Cheesecake Fruit Dip

Hubby and I went to a friend's house for dinner last night.  It's fairly customary with our friends that we usually bring dessert since I have a "thing" for baking and all things sweet.  And last night was no different.  Except there was no time for baking.  I had about an hour at home, after stopping by the grocery store, before we had to leave for dinner.  I kept thinking I could quick whip up a batch of cookies.  But cookies just weren't doing it for me. 

It hit me on the way to the grocery store.

Fruit dip. 

Perfect!  Why didn't I think of it sooner?

Years ago Hubby and I went to a dinner party. A fancy, catered, dinner party that my boss at the time hosted at her home.  The spread was impressive and delicious.  Though I don't recall most of what was served, one thing stood out.  A wonderful, creamy, cheesecake like dip in the midst of a tray of the most beautiful ripe plump strawberries.  What a heavenly little bite.  I had never had anything like it.  I couldn't get enough and must have eaten at least a dozen. 

So simple yet so memorable.

I have made a few variations of this dip over the years.  The original recipe had sour cream in it, however I used Greek yogurt last night and this new version will be my go to recipe from now on.  The dip has body but is light enough to easily dip into.  It comes together in minutes and couldn't be easier to make. 

It's a blank canvas for whatever cheesecake combination you can dream up.  Fruit, such as a strawberries, green apples, nectarines, pineapples and grapes are all great choices.  Chocolate wafer cookies, shortbread cookies or graham crackers also pair nicely.  And if you want to go salty, try dipping in pretzels and topping them with a slice of fruit. 

Though I haven't done this yet, I had the idea of placing a small bowl of graham crackers crumbs on the serving platter along with the fruit and cheesecake dip.  Plunge your fruit in the cheesecake dip then swipe it through the graham cracker crumbs for the total cheesecake experience.  Definitely trying that next time. 

If you are heading to a Memorial Day BBQ this weekend cheesecake fruit dip is an easy crowd pleasing dessert.  I'm quite certain you wouldn't come home with any leftovers.

Enjoy!

Cheesecake Fruit Dip
from The Ginger Snap Girl

8 ounce package of cream cheese
6 ounces plain non fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in a deep medium sized bowl.  Using a hand mixer, starting on low and increasing to medium high speed, blend until fully combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. 

Can be made two days ahead.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 

Serve with fresh fruit, cookies, graham crackers or whatever your heart desires!

Strawberry Jell-O Salad

I started a walk/run routine first thing in the morning.  And when I say routine, I mean I've done it 4 times in the last 5 days.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good start.  But in reality, I don't trust myself.  I need to check back in a couple of weeks to determine if it really has the potential to be a routine.  I'm doing a 3 mile circuit and I walk some and run some.  My goal is to run the full route at some point.   I think it's necessary that this become a regular part of my day.  Mostly so I can eat more of this Strawberry Jell-O Salad and the array of other desserts my sweet tooth craves.

I've had my eye on this recipe ever since I bought Baked Explorations about a year and a half ago.  It was an easy pick when I was asked what recipe I wanted to host for this round of Club:Baked.  I can't say exactly why it originally caught my eye.  Probably because Jell-O brings me back to childhood.  My family never made a dessert quite like this when I was a child, but I can say my family surely enjoyed it when I brought it for a gathering this past weekend. 

I'm not exactly certain why it's called a salad...but call it what you want, it's damn tasty.  This dessert "salad" is layered in a 9x13 pan.  The bottom is a salty and slightly sweet crunchy pretzel crust.  The middle layer is smooth cream cheese filling that is lightened up by folding in fresh whipped cream.  The top is good old strawberry Jell-O from a box studded with fresh sliced strawberries.  Bring it all together in one bite and I'm a happy girl.

Each component of this recipe is easy to make.  It does require some planning ahead and a little bit of patience to allow the Jell-O to set up properly.  When I took my photos, I think my salad could have used a little more fridge time as it wasn't long until the Jell-O layer started to slowly slide off the cream cheese layer which resulted in far fewer photos than I would normally take. 

I doubled the recipe...sort of.  I wanted to take a full recipe to my family gathering on Sunday, but I didn't think setting up a photo shoot at the event would be the best approach.  And it's not so classy to bring over a dessert that's already been cut into.  So I made a small version just for me!  Problem is I misread the amount of Jell-O thinking it called for a 3 ounce box, when it actually called for a 6 ounce box.  After I was already well into the recipe, I realized that I had double of everything except Jell-O.  Despite the miscalculation, it still worked out just fine.  I had slightly thicker pretzel and cream cheese layers than pictured in the Baked book, but in the end it all tasted delicious.

To see how other Club: Bakers "salads" turned out head over the Club: Baked site.  Enjoy!




Strawberry Jell-O Salad
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Ingredients:

Jell-O Layer
1 six ounce package strawberry Jell-O
2 cups fresh strawberries sliced (about 14 ounces)

Pretzel Crust
8 ounces salty pretzels (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 pieces
2 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar

Cream Cheese Layer
1 eight ounce page cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream

To make the Jell-O layer
Prepare the Jello-O according to the instructions on the package.  Stir in sliced strawberries and refrigerate until it is partially set (about 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of the container you use--I used an extra large, shallow bowl and it took 1 hour to partially set).  While you wait for the Jell-O, make the other components of the recipe.

To Make the Pretzel Crust
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Prepare a 9x13 pan by buttering the sides and bottom or spray with non stick cooking spray.

Using a food processor, place in the pretzels in 2 batches, pulsing until coarse crumbs form (don't over process into a powder).  If you don't have a food processor you can crush the pretzels in a zip top bag using a rolling pin or the smooth side of a meat mallet until coarse crumbs form.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter over low heat.  Whisk in the brown sugar and remove the pan from the heat.  Stir in the pretzel pieces until well combined.  Pour pretzel mixture into your prepared pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan.  You can use your hand or a flat metal measuring cup to press the crumbs into a crust.  Don't press crust up the sides of the pan.  Bake for 10 minutes and set aside to cool.

