Snow Day

Check out these pictures of the snow on my driveway this morning!

I live in the Chicagoland area, and last night we were hit with the Great Mid-West Ground Hogs Day Snow Storm! It is the third largest snow storm in Chicago History. Entire counties in my area have closed all of their roads, most businesses are closed, most people are home bound, and some unfortunate individuals are stranded on roads awaiting the arrival of the National Guard. As for me? I am seizing the opportunity today to do what I love best, bake!

It's been a while since my last post, a year and 5 months to be exact. My excuse? I was planning my wedding. Now that I'm a happily settled in newlywed and more importantly my husband/blog site photographer (we are both supposed to put the other first, right?) is also a happily settled in newlywed I am ready to blog again. My wonderful husband Christopher got me the America's Test Kitchen Baking Book as a Christmas present and I will be spending my snow day utilizing it.

Starting with last night- I made some Light Chocolate Chip Cookies. Only 1/2 stick of butter for a 2 dozen cookie recipe! Not bad for being light cookie; so soft and chewy! These cookies come together in no time; a much improved method from Test Kitchen's previous Light Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe which required making a time consuming cooked date puree. This will definitely be my go-to Chocolate chip cookie recipe for home and family use but I will still pull out the big guns and use Test Kitchen's Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe for parties and get-togethers.


Light Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (a generous half cup)

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the butter, egg, and vanilla together. Stir in the brown sugar until smooth, smearing any remaining clumps of sugar against the side of the bowl. Stir in the flour mixture and 3 ounces (a generous 1/3 cup) of the chocolate chips until thoroughly combined.
3. Working with a level tablespoon of dough at a time, roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Lay the balls on two parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 2 1/2 inches apart. Press the remaining chips in to the top of the dough (2 or 3 chips per cookie).
4. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are light golden and the centers are just set, 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half-way through baking (do not over bake). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Bake the second sheet while the first sheet cools.

Then this morning Christopher and I made "Simple Spice drop doughnuts" and "Simple Orange doughnuts" for breakfast while we watched the snow fall and contemplated plowing it. We used our Waring Pro Deep Fryer however a candy thermometer and a large pot will work well too. My deep fryer has been sitting on the kitchen counter slowly trying to seduce me ever since Christopher took it out to make homemade onion rings for his birthday over two weeks ago and today I finally caved under its gentle lure.

Doughnut batter is a simple as making pancake batter and the doughnuts only take 3-6 minutes to fry. If you make the doughnuts into uniform balls they will even flip themselves over automatically when the first side is done cooking. How amazing is that?! Perhaps doughnuts will become my official replacement for pancakes. We rolled our doughnuts in a "orange" zest sugar (we only had a tangerine on hand so we substituted it in for the orange) and a cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice sugar. The interior of the doughnuts is so tender and a glass of milk is the perfect accompaniment. Eating these doughnuts reminded me of what a doughnut is and should always be. Lately I've been wearied by the stale, lackluster Dunkin' Donuts variety and not even Krispy Kreme has been what it used to be- Oh the memories of the Krispy Kreme glory days of the 90's.


Simple Drop Doughnuts Recipe:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1.2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 quarts vegetable oil

• Spice Drop Doughnuts variation: Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon ground all-spice together in a medium bowl to make a spice sugar; set aside. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoons ground all-spice to the doughnut batter. Roll the fried, drained doughnuts in the spice sugar before serving.

• Orange Drop Doughnuts variation: Pulse 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange zest together in a food processor to make an orange sugar; set aside. Substitute 1 tablespoon grated orange zest for the nutmeg, and 1/2 cup orange juice for the milk. Roll the fried, drained doughnuts in the orange sugar before serving.

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, and nutmeg together until smooth, then whisk the milk, melted butter, and vanilla until combined. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until evenly combined.

2. Heat 3 inches of vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees. Using two spoons, scoop out a Ping-Pong ball-sized portion of batter and carefully scrape the batter into the hot oil. Repeat about 5 more times and fry the doughnuts until they are crisp and browned on all sides, 3 to 6 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary to maintain the oil at 350 degrees.

3. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried doughnuts to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and let drain while repeating with the remaining batter. Roll in sugar and serve warm.

This evening I also made "Almost No Kneed Bread," from the cookbook. Pictures from the camera haven't yet been uploaded but be sure to check back soon! Stay warm!