Baked Donut Holes----Two Versions

 

You might be satisfied with eating just one ~ 

not me ~ 

it’s 2 or 3 of these sweet tiny gems for me.  

And because they’re baked, not fried, 

that’s OK!

 

 

I made chocolate donut holes the other day for the chocolate lovers here and then I thought about...

 

Homemade Baked Cinnamon "Sugar" Donuts

Lately, (like the last 5 years) I’ve seen a plethora of bloggers praising how good their baked donuts ~ I secretly wondered ~ how good are they, really?  

The food blogger side of me is just a touch embarrassed to admit I’m more than a little late in hopping on the baked-donut-band-wagon.

Old-Fashioned Apple Pie for Thanksgiving

You’ve heard that phrase, “As American as apple pie.”   Well, come to find out ~ that’s not actually true.  

The most iconic pie of America’s culture is not American at all.  Apples were, in fact, brought to America in the 17th century by Europeans.  

Healthified Broccoli Cheddar Soup on a Cold Winter Day!

Sometimes, on a chilly day, you just need a bowl of hot, creamy, cheesy soup for a comforting meal, just not all the calories and fat though.

I found a plethora of recipes on the internet for broccoli soup and settled on this healthier version of it, a recipe courtesy of Food Network Kitchen. 

Easy, But Different, Peach Cobbler

A bushel and a peck ~ that’s how much we love fresh peaches here!

I knew it was time for 'summer-time comfort food' last Saturday when a bounty of great looking Michigan peaches was on display at the farmers’ market!

Impossibly Easy French Apple Dessert Squares

Apples and cinnamon, oh my! 

This is a really close cousin to Dutch apple pie, actually maybe more like a crisp, and  there’s no crust to roll out!  French apple dessert has a buttery crust, and is packed with apples, cinnamon and nutmeg.  

Bourbon-Soaked Pork Tenderloin with Brown Sugar Honey Glaze ~ a Cookbook ~ and Distilleries

If you like a lingering bourbon flavor in meat, you will have to use this marinade the next time you prepare pork.  The bourbon flavor comes through just enough to notice but not enough to overpower the meat.

One of my very favorite Southern cookbooks is The New Low-County Cooking by Marvin Woods.  The jacket liner of his cookbook says, “There’s a whole world of flavor packed into an eighty-plus-square-mile area surrounding the cities of Charleston and Savannah.  It’s called the Low Country of South Carolina.”   

It’s a great area to visit for cuisine and beautiful scenery.  Marvin Woods transforms standards into updated dishes, which leads to this recipe for Bourbon-Soaked Pork Tenderloin.  Actually, his recipe is intended for pork chops but I had pork tenderloin and used it instead.  

The marinade in this recipe is a super tenderizer for the pork with the end product being tender and succulent.  If you are apprehensive about using bourbon, substitute it with apple, cranberry or grape juice, sparkling cider, vegetable or chicken broth.  

After the pork marinates for 36 hours or so, it can go on the grill, as Woods does, or in the oven, my way.  Then brush it several times with the Brown Sugar Honey Glaze while roasting.  

Bourbon is really the only distinct American spirit, according to Woods, with most of it coming from Kentucky.  I know that for a fact as I grew up in Louisville, and there are countless distilleries in the surrounding area.  Check out this post that was made just after I began blogging. 

I learned a lot about bourbon as a great family friend was a Federal inspector over-seeing many distilleries ~~~ he had so many stories for us and samples too, in unlabeled bottles!

Bourbon-Soaked Pork Tenderloin with Brown Sugar Honey

 1 (2 pounds) boneless pork tenderloin

Bourbon marinade

Brown Sugar Honey Glaze

For the bourbon marinade:

1 cup bourbon

¾ cup orange juice

¼ cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon salt

In medium bowl, stir together all the marinade ingredients.

Place the tenderloin in a deep baking dish.

Pour the marinade mixture over the pork, cover, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 36 hours, turning occasionally.

Remove from refrigerator and place in roasting pan.

Roast pork for about 40 minutes or until thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 160 degrees.

During the last 10 minutes, brush with the Brown Sugar Honey Glaze several times.