To Make the Cream Cheese Layer
Place the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl of stand mixer, or use a regular bowl and hand mixer (this is what I did) and beat on medium speed until fully combined (about 2 minutes).  In a clean bowl whip heavy cream on medium high speed with your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or you can whip it by hand with a whisk) until soft peaks form.  Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the whipped cream in batches into the cream cheese mixture until fully combined.

Assemble
Spread the cream cheese over the fully cooled crust.  Chill for 5 minutes in the refrigerator.  Pour the Jell-O over the cream cheese filling and cover and chill for 2 more hours or more before serving.

Store tightly covered and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Crumble Tart

This is a post of random thoughts...and eventually a strawberry tart.  Mostly because my mind refuses to focus on one train of thought at the moment.

Random thought #1:
Operation Baking GALS rocks.  I sent my first box of baked goods off to Afghanistan on May 8th and earlier this week I received emails from three soldiers expressing their thanks.  I can't tell you how cool it was to get those emails.  And it was extra cool, because each email addressed me as, "Ma'am."  So official!  The next round of baking starts on June 1st - 13th.  That means you have time to join the GALS and share some goodies with our troops overseas.   To join head to the Baking GALS site, check out the FAQ's and then click on "Register New Account".  Once you are registered you can access the teams and read about each solider(s) that team is baking for and choose a team to join.  I seriously wanted to join 3 different teams this time, but I'm taking it slow and going to just stick with one for my first few rounds.  Meanwhile, thoughts of cookies are dancing in my head.

Random thought #2:
In the wake of Facebook's (less than) stellar introduction to the stock market I am finally getting around to telling you all The Ginger Snap Girl now has a Facebook fan page!  Yeah!  For some reason I was nervous to put up a page.  What if no one "likes" my page?   But I can always count on my friends and family to be my cheering section.  So I'm super excited to have 46 likes.  If you'd like to make it 47, 48, 49 or magic number 50, check it out... facebook.com/thegingersnapgirl.  Like most things, now that I've done it, I wonder what the heck I was nervous about to begin with?

Random thought #3:
Are you all geared up for the Memorial Day weekend?  Do you have travel plans or barbecuing plans?  Tackling a home improvement project?  Or lounging on the beach?  All of these things sound pretty good to me.  We're keeping it low key over here.  Already did our Costco run to stock up on watermelons, blueberries and feta cheese, among other things.  Barbecuing is on the agenda, along with seeing The Avengers, maybe some planting in the garden/flower bed and dinner with friends at one of our favorite restaurants, California Shabu Shabu. 

Random thought #3.1:
Have you ever had shabu shabu?  We've only gone to one shabu shabu place, so I really have no clue how it compares to any other...but it's so good that we have no need to look further.  Shabu shabu is Japanese style of cooking your food in a pot of boiling water.  This is a do it yourself meal where you "swish-swish" thinly sliced meats and vegetables in a hot pot until cooked (which takes literally 5 seconds for beef).  The cooked stuff gets dipped in sauces and then eaten with rice.  The sauce is where it's at.  Honestly, the meat and veggies are just a vehicle in which to consume large portions of ponzu and sesame sauce (similar to peanut sauce).  So. Freakin'. Mouth wateringly delicious.  Can't wait.

Really random thought #4:
I had a dream last night that Hubby and I were on a long road trip, driving at night, pulling a boat behind our Jeep (we don't have a boat).  Then in slow motion I see headlights coming towards us.  In our lane.  It was a big old clunker car circa 1977.  We are headed straight for the clunker's headlights and I close my eyes waiting for impact.  But we just keep driving.  The car swerves and misses us, crashing into something on the side of the road.  What does that mean?  Never mind.  I am pretty sure I don't want to know.

Random thought #5:
This weekend marks the one year anniversary of the purchase of our ice cream maker.  I am SO making ice cream to celebrate.  Now the hard part....choosing a flavor.  Perhaps this Kit Kat Ice Cream?  Lime Sherbet?  My own concoction?

Random thought #6:
While working from home today I turned around from my desk to see this (sorry it's a little blurry)...

And this....

Random thought #7:
Holiday weekends make me think about childhood barbecues at my grandparents house and crave deviled eggs, potato salad and strawberry shortcake.  Three things I've never posted.  I need to work on that.

Random thought #8:
Enough with random thoughts. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Crumble Tart has been on my baking to do list for a year.  I first saw the recipe on Nick Malgieri's blog and bookmarked it.  Strawberry season passed last year and I never got around to making it.  I was recently reminded about it when Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures and Michelle of Brown Eyed Baker each posted beautiful renditions of what I knew would be an awesome tart.  So when I needed a dessert for Mother's Day, this was it! 

The tart starts with a sweet cookie crust.  Cream cheese goodness and strawberries fill the crust and a chunky, crunchy crumb adorns the top.  The tart was a hit with the fam, just one lonely peace remaining.  If you're looking for a special dessert to bring to a Memorial Day party, this would be perfect. 

This dessert is not hard to make.  It is however, time consuming.  Make the cookie crust dough the day before.  It requires chilling time before you roll it out and more chilling time after you roll it out.  But don't bake it yet.  Cover it and store in the fridge.  Bake the crust and the crumble topping at the same time on the day you plan to serve the tart.  Mix the cream cheese filling and cut the berries while the crust and crumble bake.  Assemble it all no more than a few hours before you plan to serve it.  I found the crumble to crust/filling ratio to be a little high.  I only used about 3/4 of the crumble.  I left my tart at room temperature for about 3 hours prior to serving.  It didn't cut into the nice clean pieces I was hoping for.  Next time I will store the tart in the fridge until about an hour prior to serving this tasty tart!

For the recipe head over to Nick's blog.

Enjoy!

The Ginger Snap Girl Celebrates 2 Years with Cheesecake!

Two years ago today I stumbled into the blogging world.  Back then I didn't know where blogging would take me or how it would become such a huge part of my life.  I still don't know exactly where blogging will take me, but I do know that I love every minute of what goes into The Ginger Snap Girl. 

