Glazed Doughnuts

**Warning** These treats are not exactly healthy, but they do make bellies happy. I blame my pregnancy for all the junk food that ends up on here. I normally cook healthy foods for my family.

Glazed Doughnuts

• 1 1/8 cup milk
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoon active yeast
• Two whole eggs
• 1 1/2 cup butter
• Four cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Cooking oil

Measure out 1 1/8 cup milk in measuring cup. Warm shortly in microwave to make milk warm, but not hot. Add brown sugar and stir briefly. Next, add yeast and stir briefly again. Yeast does not need to be dissolved. Let sit for a few minutes.

In a separate microwavable bowl, melt butter for 30 seconds. Butter will not be completely melted-which is good-since we'll be mixing in egg yolks and we don't want those yolks to cook...stir heated butter in  its bowl until mostly consistent.

Crack two whole eggs into another bowl, and whisk the heck out of them. Combine eggs with butter (make sure again that its not hot!) Add the milk, sugar and yeast to the mixture.

Measure out 4 cups of flour into large bowl. Mix in salt.  Using 1/2 cup at a time, incorporate flour into liquid mixture mixing or kneading as you go. Once all mixed, knead on floured surface for additional minute. Ta-da! The creating of the dough is complete! Lightly grease another bowl, and put dough in. Cover with plastic wrap and put into refrigerator for at least two hours.

After 2 hours should look like this:

Plop out dough on floured surface. Flour rolling pin and roll dough to 1/2" thickness. With no more than a 3" round cookie cutter (or a doughnut cutter), cut out numerous circles in the dough. Using a smaller cutter, cut out smaller circles from the big circles. Cut out as many circles as you can an place on floured cookie sheet. Cover with towel and let rise in warm area for an hour.

Pour cooking oil into large pot, allowing oil to heat to around 300 degrees. Oil should NOT be smoking, nor should it be bubbling. You can test this temp by dropping one of the doughnut holes in and watching it cook for about 10 seconds on each side. Color should be light brown and dough should expand to a round shape. Once this is achieved (and the hour is up) layer a bunch of paper towels on counter to reduce oil from cooked doughnuts.  Place your first doughnut in the oil. (CAREFULLY. On the very first doughnut, the oil splashed up and burned the heck out of my thumb. Very unfun.) Let doughnut cook for 10 seconds, flip with a slotted spoon, and let cook another 10 seconds. Remove and set on layer of paper towels to absorb oil. Flip doughnut over a few times to get as much oil removed as possible. Repeat with all doughnuts and holes.

Glaze

• Four cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir all ingredients together to form a glaze. Dip each doughnut and hole in glaze, flipping to coat each side. Set on wire rack to dry/cool.  Once all are glazed, repeat to create a thicker coat. *Special thanks to my son, Sebastian for helping glaze the doughnuts (and sneaking one!)

Yum. All done. Just let sit a few minutes and enjoy. =)

BBQ Chicken

This chicken is sure to please! I created a bbq sauce that is so yummy, even my grill-loving husband loves it. He even asked me to make it to use on his bbq ribs! (For those who don't know..this is a big compliment!)

Chicken Rub

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• Three tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil

BBQ Chicken Sauce

• One red onion, chopped
• Three cloves garlic, minced
• Three tablespoons butter
• One can tomato paste with 1/2 cup sugar OR 2 cups catsup
• One cup strong coffee
• Three teaspoons worcestershire sauce
• One teaspoon vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• Two tablespoons chili powder
• Three tablespoons hot sauce (I use sirachi)
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Thaw chicken breasts. Rinse thoroughly and trim any excess fat. Rub chicken with home made rub. Place chicken breasts in oven safe dish and refrigerate for 2 hours.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees (oven temps may vary). Once heated, put chicken in oven for 20-25 minutes.

In medium sized pot, saute chopped onions for three minutes over medium heat in melted butter. Add minced garlic, and saute additional 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and sugar OR catsup, coffee, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, honey, chili powder, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Partially cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Once timer for chicken sounds, remove chicken from oven and remove sauce from heat. Pour sauce over chicken and rub evenly over chicken with basting brush. Return to oven for 10 minutes. Yay! **This recipe is spicy! Reduce hot sauce if sweeter sauce is desired**

Biscotti

I don't know about you, but I'm a coffee lover. And I love the little treats that go along with coffee. Here, I tried my hand at homemade biscotti, and they turned out really good! This is a basic recipe, next time I will try adding more to them.

