still loves me!

If she still did, maybe not anymore....heehee

So much for my popcorn addiction.

I was also a failure in the gym department today, as I was too focused on carpet cleanup and scarfing down some fabulous gyozas.  Boo. 


While I was digesting dinner (and aforementioned popcorn), I decided to explore one of the most popular foods in the United States.  Over 10 billion of these products are consumed by the US alone each year (Source) 

Source
The doughnut.  Hundreds if not thousands different variations of them--and not one have I really caught on to (except for the occasional chocolate munchkin…).  Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate, cake, and sprinkles, but I would honestly rather have this than a Krispy Kreme. 

Still, ever since I saw a mini doughnut pan I wanted to expand my horizons and try something new.  After looking through a few blogs, I settled on this recipe.

Baked Chocolate Cake Doughnuts

1 cup all purpose flour


2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder


1teaspoon baking powder


1/4 teaspoon baking soda


2/3 cups sugar


1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg


1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt


2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil


1/4 cup buttermilk


1/4 cup yogurt


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1 large egg

Lightly grease a doughnut (or muffin) tin and preheat the oven to 350F.  Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda, and then whisk in the sugar, nutmeg and salt.

Add the butter, and using your fingers, rub it into the dry ingredients until it becomes coarse crumbs.

Ew...... The feeling of butter on your hands is the WORST

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix, or your doughnuts may be a bit rubbery.

Fill each cup 1/2 to 3/4 full.  Bake for 6 to 10 minutes (depending on the size of your doughnut pan), until the doughnuts spring back when touched.


Lara recommended using a piping bag to ensure even distribution of the batter as well as a cleaner finish in the pan. However, I puffed out my chest with my newly found badge of "Blogger" and neglected to use the piping bag.  This was the result:

FAIL

Try 2 with the piping bag

Much better :)

Lara also said that this batter makes about 15 mini doughnuts.  <--- I found that in using my mini doughnut pan, the amount of batter I had left over after three batches seemed enough for 1500 mini doughnuts. So come on down, I have lots left over.

Overall, I was happy with the result, but I wished that the doughnut was a little more dense.  The consistency reminded me of a cupcake, and, not to bash on the doughnut, but if I were to want something that tasted like a cupcake, I would want a cupcake.

So tomorrow, I will attempt once again on the marvel that is a doughnut--but with new ingredients.  And I will make microwave popcorn.

To be continued : )

PS Don't worry Vanessa, come Tuesday at work I will have a load of these babies with your name on it!