The Ginger Snap Girl is....

an incredible creative outlet.
my biggest fan.
my toughest critic.
a connection to great online friends.
a photography teacher.
always finding a new adventure in the kitchen.
a keeper of my thoughts.
a recipe box.
part of a wonderful community.
my alter ego.
making my pants hard to button.
a journal of sorts.
an excuse to make ridiculously decadent desserts (a difficult sacrifice me and my skinny jeans make for my readers!).
my happy place.

The last two years have sped by faster than I care to admit.  Though this blog has been a wonderful documentation of stories and recipes, my real mission is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and cook or bake.  The most gratifying part of the blog is hearing that someone has made something I posted about.  It doesn't always turn out perfect.  But it strikes a conversation.  How can it be tweaked next time?  How can you customize it suit your tastes.  That's what I love.

I hope when you are reading about my three year blog anniversary next March that....

The Ginger Snap Girl has moved to her own domain name (already purchased...just need to make the leap).
GSG  has gotten a little makeover (nothing drastic like a face lift...but maybe a little boxtox here and there).
I've challenged myself to be a better photographer and storyteller. 
I've lost 5 pounds and my skinny jeans fit again.
I'm developing more and more of my own recipes.

To celebrate two years I wanted to make something I've never made before.  Cheesecake. 

In the realm of desserts cheesecake is not one that I typically gravitate to (plus it seemed intimidating to make).  I often find cheesecake to be too rich and dense for my taste.  But I had a cheesecake over the Christmas holiday that turned me into a believer!  My brother's girlfriend, Lindsay, brought homemade cheesecake to Christmas Eve.  When I took a bite it was light and soft and melted in my mouth.  I devoured my slice in short order.  Welcome to the family Lindsay!  Lucky for me she was kind enough to share her family recipe with me. 

This recipe is easy to make so don't let cheesecake intimidate you like it did me!  What is nice about it is that it doesn't require you to bake the cheesecake in a water bath.  Allow yourself plenty of time to make this because the baked cake needs time to chill completely in the refrigerator which takes at least 4 hours. 

The base of the cheesecake is a graham cracker crust studded with finely chopped pecans (or toasted almonds in my case).  The cheesecake layer is simply cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla.  In the final minutes of baking a topping consisting of sour cream, sugar and vanilla, goes on over the nearly baked cheesecake and then back in the oven for an additional 5 minutes of baking (or about 8 minutes in my case).  I love tartness of the sour cream layer which pairs perfectly with the light, fluffy, sweet cheesecake.  I topped my cheesecake with homemade lemon curd (link to recipe below) and fresh sliced strawberries.  Pure indulgence and totally worth undoing the top button of your jeans to make room.

I'm excited to say I conquered my cheesecake fears and will most definitely be making this again.  This is a great base recipe that can be tweaked with various flavor profiles.  Like a chocolate cookie crust and caramel sauce or chocolate ganache or both on top.  Or a gingersnap crust with lemon curd.  A graham cracker crust with apple compote or fresh berries.  So many options...

Here's to cheesecake and another great year! 

Enjoy!

Ingrid's New York Cheesecake


For the crust:
1 1/2 cups graham crackers
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans (I used toasted almonds)
5 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

For the filling:
3 eight ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (I used 2 teaspoons)

For the sour cream layer:
16 ounces sour cream (don't use light or low fat)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil and assemble a 9 or 10 inch spring form pan (I used a 9 inch pan).  Place the spring form pan on the lined baking sheet.

Start by making crust.  Mix graham cracker crumbs, pecans and sugar into a medium bowl.  Add melted butter and stir until well combined.  Press the mixture evenly in the bottom of your spring form pan to form the crust.  No need to bring the crust up the sides of the pan.

Next, make the cheesecake filling.  In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the cream cheese on medium for 2-3 minutes.  Slowly stream in the lightly beaten eggs.  Next slowly stream in the sugar and beat until fully combined, about 1 minute.  Add vanilla and mix until combined.  Pour cream cheese mixture on top of crust.  Bake for 50-55 minutes until cheesecake is just set, but slightly wobbly in the center.

About 5 minutes before the cheesecake is done baking, make the sour cream layer.  Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until fully combined.  Let the mixture sit at least 3 minutes and then pour on top of the baked cheesecake and bake for an additional 5-8 minutes.  The topping will appear glossy and will be just set.  Once set, turn oven off and prop open the oven door using a wooden spoon.  Allow cheese cake to cool in the oven for at least 20 minutes.  This should prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking.  Unfortunately mine still cracked anyway!

Transfer cheesecake still in the spring form pan to the refrigerator and chill for at least four hours or overnight. Do not take cheesecake out of the spring form pan until you are ready to serve it.  Top the cheesecake with your favorite topping.  Some ideas are fresh fruit, fruit compote, curd, chocolate ganache or caramel sauce.

Click here for the lemon curd recipe I used to top the cheesecake.

Lemon Cream Scones with Strawberry Glaze

The bad news is my blog posting schedule has gone to hell.  Sorry for those of you expecting to see new content every Tuesday and Thursday.  I've completely fallen off the wagon.  Mabye a schedule is overrated?  Or, maybe I'll just climb back up on the wagon.  I can't give up that easily, right? 

There is good news though......the strawberry streak continues!

I can't seem to get enough of these sweet treasures.  I stocked up again this past weekend at the farmer's market and immediately started thinking of ways to use my berries.  So many options....

I recently made scones for the first time and wanted to try another variation at home that would somehow incorporate strawberries.  Have you ever tried the orange cranberry scones from Trader Joe's?  It was TJ's scones that converted me to the pro-scone camp.  In my anti-scone days, my experience with this tea time treat was a dense, dry, doughy, under-sweetened biscuit.  Something that certainly wasn't worth the calories, I'll take a donut please!  For some reason I picked up a package of TJ's scones a few years back and they won me over.  Their scones are tender on the inside, laced with sweet orange flavor and tart cranberries.  But the best part about them is the glaze or icing drizzled on top.  That extra sweetness is where it's at!  I love how the glaze crackles a bit when you bite into it...totally worth the calories.  That got me thinking about a strawberry glazed scone...

