Whole Wheat Pumpkin Donuts with Cinnamon Glaze

It’s definitely starting to get cooler here. Every morning when I go to my car I see the windows are covered in condensation and when I drive I’m surrounded by fog. It kind of makes me feel like I’m in a horror movie. It’s kind of cool, yet kind of creepy in the same way. It’s cool because Halloween is just around the corner, but creepy because all I see on the roads are two little beams of light in a swirl of mist.

On a completely different note, I made donuts. Or is it doughnuts. I still can’t tell the difference. Maybe doughnuts are used for the fried variety because it’s actually dough. Yeah, I like that idea. These donuts (notice the spelling) are made in the super special donut pan that everyone and their mother now has, or at least it seems that way.

Like I said last week, I am on pumpkin mode right now. I can’t help but want to save, pin, mark, jot down everything that has to do with pumpkin. It is just an amazing flavor, especially when paired with all the good spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

I got this recipe from the lovely Erin of Texanerin Baking. I’ve made one of her lovely treats on the blog already, and it was pretty dern good. These donuts are no exception. They are so soft and tender, like cake…only better. Say what? I don’t know. It’s funny how the same ingredients can yield totally different things. It amazes me every day!

Ok so back to pumpkin donuts. Like I said these are so soft and tender and the pumpkin shines enough to make your belly full of fall happiness. I also added a cinnamon glaze on top to give it a little extra cinnamon kick. The glaze I made isn’t too sweet and pairs perfectly with the warm flavors of this donut.

Happy Fall Baking!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Donuts with Cinnamon Glaze

Adapted from Texanerin

Makes 6 donuts

Ingredients

½ cup + 2 tbsp. white whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground ginger

dash ground nutmeg

dash ground allspice

2 ½ tbsp. canola oil

¼ cup brown sugar

1 egg yolk

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

¼ cup + 2 tbsp. pumpkin puree

¼ cup milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 6 count donut pan with cooking spray; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and brown sugar. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, followed by half the milk. Repeat for the remaining 2/3 flour mixture and milk.

Scrape batter into a piping bag (or do what I do and use a ziplock bag). *Helpful tip: place your piping bag/ziplock bag in a glass cup. Fold the tips over the cup for easy, mess-free sealing. Snip off the tip of your bag and pipe enough batter into the molds to fill between 1/3 and ½ full. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the donut.

Allow the donuts to cool in the pan for a few minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack. If you have trouble getting the donuts to come out, run a toothpick around the sides of the outer circle and the inner circle. I feel the toothpick is better than a knife when it comes to the donut pan.

While you wait for the donuts to cool make the glaze. Combine ½ cup of confectioners’ sugar, a dash of cinnamon, ¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract and 2 or 3 tsp. of milk. Dip the tops of each donut into the glaze. Allow to dry for a few minutes, then go in for a second dipping to ensure a nice glaze.   

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve got pumpkin fever! I am so excited it is finally fall (see here if you are confused). And I’m celebrating the fall with pumpkin. Lots and lots of pumpkin!

Over the weekend I was in total pumpkin baking mode! First I will share these delectable little pumpkin cookies with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

I found these little fall beauties on Audra’s blog The Baker Chick. She has so many tasty looking treats on there. When she posted these pumpkin cookies I knew I had to make them this fall.

These cookies are like little pillows of pumpkin and spice goodness. My roommate was watching me make these and went back into her room. When she came out she was raving about the wonderful smell coming from the kitchen. She tasted one of the unfrosted cookies and closed her eyes and a smile appeared on her face.

The cookies are slightly firm on the outside, but perfectly soft and puffy on the inside. The cream cheese frosting is perfectly cinnamony and creamy. It really does make the cookie complete.

I hope you enjoy these little pumpkin goodies.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from The Baker Chick

Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

¼ tsp. salt

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, soft

¾ cups sugar

½ cup pumpkin puree

1 egg yolk

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, soft

4 tbsp. cream cheese

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the pumpkin. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg yolk and the vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture in three increments. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Using a small cookie scoop (mine was about 1 ½ inches in diameter) portion out the dough onto the lined cookie sheet. Space each cookie about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 14-16 minutes or until the cookies spring back when lightly touched. Let cool on the pan for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Make the frosting while you wait for the cookies to cool.

In a medium bowl beat the butter and cream cheese until creamy. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar. Add the vanilla and cinnamon. Spread about 1-1 ½ tsp. of frosting on each cookie.

Cake Slice Bakers - September 2012: Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

Wow, I can’t believe it’s the 20^th again! I know I always say this, but time flies by so quickly and yet so slow. It seems like forever ago since I posted the Ultimate Lemon Roll Cake, but it seems like every week just goes by too fast.

This moth’s cake happens to be the second to last cake out of The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. Next month the Cake Slice members will be featuring a cake of our choice as a sort of last hoo-rah for finishing the book. 

I am not a big fan of peanut butter and chocolate. I know, shocking! I’m probably one of the 5% in the world that doesn’t like that combination. With that in mind, when I say I really, really, really enjoyed this mousse cake, it means the cake was seriously delightful. That’s the word I was looking for: delightful!

This cake is so light and creamy; I have never tasted anything with this kind of texture.

