Desert

Chocolate Doughnuts with Earl Grey Glaze

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I got a doughnut pan for my birthday. Clearly I had to use it as soon as humanly possible.

I had this idea in my head about chocolate doughnuts with earl grey glaze for weeks.Way back when Eric and ol’ Shecky took me on a sweet Dunkin date before ice fishing on Valentine’s weekend I had one of those brownie batter doughnuts, and earl grey tea (home brewed in a travel mug) and an epiphany all at the same time. Chocolate and Earl grey is one of my favorite combinations in the whole wide world. Earl Gray tea brewed strong, with a splash of milk and some sugar to make it so nice a smooth is pretty amazing on its own, but the addition of chocolate sends me over the moon. So I had to combine these two things, I was obsessed it had to happen, and soon!

It happened last weekend. Thank god for family get-togethers since Chuck and I did not need to eat the entire dozen on our own.

For the chocolate doughnuts I used Joy the Bakers recipe. I actually did something pretty impressive and set everything up, you know that whole Mise en Place thing, yeah I did that. I even mixed the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately like the recipe suggests. Honestly I really think it made the whole process easier and cleaner. Maybe I can get behind this whole baking thing after all. For once I actually enjoyed the baking part of it all. To top is off doughnuts themselves were wonderfully light, fluffy and chocolaty. Basically they were perfect!

The glaze was more of an experiment. I started out with the basic glaze liquid to powdered sugar ration and kept adding more sugar until I reached the texture I was going for. The earl grey flavor didn’t come through as much as I would have liked, but it was still nice and mellow. I added a light sprinkle of some of the ground tea leaves for some fun, and a hint more flavor, but that’s totally not necessaryEarl Grey Glaze
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup strongly brewed earl grey tea (plus extra if necessary)

In a small bowl whisk together confectioners’ sugar and tea, a few table spoons at a time, until the desired thickness is achieved.

To coat simply dip the doughnuts into the bowl and give them a good swirl. Carefully pull them out watching for drips and set them frosting side up on plate or rack to set.

Fitness Update & Man Cookies

By Jessica

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It’s time to recap my fitness journey again.

Only I have nothing to recap.

Whoops!

I actually worked out a couple days in the last 2 weeks! Aren’t
you proud?

My excuses are simple, I was sick for like a week, and then
we had an impromptu weekend long party when a bunch of our friends came into
town. Let me tell you 5 people and 4
dogs in our tiny apartment make for a very good time.

I’m pretty sure I now have enough beer cans to cover our
grocery bill this week.

Sunday morning when we woke up there was a little speed
cleaning to get the 4 square feet of counter space we have in our apartment
clean enough to make “man-cookies” and my raisin spice cookies
for the cookie party that I was co-hosting with my dear friend Amanda.

We did this last year to, and it’s a good time.

Basically you invite everyone over and each of them has to
bake a dozen cookies, not like your typical chocolate chip though because 12 dozen
of those would be boring. Everyone brings over their cookies; we make some
boozy cocoa, and proceed to put ourselves in a sugar coma. I may suggest that
you have some veggies and dip around to provide a slight break from the
sweetness. We also play some dorky games, like you know guess the movie, guess
the scent, Pictionary (Who doesn’t love Pictionary?). Then we split up the
cookies and head home to continue the sugar coma for the following week.

Since the man cookies are always a hit I thought I would
share the recipe here, again this is CHUCK’S RECIPE. He wants to make sure
everyone knows it. The original recipe can be found here, though Chuck’s version has a few changes, mainly the size.

Man Cookies

1 package brownie mix

2 sticks butter

1 cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

3 ½ cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Prepare the brownies according to package instructions (tip
use the largest pan possible, to make the brownies thinner and easier to wrap).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugars, then add
eggs, vanilla and continue to beat the mixture until it is well combined.
Continue to beat while slowly add in flour, salt, baking soda. Once combined
use a spoon to mix in the chocolate chips. Place a large spoonful (or two) on
top and on the bottom of a 2inchx2inch brownie. Pinch the dough around the
outside of the brownie to cover it. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and
bake for 18-22 minutes or until they begin to brown. Allow them to cool a bit
before serving.