I went in search of basic scone recipe to start with.  My Cook's Illustrated Cookbook provided several options and I decided on the "Simple Cream Scone".  I especially liked the "simple" part and it had potential for a variety of flavor options.  I dressed up the scone dough with lemon zest and lemon juice.  A nice match for a sweet strawberry glaze.  Now, I had to figure how to make strawberry glaze.  A faint memory brought me to my Sweet Melissa Baking Book and a fresh strawberry sauce recipe.  Add a little powdered sugar and you have glaze. 

The scone recipe turned out just how I had hoped, golden and slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside with the faint aroma of lemon.  The strawberry glaze wasn't "crunchy" like the TJ's scones.  I could have remedied that with adding more powdered sugar.  But ultimately I went with a thinner glaze to maintain the bright, fresh strawberry flavor. 

Some scone tips...don't overwork the dough. Work it just until it comes together and start forming the disc you will cut into wedges.  The more you work the dough, the tougher it become.  Bake until just golden without overbaking to ensure your scones stay moist.  Scones are best eaten the day they are made or the next day at the latest.  If you know you won't eat all the scones before they pass their peak, wrap the baked scones individually in foil and store in a ziptop bag with the air removed in the freezer.  When you are ready to enjoy a scone, preheat the oven to 375, remove foil and place the scone(s) on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until warmed through (bake for 10 minutes if scones are thawed in the fridge first).

A fun twist I plan to try next time is to make mini scones and serve the strawberry glaze as a dip for the mini's.

Enjoy!  

Lemon Cream Scones with Strawberry Glaze
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated Cookbook and Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Cook's Illustrated recipe is titled Simple Cream Scones.  Their recipe includes 1/2 cup of dried currants which are listed as optional.  I omitted the currants and added lemon zest and lemon juice to my version to compliment the strawberry glaze.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 teaspoons fresh grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup of heavy cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a food processor add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and pulse a few times until combined.  Add the chilled butter and lemon zest and pulse until the mixture looks like a coarse meal, about 12 pulses.  Dump mixture into a large bowl.  Stir lemon juice into the cream and pour into dry mixture.  Stir to combine and dough begins to form. 

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured workspace and knead until a sticky ball forms, only 5 to 10 seconds.  Pat dough into a inch round circle and cut into 8 even wedges.  Place wedges onto the prepared baking sheet evenly spaced apart.  Bake about 12 - 15 minutes until scones are lightly golden on top, rotating the baking sheet halfway through.  Cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for each 10 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

For the Strawberry Glaze

The base of this recipe comes from the Strawberry Sauce recipe in the Sweet Melissa Baking Book.  I added some powdered sugar to turn it from a sauce into a glaze. Note, the strawberry sauce recipe makes more than you will need for the scones.  You can use the leftover sauce as a topping for ice cream or to make homemade strawberry lemonade (another recipe you can find in the Sweet Melissa Baking Book).

Strawberry sauce:
1 pint of dry strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons cold water

Place all the ingredients in a small food processor or blender and puree until smooth.  Strain sauce through a fine mesh strainer and discard the seeds.

To make glaze:
Combine 3/4 cup powdered sugar with 1/4 cup of strawberry sauce in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.  Note, this makes for a very loose glaze, but it retains a nice bright red color and strong strawberry flavor.  For a thicker glaze add an additional 1/4 cup or more, of powdered sugar.

Strawberry Tid Bits and a Tart

I did it.  I ate all three baskets of strawberries I bought last Sunday at the farmer's market. 

By myself. 

It took me 6 days and three breakfasts of strawberries, yogurt and granola, one breakfast of berries with a Nutella scone, two desserts of strawberries dipped in Nutella and the finale was this strawberry tart.  And surprisingly, I am not sick of strawberries!  I am actually a little sad they are gone.  I might just be heading back to the farmer's market this week.

Storing Your Strawberries - Tip of the Day

I mentioned earlier this week, I've struggled in the past to store strawberries for more than a day or two without them growing mold or looking sad and sickly.  I've tried several methods which have all proven to be unsuccessful.  Some of these unsuccessful methods have included, storing them in the fruit drawer of the fridge in the packaging they come in; storing them in a cool, unrefrigerated, spot in the packaging they come in; washing the berries, removing the green tops, allowing them to fully dry and storing them in the fridge in a zip top bag with as much air removed as possible (this is the most successful of the unsuccessful methods).

Now that you know what doesn't work, I am happy to say I can now tell you what does work.  The lady who sold me the berries at the farmer's market shared her preferred method for storing these crimson beauties.  I tried her suggestion and I got 6 full days of beautiful berries.  I had eaten them all by day 6, but I have a feeling they could have gone at least another day or two, possibly more.  Here's the method:

1. Don't wash the berries until you are ready to use them
2. Remove any berries that are already soft or where the skin is broken and discard or set aside to eat (you could use these in a smoothie, strawberry sauce or strawberry puree)
3. Place a paper towel on the bottom of a tupperware container (with a tight fitting lid) large enough to hold all your berries 
4. Place the dry, unwashed, unblemished berries on top of the paper towel, in a single layer, preferably not allowing the berries to touch and top with another paper towel
5. Layer paper towels and berries until all your berries are stored, finishing with a paper towel on top of the last layer and store the tupperware in the refrigerator

When you are ready to use your berries, simply wash them, pat them dry (or let them air dry on a towel) and use.  This storage method has by far, been the best I've tried to date.  If you have strawberry storage tips I would love to hear about them in the comments section below.

Strawberry Facts

Did you know....

• 1 cup of strawberries has more vitamin C than an orange? 
• Strawberries are high in fiber, potassium and anti-oxidants (all good things from what I'm told)
• 1 cup of halved berries is approximately 50 calories and low in sugar
• Strawberries can be used for beauty purposes too...make a strawberry face mask consisting of berries, heavy cream and honey....sounds a lot like dessert to me!
• Strawberries are delicious (okay, this more my opinion than a fact)

Now let's talk tarts.  I pulled together two recipes I've had success with to come up with this personal sized strawberry tart (or you can also make one large 9 inch tart).  Back when I made these lemon tarts, I froze two mini tart crusts.  Figured it was about time to use them.  And remember the Boston cream pie I made late last year?  And how I RAVED about the pastry cream?  Yep, I made the vanilla pastry cream for this tart (though the chocolate pastry cream would be equally tasty). 