I decided to make cupcake mousse cakes because I didn’t think an apartment of four girls would be able to consume a full 9-inch mousse cake, but I think I like the presentation more than a slice anyways. The different layers look so pretty.

Now lets talk about taste. The crumb crust was sweet and a perfect contrast to the creamy peanut butter and chocolate layer, but lets face it; crumb crusts are never the stars of the show. The star here, for me at least, was definitely the peanut butter layer.

Usually peanut butter can have a very strong presence in desserts, which is why I prefer to get my peanut butter fix with my daily PB&GJ (grape jelly is the only way to go people). The peanut butter mousse layer was perfect! It was very light and was just peanut buttery enough to cease my peanut butter cravings. You can also taste just the slightest hint of cream cheesy goodness. I had a smidge-worth of trouble with the chocolate part, thought. The chocolate decided not to melt completely, but that did not stop me from enjoying the sweet and smooth layer. I actually thought the chocolate layer could have used a little more chocolate flavor, but it is still tasty nonetheless.

I took some over to my friend’s house on Monday for he and his roommates to share. 30 minutes after I left I got a text from him telling me that he and his roommates loved the little mousse cups. After just two days there are only three left in the freezer. I say this recipe is a success!

Oh and I forgot to mention something. Since we will be finishing The Cake Book next month, the Cake Slice Bakers are starting a new book in November and if you would like to join us in our year long devotion to cake, please email Paloma at love.for.coffee (at) gmail (dot) com with your name, blog name, and blog URL.

Also check out how the other members of the Cake Slice Bakers did here.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

Adapted from The Cake Book

Makes 12 mousse cups

Ingredients

Chocolate Wafer Crust

90g chocolate teddy grahams

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Peanut Butter Mousse

2 ½ oz. cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

1 tbsp. unsalted butter, soft

72g confectioners sugar

100g smooth peanut butter

Pinch of salt

1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream

Chocolate Mousse

2 ½ oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

50g milk chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp. milk

3 tbsp. (33g) sugar

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions

Place 12 cupcake liners in a standard muffin pan and set aside. Crush teddy grahams into fine crumbs with either a food processor or place in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Transfer crumbs to a medium bowl and add in melted butter. Stir until combined. Place about 1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. of the crumb mixture into each muffin cup. Pat the crust down with a shot glass or something heavy. Refrigerate while you make the peanut butter mousse.

Beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-low until creamy, about 1 minute. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar, you don’t want to get lost in a cloud of sugar. Mix until the sugar is well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the peanut butter and the salt. Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed

In a separate bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream on high until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Gently fold in ½ cup of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture to lighten it up. Fold in another ¾ cup cream until light in color and airy in texture. Use a small cookie scoop (I believe mine was 1 oz.) and scoop two dollops on top of the crust. Smooth out the top. By the way, you may have extra peanut butter mousse; do what I did and top off the chocolate layer with some more peanut butter mousse. Refrigerate mousse as you make the chocolate layer.

Place chopped chocolate into a medium bowl. In a small sauce pan, combine the sugar and milk and heat over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and stir constantly until the chocolate has completely melted. Add vanilla extract and stir.

Fold in 1/3 of the remaining whipped cream to lighten the chocolate up. Fold in the rest of the cream and mix until light and airy. Dollop two 1 oz. portions of chocolate mousse on top of the peanut butter layer. If you have leftover peanut butter mousse, it’s a good idea to spread that on top of the chocolate, but only if you want.

Place muffin tin in the freezer for at least one hour to firm up. Take the mousse cups out of the tin a few minutes before serving. Store remaining mousse cups in the freezer until ready to be eaten. 

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey, I know it’s been a while since my last post. I used to do two updates a week, but that was during summer and had nothing to do. Now I’m in school and I’m starting to get used the rhythm of things. I think now that I’m used to when I get out of class and how much homework I have, I’ll probably (hopefully) will start updating once a week.

Another reason I haven’t been posting is because I haven’t made anything worth blogging about. Like I said in my last post, I made cookies, but they weren’t all that great. Then I made some kind of chiffon orange muffin, but that had no flavor and then developed a soapy taste after just one day. I also tried making granola, but I burnt it. I have just not been having much luck in the kitchen, until these cookies.

My dream chocolate chip cookie includes a soft, gooey middle with a slightly crisp outer ring. The cookie has to have not too many chocolate chips and be slightly puffy so I can get a good sense of the actual cookie’s taste.

These cookies have a slight crisp outer crust, the center is perfectly soft, and the chocolate chips melted beautifully and didn’t overwhelm the cookie. I wish the cookie had a little more volume and a little more brown sugar flavor but other than that this batch was really great.

Oh, and you know how some cookies get kind of stale after sitting on the counter for just a few hours? Not a problem with this recipe. I left them on the counter for several hours and they were still soft and chewy.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Slightly adapted from Penguin in the Kitchen

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. baking soda

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 egg, room temperature

½ cup (75 g) semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda into a small bowl; set aside. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the melted butter and sugars together until creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Using a small cookie scoop (I believe mine is a 1.5 oz.), portion the dough out, spacing each cookie about two inches apart. Bake dough for 10-12 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.

Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before removing the cookies to cool completely.