So I know I have been lazy with this blog--probably because I do not have much motivation (or any readers for that matter.)
 Last night, busy taking advantage of my roommate being asleep and her laptop being open (with permission!) I got on to the Daring Bakers website and realized that I had two days to get my donuts challenge up there! To be honest, I was not excited about making donuts. I have made them before-- usually around Chanukkah we make them, and since it is just four of us around here--me my sister and two students at a womens yeshiva in Crown Heights-- there is no one to really enjoy or appreciate the goods, and I will just end up eating everything. (OK OK I know I ALWAYS end up eating everything anyway, but this felt different.)
        I was kind of ignoring the challenge and not thinking about it but last night with two days to the deadline I was like THAT IS IT! I have to just make it and that is it! At home every night I want to bake and Mom is always complaining that I am wasting her ingrediants, but here I have the ingrediants but no patience to bake.
      Anyway so today I was planning to make doughnuts, the yeast recipe because it required me going out to buy the least amount of ingrediants. I did not have all purpose flour-- only white whole wheat-- or margirine (Trying to be healthier this year) but then I decided to substitute applesauce for oil and just make whole wheat donuts. Why not? And since I had a bunch of mottling apples in the fridge (courtesy Hinda who gave me fruit  =D ) I figured I could make an apple cinnamon filling.
       But then, walking home with only two dollars in my pocket which I figured will be enough for some cinnamon, I passed by the outdoor display with the headbands I knew my sister wanted-- and they were on sale for two bucks! So I had to buy her it, being the amazing sister I am (COUGH COUGH COUGH). I figured we would all be happier with the headband then cinnamon.

      So tonight my friend who is also aparmenting came over for our weekly dinners. I did the salad and pizza and she brought feta cheese (for salad) and ice cream bars!!! Yay! Anyway on the menu was homemade pizza-- dough from scratch of course, with topping cheese sauce blah blah blah you get the picture.

    Pizzas were yum yum. After dinner though we had a chunk of dough left over and the wheels in my head started to turn... pizza dough is really similair to yeast doughnuts...a little sugar... hey that black banana sitting on the counter? why not? Before I knew it I mixed it all up and fried my self some pizza dough turned banana donuts. I covered them in sugar and they were good to go. For all you banana fans out there I do not think I will need to do much convincing. Bananas rock ergo anything made with them. Especially something deep fried and sugar dipped right? So here is the easiest donut recipe I think you will ever make. And its whole wheat! And you could split the dough in half in middle and make pizzas out of it. And it is a little bit cheating since I did not EXACTLY follow the recipes given but I stuck to the idea. And they looked kinda like regular donuts... well more like beignets but you know...

 So here are the recipes of the night:

PIZZA DOUGH
1 1/3 c warm water
1 packet instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour (white whole wheat)

Directions: dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let sit for ten minutes. When bubbly and fragrant, add
flour and salt. Let rise for as long as you have patience for (I had none so it did not rise but, please, it was fine.) ideally an hour and a half. Cover with tomato sauce and toppings.
TOPPING IDEAS: (mix and match to create your favorite kind. Try not to overdo it by the way.)
mushrooms, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs, fresh mozzerella, goat cheese, bleu cheese, feta cheese, mozzerella, cheddar, parmesan, chopped spinach, chopped broccoli, corn, pineapple, anchovies, tuna, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, beans, chickpeas, hearts of palm, baby corn, avocado, olives, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, pesto, ETC ETC ETC! Be creative!

AND NOW FOR THE UNBELIEVABLY EASY DONUT RECIPE!!

1 1/3 c warm water
1 packet instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour (white whole wheat)

6 tbsp sugar

DIRECTIONS: Let the yeast and sugar dissolve in warm water for ten minutes until bubbling. Add flour and salt plus more sugar, and a smushed banana. Knead together. Let rise one hour and a half. Dough will be sticky so just drop globs of it into three inches of hot canola oil, use a spatula (I used a plastic fork of course it melted but whatever) and let oil drain on paper towel. Then drown in sugar and enjoy the chewy sweet exterior, the springy, soft, supple middle, and that awesome fried banana taste that will just be awesome.

My FIRST Daring Baker's Challenge!!!

Fooling around on the internet over the summer, I stumbled on this great online community of cooks and bakers called the daring kitchen. I eagerly signed up and counted down the days until my first challenge would be announced, I know it sounds dorky, but it's true.

I have to admit I wasn't all that excited about making sugar cookies, I was looking forward to a cream  pie, cheesecake, ganache, or something else a little more luxurious. But cookies it was and the 26 page challenge details definitely did get me excited. Being the economizer I am I bought minimal supplies: parchment paper, which I had always wanted but never used before, and a disposable cookie sheet. Now I felt like a real baker.

The cookies dough was easy enough to make, using very simple ingredients, and rolling was great also. Annoyingly enough, my whole family wanted to get in on the fun, so I was trying to perfectly roll and cut out my cookies (without a cookie cutter I might add) surrounded by fifty eager fingers.

The theme for the challenge was Fall. A week before the Jewish high Holiday of Rosh Hashana, I knew I would make something in connection to it. I settled on shofars, the rams horn blown in synagogue on the holiday, and apples, which we dip in honey as a well known custom to have a sweet new year.

To make the apples, we used a shot glass to make a circle, then we used the tiny hole on the bottom of a funnel to make the rounded "applebottom" we cut a "bite" out of the apple using part of the shot glass, and used the "bite" as a leaf. Stems we cut out with a knife. Shofars were much easier: Using the same size shot glass we used a water bottle cap circle slightly off center and then cut it in half.

Baking the cookies was a charm. They were perfectly browned, and very very surprisingly the leaf and stem didnt crack off the cooled cookies like I thought it would. Also the cookies did not change sizes or shape which is a great blessing for sugar cookies. If I ever want to make sugar cookies again I will definitely be using this cookie recipe.

On to icing! This icing recipe was equally foolproof and amazing. Once made I used my finger to "paint" on the icing in a thin even layer, leaving a tiny one millimeter border at the edges. When the icing is too thick it doesnt frost nicely so that took expiriment.

For the shofars I used a chocolate icing (added cocoa to the royal icing recipe) which worked great. Unfortunately when it came to the icing for the apples I realized we didn't have any food coloring! Now that was a predicament! I decided against running out to the store and instead we used red tea essence of two teabags to color the pink frosting of the apple. For the apple stem we used a dab of chocolate icing and the leaf... That was another connundrum until we remembered the sprigs of mint we had in our yard. Yes real little mint leaves got glued on with icing to each cookie.

The platter looked cute and my mother was in love with them which is always nice. Personally I thought they tasted nasty, except I liked the mint taste. But they looked very cute and almost almost store bought, which is what I always strive for when baking.

So the recipe was easy to make and work with and if you have cookie cutters (and food coloring) you will probably have this recipe done in no time. And although the cookies have a bland sugar taste, kids love them, and they are a "crowd pleaser" due to the ooh and ahh affect of the icing and shapes. Had a great time on my first challenge and can't wait for the next one!