The sweet almond shortbread crust from the tart makes a great base to fill with thick, creamy vanilla custard.  It's like eating cookies and pudding.  Top it with fresh strawberries and you have a pretty irresistable dessert on your hands.

You can make this recipe over two days, making both the tart dough and pastry cream the day ahead.  You can either bake off the tart crust the day before and then wrap it in plastic wrap for filling the next day...or bake it the day you serve it.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Tart

Yields 4 mini tarts or 1 nine inch tart

Note: If you make the entire recipe in the same day, start by making the pastry cream since it needs to chill for a few hours. 

For the vanilla pastry cream filling:
adapted from Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito's Baked Explorations

Note: Only half a recipe is needed to fill 1 large tart or 4 mini tarts. The full recipe is listed below. This custard is delicious all on its own so feel free to make the full recipe.  You could even dip berries in it.

7 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons light rum (I omitted)

Set aside a medium heatproof bowl and fine mesh strainer.

Whisk egg yolks, half of the sugar, salt and cornstarch in a medium bowl until the mixture is pale, thick and smooth.

Bring the milk and remaining half of sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Once the mixture boils remove the pan from the heat and very slowly whisk 1/3 of the hot mixture into the egg mixture, whisking continuously (you don't want scrambled eggs).  Slowly pour the tempered egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk while continuously whisking.  Place the pan back on the stove over medium heat and continue to stir until mixture boils for 2 minutes (or until thick, like pudding).  Be careful not to overcook or burn the pastry cream or it will have a bitter aftertaste.

Remove the pan from the heat and strain the pastry cream into the medium bowl you previously set aside.  Stir in the butter and vanilla (and rum if using) until butter is melted and fully incorporated.  Allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes and then place plastic wrap directly on the surface to keep a skin from forming on the pastry.  Refrigerate until fully chilled and set, about 4 hours or overnight.

For the tart dough:
adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours

1 ½ cups all purpose flour (or 1/4 finely ground almonds or another nut and 1 ¼ cups flour) - I used nuts and flour

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 T) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

Place the flour (and ground nuts), sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Drop in pieces of cold butter and pulse until mixture has pea size lumps of butter.  Stir the yolk in small bowl and add it slowly to the flour mixture through the feeding tube, pulsing after each addition. Once the egg is in, hold the pulse button down for 10 seconds at time until the dough looks like curds.  Once you reach this point, turn the dough out onto a clean work surface.  Using your hands, knead the dough very lightly to incorporate all the dry ingredients.

Dorie recommends pressing the dough into a buttered 9-inch tart pan (or 4 mini tart pans) with a removable bottom, pressing the dough evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Be gentle with pressing the dough into the pan allowing the pieces to just come together.  Prick the bottom of the crust several times with a fork.  Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes prior to baking. 

The method I used is to gently roll the dough to 1/4 thick between two pieces of waxed paper or parchment, laying the dough into the buttered pan(s).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Use cooking spray or butter to coat the shiny side of aluminum foil and place it buttered side down, against the crust.   Place the tart pan(s) on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes for mini tarts and 25 minutes for a large tart.  Remove from oven and gently remove the foil.  If the crust puffs up just gently press it back down with the back of a spoon. Return to oven and cook for an additional 5 to 8 minutes or until set and golden brown.  Cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

For the strawberry topping:

3 cups of sweet, ripe, strawberries, washed, dried, hulled and sliced vertically into 1/8 - 1/4 inch slices.

Assemble the tart:

Wait until you are ready to serve your tart(s) before assembling so the crust does not get soggy.  Fill the tart(s) full with vanilla pastry cream.  Top the tart(s) with the sliced strawberries, in a circular pattern starting from the outside of the crust and working your way in, allowing the strawberries to overlap slightly.  Serve immediately.

Strawberries, Yogurt and Granola

If you read my last post you might have anticipated my next post would be for creamy mushroom soup.  Hope you aren't too disappointed to see berries instead.  The soup recipe came from a highly credible source, Cook's Illustrated.  The soup turned out okay, but I didn't love it.  I haven't given up on it though.  I have some ideas of what may have held this soup back from being great so I'll give another go at some point.

In the meantime, what I know is great, are fresh, ripe, sweet strawberries straight from the fields to the farmer's market.  Living in southern California gives me pretty good access to local berries early in the season.  The funny thing is I didn't have my first berries of the year at home.  Two weeks ago Hubby and I took a trip to the mid-west and I was pleasantly surprised when some phenomenal strawberries appeared on my yogurt and granola breakfast in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.  I thought perhaps it was a fluke.  Then last week I was in New Jersey for work and I had more amazing strawberries.  Really, really amazing.  I've had strawberries on the brain ever since.  I knew a trip to my local farmer's market was number one top priority business this past weekend. 

I wasn't disappointed.  The market was teeming with berries, some big, some small, some gi-normous.  I sampled the small berries and they had the most unbelievably sweet flavor.  Sold!  I'll take 3 baskets, please!  Hubby doesn't eat strawberries so that's 3 baskets of berry heaven all for me.  I decided the first order of business was a simple, but delicious, application of my new found treasures.  Vanilla yogurt topped with fresh cut berries and crunchy honey kissed granola.  I plan to rinse and repeat at least a few more days this week.  A great way to start the day!

I always struggle with storing strawberries.  I feel like they start growing mold the day after I bring them home.  So I asked the girl behind the table at the farmer's market how she recommends storing them.  She suggested placing a papertowel in the bottom of a tupperware and placing a single layer of berries down.  Cover with another paper towel and a layer of berries, and repeat.  Store the tupperware in the fridge.  I'm only on day two, but I think it's going to work.  I hope to be posting more strawberry focused posts this week so I'll let you know how this method holds up.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Yogurt with Strawberries and Granola

3/4 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, washed, stems removed and cut in quarters
1/3 cup granola (my favorite is honey flax granola from Fresh and Easy)

Place 1/2 of the yogurt in a small bowl and top with 1/2 of the granola.  Spoon the remaining yogurt on top and finish with berries and remaining granola.