Biscotti

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• One cup white sugar
• Three cups flour
• Three eggs
• One tablespoon baking powder
• Two tablespoons vanilla extracty
• One tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (oven temps may vary). Lightly grease baking sheet.
In a medium sized bowl, mix oil, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Combine two bowls and mix, forming a dough. (At this point, if using almonds, mix in 1 cup chopped almonds into dough)

Roll dough into a ball, and cut in half.  Form two logs (the length of your baking sheet) and lay on baking sheet side by side.

Using your fingertips, press logs into flat pieces, aiming to get each log about 1/2 inch thick.

Place in the oven and bake 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to touchable temperature. Slice each log every 1/2 inch to create two rows of several biscotti. Turn biscotti on their sides and bake 6-10 minutes on each side.

Remove from oven, and cool. At this point, you can melt chocolate with a touch of vegetable oil and dip biscotti end in mixture, and leave on parchment paper to harden. These biscotti are great plain, too. For a variation, you may also replace the vanilla extract with almond extract.

Simply Delish Crackers

This recipe is great for beginners and those of us who love to snack. These crackers are easy, versatile and are quickly gobbled up by friends and family. I serve them at parties, or just bake them when I want a snack. Look out....kids love these. My boys can eat a whole batch if I let them (and they have!), luckily, they are super easy and quick to make.

Simply Delish Crackers

• Two cups flour
• One teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (oven temps may vary) and lightly grease cooking sheet.  Combine all dry ingredients together, then stir in oil and water to make dough. Dough should be smooth.  Cut dough in half, and place on cooking sheet, and roll out flat. I like to use my fingertips to poke the rolled out dough for more of a rustic, fresh look. For crispier crackers, roll to 1/4 inch thick. Using a pizza cutter, roll across dough to make crackers. Cut in desired shape and size. Brush crackers with light layer of olive oil.
**This is where your taste comes in. You can top these crackers with whatever seasoning you like. My family prefers sea salt and cracked pepper, sea salt and cayenne pepper, and cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle your preferred topping on crackers, making sure each cracker gets topped**

Bake 10-13 minutes (timing varies according to oven) or until desired crispness. Remove from oven and let cool on rack or in bowl. These are delish served alone or with a dip.

Homemade Bagels

I don't know about you, but I LOVE freshly made bagels. Forget the store-bought stuff. Preservatives much? Lets just say that even the best store-bought brands can't compete with your local bakery. Sadly, my favorite bagel shop is quite the trek for a weekend morning. So instead, I found a recipe where I can create my own, yummy custom bagels right here at home.

Fresh Bagels

• Two tablespoons yeast
• 1- 1/2 cups WARM water (110-115 degrees, or lukewarm to touch)
• Two tablespoons sugar
• 1- 1/2 teaspoon salt
• One tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cups bread flour

In a large bowl, mix together yeast and WARM water. Let mixture sit for 5-10 minutes. Add sugar, salt and olive oil and stir until mixed well. Add bread flour and knead until dough forms. Should be firm, yet elastic. Remove from bowl, and knead a few more times on countertop. Let stand 5 minutes.

Cut dough in halves. Take each half, and roll into a dough log (my son called it snakes). Dough logs should be be about 1 1/2 inches thick, and over a foot long. Let 'logs' sit 20 minutes. Roll logs into 'bagel sized circles' and pinch off at end, making sure that each circle is firmly closed. After all the circles are complete, let sit for another 20 minutes. During this time, bring large pot of water to boil, and preheat your over to 450 degrees. (oven temps vary, if your oven cooks warmer, turn down to 425)

There are a few ways to prepare your baking sheet. You can use corn meal or olive oil. Make sure to cover baking sheet completely with whichever you use.

Once the water is boiling (and the 20 minutes has passed) , place a few bagel circles in the water. Boil on each side for one minute, then remove to paper towels to drain. Do this with all the bagel circles. When all the bagel circles are boiled and drained, place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, flip bagels overs, and bake for another 10 minutes. Viola! Bagels, baby! (if you want to add a topping to your bagels, add after flipping bagels before the 2nd 10 minutes. If you want to add fruit to your bagels, mix fruit with 2 tsp cinnamon into flour before mixing into a dough. ENOY!