So that’s my story and about why I’m just continuing to
spiral into flabbiness. I suppose that it could be worse, and there’s always
next week. Thank god for next week.

How are the holidays helping your fitness goals?

Apple Spice Cake

By Jessica

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Anyone else feel this overwhelming rush toward the holidays?

I know that people get excited for them to come and start
pulling out decorations the day after Halloween, but I simply cannot do that.

I love fall! And thanksgiving should not be lumped in with Christmas.
It is its own holiday, with its own meaning and I want to celebrate it on its
own damnet!

So I’m keeping it fall themed around here and sharing my
Apple Spice Cake Recipe.

You see every first Friday of the month someone brings a
cake into work. November 1st was my day, and after some googling I came
across this recipe from Martha Stewart. You see I am not really the baker type.
I like to stir things while they cook. I also like to fiddle with recipes (surprised?)
but you can’t really do a whole lot of that with baking, or you get a huge
mess.

In other words I followed
the recipe pretty closely, except my lazy butt is not about to dirty so many
dishes so I changed around the method, oh and added a pinch of nutmeg, because I
just felt like it was needed. Oh and I used store baught caramel because I have yet to make a caramel that even touches the wonder that is Vermont Candy Dish (sorry I douldnt find their website, but I’ve seen them at a number of farmers markets). One day maybe I’ll find some patience and figure it out.

Apple Spice Cake

1 1/3 Cups vegetable oil

2 Cups Sugar

3 Large Eggs

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups all purpose flour

3-4 tart apples, cored, peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces

1 tsp vanilla extract

One container prepared caramel sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Blend together oil, sugar,
and eggs. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt, mixing well. Slowly add
in the flour while continuously mixing the batter. Gently stir in the vanilla
and apples. Pour batter into a large, greased bunt pan and bake for 75 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool for 10- 20 minutes before inverting onto a serving
tray and drizzling with caramel sauce. Serve warm.

Friends & Grilled Tapas!

By Jessica

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Over the holiday weekend I was lucky enough to have my good
friend Amanda over, whom I hadn’t seen in roughly 12 weeks since she decided to
run a half marathon, which you can read all about on her blog, Tales of a Married Runner Lady.

Since it had been so long I wanted to keep it casual, and
chatty, we had A LOT to catch up on so I wanted to prepare something that would
not get in the way of that. I decided to go with a kind of tapas menu, It
turned out pretty good, there are a few recipes that were fantastic so I have
to share them. The one thing I would have done different is had a bigger table
outside so I didn’t have to keep running in and out of the house. Oh well, next
time.

Let’s start with the drinks, since tapas, are traditionally
Spanish I figured I should probably make a sangria (those who know me know I
pretty much make sangria for everything and need no excuse).

This is an old standby that I use in impromptu sangria
making situations; the directions are for 1 drink, so just multiply for more.

Quick & Easy
Sangria

1 cup red wine
1 oz dry gin
2-3oz seltzer
2 tsp sugar
1 small handful
frozen mixed berries

Place in a shaker and
shake lightly, pour into a red wine glass and serve.

I started with the obvious cheese and crackers, we had this
wonderful cheese that I got from the farmers market in Ithaca the weekend
before. It’s so herby and fresh, I love it. Shortly after the cheese came out
the Grilled Marinated Olives were ready, I also warmed up a small loaf of
sprouted wheat bread on the grill to dip in the olive juices, and it was sooo
good.

Grilled Marinated
Olives

1 cup olive medley
2 tbs extra virgin
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
minced
1 tsp red pepper
flakes
Salt & pepper to
taste

Combine all
ingredients in a small bowl and toss to coat, transfer to a large sheet of tin
foil. Fold into a packet and place on a preheated grill for 5-10 minutes to
warm.