Sweet Melissa Sundays Top 10 Favorite Recipes!

In April 2010 I started participating in the weekly online baking group, Sweet Melissa Sundays.  The group had already been baking their way through the Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy for about a year when I joined.  And the group posted the final recipe (of just over 100 recipes) on August 21, 2011.  In the past year and a half I've met some amazingly talented bakers and learned tons.  Before joining this group my baking repertoire consisted of mostly cookies, a few cakes or cupcakes and a pie here and there.   What I liked most about the group was being pushed outside my comfort zone.  Without the group I doubt I would have tried more than half the recipes that turned out to be some of my favorites. 

When I tasted each of the recipes below for the first time, I said, "wow".  For each and every one.  Literally, I said, "wow".  Out loud.  I love when you bite into something and you're not sure what to expect or think you know exactly what to expect, and you are pleasantly surprised and all you can say is "wow!" 

To wrap a year and a half of baking I wanted to put together a list of my favorites.  They are listed in order the group made them.  So without further adieu...

Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is the base for several recipes in the Sweet Melissa book.  It's incredibly moist and deep dark chocolaty.  I have an affinity for cakes made with sour cream and this one really knocks it out of the park if you are a chocolate lover.  I have made it several times and will continue to go to this as one of my top chocolate cake recipes. 

Gingersnaps

When I got my first turn to host a recipe for the group I had to go with Gingersnaps.  It only seemed right!  I was surprised at how much I liked these cookies, since I already have my own go to ginger snap recipe.  Melissa Murphy's version contains typical spices you might expect, like cinnamon, ginger and allspice, but what was really unique was the inclusion of white pepper.  Everything in my gut was telling me to omit the pepper, but I felt like I really had to do the recipe proper justice and follow it word for word.  And you know what?  The white pepper works!  It blends with other spices to make a perfectly sweet and mildly spicy cookie.  And it pairs beautifully with a lemon cream filling.

Blueberry and Almond Biscotti

What is a biscotti anyway?  It's essentially a twice baked cookie.  Round 1 is baked in a loaf form and then the loaf is sliced into the biscotti spears you are probably familiar with and those are baked again to get a nice crunchy texture.  I have never been a biscotti person.  Probably because I'm not a coffee drinker or a fan of crunchy cookies in general.  I had never made biscotti before and  I really didn't expect to like this.  I hate being wrong. But love it all at the same time because these biscotti are delicious and you don't need a hot beverage to enjoy them.  They also make great gifts since they keep well for several days. 

Melissa's recipe called for dried sour cherries, but I switched it up with dried blueberries instead.  What made this recipe for me was the lemon zest.  The lemon flavor is incredibly bright in this crunchy cookie, but not overly lemony.  This recipe opened my eyes to the possibility of making various flavors of biscotti (which I have on my to do list).

Sweet Almond Cake with Lemon Curd

Before joining SMS, I will be honest, most cakes I made were out of a box.  With the exception of carrot cake.  My family has a great carrot cake recipe that doesn't involve a box.  One day I'll get around to posting it on the blog.  What I didn't know was the various techniques used in making cakes from scratch.  This one calls for ground almonds and whipped egg whites in the batter.  You whip up the egg whites until they form stiff peaks (similar to making a meringue) and then gently fold the airy mixture into your cake.  I really don't know much about the science of baking, but I do know this cake is delicious with a lightly sweet almond flavor.  It has a lovely toothsome crumb from the ground almonds and a light moistness.  This cake would be a wonderful base for many fillings and frostings.  Speaking of fillings and frostings, the lemon curd and lemon mascarpone frosting that accompany this cake were not the stars for me.  I had to switch to lemon cream cheese frosting because I had trouble with the mascarpone.  This cake recipe, however, is on my list of keepers!

Mom's French Pancakes (aka Crepes)

Can you say yummy?  Can you say easy to make?  Can  you say "Oooh la la"! This recipe was another surprise winner!  I mean I knew I already loved crepes, I just doubted my ability to make these thin delicate little pancakes.  The ingredients are simple and the batter can (and is recommended) to be made the night before you make these little jewels.  I used a large non stick skillet and after making one or two crepes, really got the hang of it.  If you have not made crepes before, you must try them!  The options for filling them are endless....but my favorite combination is seen above.  Nutella and sliced bananas.  Simple.  Delicious!

Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pie

Though I am posting these in the order I made them and not in any preferential taste order, I will say this is a fantastic recipe and is among my top 3 favorites from the book (along with the chocolate cake and honey cream caramels).  I was completely blown away by the perfect marriage of lemon and blueberries amidst a creamy custardy filling.  And this pie is one of the easiest in the book to make.  Especially if you use a pre-made graham cracker crust from the grocery store (a slight diversion from the original recipe).  Melissa's recipe calls for traditional pie dough, but as I was making this pie for the second time for Mother's Day earlier this year, I had a crust mishap.  I used Melissa's all butter pie crust recipe and had major shrinkage occur.  Irreparable shrinkage.  At 11 pm on the eve of Mother's Day I went to the grocery store to buy a roll of Pillsbury pie dough, but at the last minute decided to go with a graham cracker crust.  You know the kind that you find in the baking aisle and comes in a foil pie tin with that cool plastic covering that doubles as a lid when you flip it over?  I have to say, I loved it!  I think this pie is even better than fantastic when made with a graham cracker crust.  Definitely a winner!

Pecan Frosting

I almost didn't make this recipe.  Melissa's original recipe is called Coconut Pecan Frosting, otherwise known as German chocolate cake frosting.  I really don't care for the texture of coconut and I'm generally not a fan of nuts in my dessert.  But the point of this group is going outside your comfort zone.  So I failed in that I didn't go completely outside my comfort zone.  I just took a small step.  I decided to simply omit the coconut from the recipe since that was the greater of two evils.  Imagine my surprise when I tasted the final product and loved it!  It really is less like a frosting and more like a candy topping.  My family loved it spread on graham crackers best.  But it would also make a delicious ice cream topping and it's not too bad with pumpkin cake either! 