Brown Sugar Honey Glaze:

¾ cup honey

¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon Marv Spice*

Method:

In a saucepan, combine the honey and brown sugar and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is dissolved. 

Stir in all the remaining ingredients.

Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 months.

Marvin Woods:  This flavorful sauce with an Asian accent can be used in place of most barbecue sauces.  I especially like it on spare ribs, pork and lamb.

*Recipe for Marv Spice:

1 tablespoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon celery salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method:

In a small bowl, mix all of the ingredients together until combined.

Store in airtight container for up to 6 months.

Marvin Woods:  I use this spice mixture in my macaroni and cheese as well as in fish, chicken and meat dishes that I feel can use a touch of inspiration.

This is especially delicious for all you pork and bourbon lovers!

ENJOY!!!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda, at My Kind of Cooking!  She’s hosting a great giveaway now ~ one of her cookbooks and cute kitchen towels.

Fried Apples My Way

Oooops!  Forgot to take pic after cooking!

There is a bushel full of theories about the origin of apples, but we all remember the story of John Chapman, or Johnny Appleseed as the legend goes, who was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1774 and died in Ft. Wayne, Indiana in March, 1845. 

He was liked for his kind, generous ways and for planting apple seeds along his travels around the country ~ over a 50 year period, buying and selling land and developing thousands of productive apple trees.  His dream was to produce so many apples that no one would ever go hungry.  

                                           Johnny Appleseed, postcard, 1972

I’ve always been crazy about apples ~ especially, baked apples, until I made fried apples; they’re even better!  Fried apples are not quite apple pie but a close second.  Perhaps, most folks think of fried apples as a dessert; but in my mind, it's a side dish.  This is a simple, seasonal food that is packed with flavor.

Cook the apples just until they are fork tender.  They can quickly surrender and turn to mush, so watch them closely.  It’s as easy as apple pie!

Fried Apples

Ingredients:

4 apples:  2 Granny Smith and 2 Honeycrisp

½ teaspoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons brown sugar (I use Splenda)

Dash salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

Method:

Melt butter in skillet.

Drizzle lemon juice over apples.

Cover and cook about 15-20 minutes or until tender.  (Watch closely; they can turn to mush quickly).

Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg, and toss.

Serve warm or room temperature, maybe with a dollop of whipped cream.

Be sure to take time to check out my friend, Linda’s, great blog @ My Kind of Cooking for helpful tips and yummy recipes.

Alice’s Meteors

Ok, to me these are donut holes but, to Bill and his siblings I’m sure they’re still meteors and always will be!

This recipe belonged to Alice, my mother-in-law.  She loved to make donuts and most of all these meteors.  Actually, it’s really the perfect name for them as they all seldom turn out in a perfect shape; they can be a little craggy or lopsided, just like real meteors.

You can glaze them or roll them in granulated sugar or powdered sugar, or a chocolate glaze or just try them all!  The plain ones are fine with me, or the ones rolled in sugar, but actually I can eat any of them.  Using Alice’s recipe, they puff up beautifully, are light on the inside and crispy on the outside.  They are definitely more delicious than the store-bought variety, especially because they are as fresh as you can get when you make them yourself.

Do you think 3 or 4 donut holes = 1 donut?  I don’t know however, I do know that I don’t feel quite as guilty eating donut holes.  Somehow, eating a dozen donut holes seems OK!

Meteors (Golden Puff’s)

Ingredients and Method:

4 cups sifted flour

½ cup sugar

6 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons nutmeg

Sift all of the above ingredients together into a large bowl.

½ cup oil

1½ cups milk

2 eggs

Add the 3 ingredients above to the mixture in the bowl.

Stir with a fork until mixed well.

Drop by teaspoonful into deep hot oil at 375 degrees.

Fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Drain on paper towels.

Roll warm puffs in cinnamon, granulated sugar, powdered sugar or glaze with a thin confectioner’s sugar icing.

Pam’s note:  Puffs too large will not cook thoroughly, use one teaspoonful of dough.  Fry a few at a time and do not crowd them.

These make the best donut holes imaginable!  Just try them and you’ll see!  They would be a great thing for a Mother’s Day treat!