I made a quick Grilled Pear Salad with Shallot &
Vinaigrette Dressing to start us off. The soft red pear was really good and
soft grilled, and the shallot vinaigrette was amazing, so I think I will be
making this a few more times this summer.

Grilled Pear Salad w/
Shallot Vinaigrette

3 cups mixed greens
1 medium red pear cut
into wedges
1 small shallot,
minced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp Dijon
1 tbsp Honey
3 tbsp Red wine vinegar

Preheat the gril to
medium high heat, and place the pear wedges directly onto the grill. Grill for
roughly 5 minutes per side, or until the pear begins to carmelize. Set aside to
cool for a few minutes, meanwhile in a small bowl whisk together shallot, Dijon,
honey, and red wine vinegar. Pour over mixed greens and toss to coat. Serve
greens topped with grilled pear. (Serves 3)

Is there anything more reminiscent of spring than fresh pea
soup? I made a very simple Minted fresh pea soup on the stove top that I kept
in the fridge until serving.

Minted Fresh Pea Soup

1 tbs chopped onion
1 tbs oil
1 cup peas fresh or
frozen
½ cup chicken or
vegetable broth
1 tbsp fresh mint
¼ cup cream
1 tbs chopped fresh
chives

In a small pan warm sauté
onion in oil for 3-4 minutes or until it begins to soften. Stir in peas and
broth and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in mint, cream,
and chives. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Add more cream if necessary.
Place in the fridge to chill for 15-20 minutes. Serve chilled with mint sprig
for garnish (Serves 1)

For the protein portion of the meal I grilled up some shrimp
in a quick and easy scampi sauce. It was so quick and easy, I’m thinking that I
might make them up some time to pair with pasta, for a quick and easy week
night meal.

Grilled Lemon Thyme Shrimp
12 medium shrimp, peeled and diveined
1/2 – 1 tbs of oil
2 cloves of garlic
pinch of red pepper flakes
3-4 slices of lemon
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
Combine all ingrediants in a small bowl and toss. Place in the refridgerator to marinate for 30 minutes. pour out the contents of the bowl onto a large piece of foil and create a pouch. Place on a preheated grill over medium high heat and grill, turning regularly for 8-10 minutes, or until the shrimp are cooked through. Serve warm. (Serves 3)

For the Finale I made a grilled bread pudding. Who would
have thought of such a thing? I stumbled on it somewhere or other and
remembered it when I was trying to think of what to make, so obviously I have
to make it, and I got quite a few compliments, so I think this is another thing
that will be showing up fairly often this summer.

Grilled Strawberry Bread Pudding
4 slices crusty bread
1 cup cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sliced strawberries
On a heated grill toast the bread for 2-3 minutes a side, and cut into 1-2 inch squares. In a small bowl whisk together cream, sugar, and vanilla and add bread. Toss the bread in the mixture and pour the entire contents onto a large piece of tin foil. Fold the foil into a packet and place on the grill for 15-20 minutes, turning several times. Remove from heat and toss with strawberries. (Serves 3-4)

Finish it up with some more sangria, and a few laughs and
what could possibly make for a better evening?

Fall Bucket List: Bake Pies

By Jessica

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Since it’s just me and Chuck around here the idea of making a whole Pie seemed a little silly, so I opted to make a little start instead! It was super easy and took no time at all. Served with vanilla ice-cream and a little caramel made it the perfect fall treat!!

Rustic Skillet Apple & Vanilla Tart

2 tbsp flour for surface

1 pie crust, rolled out

1 tbs sugar

1 tbp flour

½ tbs cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

2-3 Large Apples Cored and sliced

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Begin with a dry, oven safe skillet, and lightly flour the entire cooking surface, and place the piecrust over the top. Carefully push the crust down into the pan, patching any holes that appear. In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the apples and toss to coat. Arrange the apples in the skillet, and drizzle with vanilla. Dot the butter around the apples. Gently fold the crust edge over the apples, to make your selected arrangement. And lightly sprinkle some additional sugar over the top should you choose. Place the skillet in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the crust has become golden and the sugar melted. Serve warm.

Desert

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