Honey Cream Caramels

This was yet another goodie I had never made before.  I don't have anything against caramel candies.  I like them just fine, but there are a lot of other treats I would reach for first.  Luckily I didn't write this recipe off!  These caramels are soft and sweet and delicious.  I really didn't think I would like these as much as I did.  I kept going back to the kitchen and sneaking one more (I'm not sure who I was sneaking them from, but I felt a little guilty eating so many of these honey infused treasures).  This recipe is easy to make and caramels are another great giveaway treat because they store for up to two weeks in an airtight container.  They would also be delicious with a little sprinkling of sea salt before they completely set.  Honey Cream Caramels will be making it into my holiday baking rotation this Christmas!

Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves

Melissa shares a master preserves recipe that shares general ratios of fruit to sugar, acid, etc. and then has recipes for 5 different flavor variations.  This is one of those recipes that was widely praised by many members of the group.  I was able to make three variations, plum preserves, white nectarine cinnamon preserves and of course strawberry rhubarb. 

I feel like a broken record here, but preserves or jam was something I had not made before joining this group.  And I was surprised at how easy they are to make and delicious.  There's something special and very satisfying about making toast in the morning and slathering it with your own fresh made preserves.  I also took the leap into the canning world with these preserves.  Yet another great goodie to give away as a gift.  Of three preserve variations I made, the strawberry rhubarb was my hands down favorite!  The tartness from the rhubarb is a perfect match to the sweet strawberry.  And it makes a great filling for a crumble bar! 

Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream

I didn't actually make this recipe along with the group.  They made it long before I even knew Sweet Melissa Sundays existed.  And to be honest, vanilla ice cream is not something that really excites me.  There are so many delectable ice cream flavors in the world to choose from.  But I found I was in need of an ice cream to pair with this Plum and Raspberry Pie with a Sweet Almond Lattice.  This pie was incredibly tart and needed a nice sweet ice cream to balance it out.  I decided to give Melissa's recipe for Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream a shot since I would be serving to others who don't share my lack of excitement over vanilla.  Also, I had recalled reading in various posts from my fellow SMS bloggers, how delicious this ice cream was.  And they were right!  It's got a depth of caramel like flavor from the brown sugar and is the perfect accompaniment to a fruit pie or tart.  Yet another pleasant surprise!

I made 40 recipes with the group and a few more on my own outside the group. There are many more the group made before I joined that I would still like to try...like Butter Toffee Crunch, Lemon Icebox Cake with Strawberry Sauce, Sweet Almond Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce, Caramel Apple Turnovers with Sweet Ricotta Filling, and Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake to name a few. 

It's been a great ride and I've learned a very important lesson...don't judge a dessert by it's ingredient list!  Even if you are unsure if it would be your thing or if you think it sounds too hard or complicated, give it a go.  You might just be surprised yourself!

I want to extend my thanks to all the fabulous SMS bakers.  You girls rock, sharing great ideas, encouragement and support!  I loved checking out everyone's creations on Sunday mornings.  Special thanks to Karen of Karen's Cookies Cakes & More for maintaining the site and keeping everyone on schedule.  She has spearheaded a new baking group called Club: Baked to keep us busy and learning new things.  This group started on July 1, 2011 and we are baking our way through Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  This group bakes twice a month and so far there have been some pretty stinkin delicious recipes.  We really just got started so please feel free to join our baking adventure!

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

I am completely smitten with my ice cream maker.  Hubby and I purchased it on a whim while strolling through warehouse store Costco a couple of months back and now I'm wondering how I went so long without one.  Making ice cream is fun and I can see that the flavor possibilities are vast.  I have now officially covered the basics with my maker by churning, decadent chocolate ice cream, brown sugar vanilla ice cream and now fresh strawberry ice cream.

I think I'm starting to get a hang of this ice cream thing.  The typical ice cream base includes milk, heavy cream, and sugar that are cooked together until hot and then are slowly incorporated with egg yolks to make a custard.  This cooks until thickened (and reaches about 175 degrees on a candy or instant read thermometer).  Various flavors can be incorporated during the process depending on your recipe. The mixture is usually cooled for a few hours and then comes the churning.  If you want to add more flavor via mix ins (like crushed oreos or chocolate chips) they can be added during the last minutes of churning.  Mix ins are next on my ice cream journey!  My ice cream maker takes from 25 to 35 minutes to do it's magic.  The magic frozen custard goes into the freezer for a few hours of freezing time and then your homemade treat is ready to be enjoyed!

The steps are easy, but ice cream most definitely requires patience and planning.  Something I have learned the hard way!  You can get an ice cream maker for a pretty low price (we paid $30 for our Cuisinart 1 1/2 quart maker at Costco).  Oh, the other thing you have to remember is to have the bowl for the ice cream maker frozen for at least 6 hours or overnight.  We just keep the cleaned bowl in the freezer and cover it with plastic wrap so it's always ready to indulge our ice cream whims!

I've had strawberry ice cream on my mind ever since I saw it over on Tracey's Culinary Adventures a couple of weeks ago.  I adore strawberry ice cream.  It definitely ranks in my top five ice cream flavors.  And this homemade version is creamy and sweet and bright with fresh strawberry flavor.  I've been savoring it every night after dinner this week to get my sweet fix.  Yum.

The original recipe Tracey posted called for pureeing only half the chopped strawberries (1 cup) and saving the other half to mix into the ice cream during the last few minutes of churning.  Tracey noted that the strawberry pieces get very "firm" in the freezer.  I decided to go with a smooth version of the ice cream and I pureed all the strawberries adding it after the custard cooked.  If you want more texture in your ice cream, save out 1 cup of the strawberries and add them in to your ice cream in the final minutes of churning.

If you don't have access to fresh strawberries, you could easily use frozen and thaw them out.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Ice Cream
adapted from William Sonoma Frozen Desserts via Tracey's Culinary Adventures

2 cups of strawberries, hulled and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add strawberries and 2 tablespoons of sugar to a food processor and puree until smooth and set aside.

Whisk egg yolks in a medium heat proof bowl with 1/4 cup of the heavy cream until pale yellow.  Combine remaining 3/4 cup of heavy cream, milk and 1/2 cup of sugar in a medium saucepan.  Cook mixture on medium heat while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it is hot but not boiling.  Slowly stream in the hot milk and cream mixture into the egg mixture, whisking continuously until fully incorporated.  (You want to add it in slowly while whisking vigorously to prevent the eggs from scrambling from the hot liquid).  Return the mixture to the saucepan and continue cooking until the custard has slightly thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon and reaches about 175 degrees on a candy or instant read thermometer.

Remove the custard from the heat and stir in the strawberry puree and vanilla extract.  Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve or strainer and into a medium sized heat proof bowl. Once custard cools slightly (I waited about 15 minutes), cover it with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 3 hours or until well chilled throughout.  Pour chilled custard into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's directions.  Transfer ice cream to a freezer proof resealable container and freeze for at least 3 hours or overnight before serving.

 

Farm Stand Donuts: Club Baked

To me doughnuts are a special treat.  I remember when I was kid and getting super excited on the rare occasions when my dad would go out for doughnuts on a Saturday or Sunday morning.  I love all doughnuts chocolate.  The chocolate cake doughnuts with chocolate frosting and the light airy chocolate twist.  Or the raspberry filled with chocolate icing....So sweet and delicious.

That's why Farm Stand Doughnuts were the perfect choice for my first time hosting a recipe for the new baking group, Club: Baked.  I have never made doughnuts before so I knew this would be a good challenge.  And a challenge it was!

The Farm Stand Doughnuts are a cake style doughnut.  Sadly, attempt number one produced a barely edible doughnut.  I only wished they tasted as good as they looked!  Just goes to show you, you most definitely should not judge a book by it's cover or judge a doughnut by it's frosting! 

Here is what batch one looked like.

The dough ended up being incredibly dry.  The recipe describes the dough as being "sticky".  Not sure where I went wrong...I may have lost track of how many cups of flour were in the bowl.  I should have used my intuition and added more buttermilk, but I doubted myself and forged ahead ending up with dry dense doughnuts.

The toppings were much better than the doughnuts themselves....shockingly, the chocolate was my favorite!  With the fresh blueberry glaze coming in a close second and trailing up the back was the cinnamon sugar. 

I couldn't very well let these doughnuts get the best of me, so I went for attempt number two this past weekend. 

I did things a bit differently this time and had a vastly improved outcome!  This time I halved the recipe.  I was extra extra careful with my flour measurements and I made mini's this go round.  My mini's were a good size, but unfortunately I made the donut hole too small and it pretty much disappeared upon frying.  Along with making a bigger hole, I also should have made my dough a bit thinner as the donuts puff up quite a bit when they are cooked.  I got 20 two inch mini donuts from the half recipe...which was plenty for our two person household. 

One issue I had on round 2 was with frying the doughnuts.  My oil was around 370 degrees and my doughnuts browned very quickly...about a minute on each side.  They were on the verge of burning so I removed them and cut into one....it was still doughy inside.  I lowered the oil temperature to stay between 350 and 360 degrees so I could allow the doughnuts too cook through without over browning.

In terms of toppings, I went with cinnamon sugar, chocolate ganache and a strawberry glaze using homemade strawberry jam, powdered sugar and a splash of cream.  This time I actually liked the chocolate frosting least...but that is probably because I didn't so much bother with measuring the ingredients and the ganache turned out to be too thin.  The cinnamon sugar and strawberry doughnuts were both great, especially with a hot cup of tea.  These are best eaten the day they are made.

I am certain that the third time making these will be the charm!  And after that, I would like to tackle yeast doughnuts.

See how other bakers fared with their farm stand doughnuts here.

Farm Stand Buttermilk Doughnuts Three Ways
from Baked Explorations

Doughnuts:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 sour cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly browned and cooled
Vegetable oil

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to place your cut donuts on.  Line another baking sheet with at least 2 layers of paper towels to absorb the oil from frying.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside.  Whisk eggs, buttermilk and sour cream in a medium/small bowl.  Whisk in the completely cooled butter.  Make a well in the dry mixture and pour in the wet mixture.  Using a rubber spatula, slowly pull the flour into the liquid center until a sticky dough forms.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle lightly with flour.  Pat out the dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick.  Cut out doughnuts using a floured 3 1/2 inch cutter for a large donut and a 1 1/2 round cutter for the doughnut hole.  For a smaller doughnut, use a 2 1/2 cutter for the doughnut and 1 inch for the hole. Cut out doughnuts and holes and place on your prepared parchment lined baking sheet.  Use the scraps to pat another disc of dough and cut out doughnuts.  Repeat until you have used all your dough.  Place your baking sheet in the refrigerator while you wait for your oil to heat up.  You can also make your toppings during this time.

Heat oil in a deep skillet or pan so that oil is about 1 1/2 inch deep.  Slowly heat the oil over medium/high heat until it reaches 365 - 370 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Gently slide each doughnut into the hot oil, making about 3 doughnuts at a time.  When the doughnut has browned on one side (about 2-3 minutes), turn it over with tongs and cook the other side for about another minute, until browned.  Remove donuts from oil using a slotted spoon and place on the paper towel lined baking sheet.  The doughnut holes will cook faster and should be made after the doughnuts.

Assemble doughnuts by dipping in topping of your choice.  See recipes below.

Doughnut toppings - Note each topping recipe is enough for the entire batch of doughnuts so you might want to cut recipe if you use multiple toppings.

Chocolate Dip:
4 ounces high quality dark chocolate (60-70% cocao), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Sprinkles to decorate (optional)

In a small saucepan heat the cream until just about to boil.  In a medium widemouthed bowl, place chocolate and cover with hot cream.  Let stand for about a minute.  Whisk chocolate and cream until smooth and then whisk in butter.  Keep warm.

Vanilla Glaze:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Sprinkles to decorate (optional)

Whisk all ingredients together in a medium widemouthed bowl.

Cinnamon Sugar:
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon

Stir cinnamon and sugar together in a medium widemouthed bowl.