Pumpkin Spice Sour Cream Glazed Doughnuts because Autumn

Pumpkin Spice Sour Cream Glazed Doughnuts

Pumpkin Spice Sour Cream Glazed Doughnuts

The days are starting to get a little shorter and, while we here in Toronto are having some lovely less-than-seasonal warm days, there is no denying that autumn is in the air.  

Barrels of apples are popping up at grocery stores everywhere which usually means apple fritters in my house but I have fallen victim to the tantalizing smell of pumpkin spice that just seems to be ubiquitous this time of year.  

Rather than make a latte or something of that sort, I decided to combine the spicy loveliness that is cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove with my all time favourite doughnut: the oh so delicious and impossibly easy to make sour cream glazed.  

Just to up the ante as far as flavour and fall-i-ness, a little hit of brown butter and maple syrup take these little babies over the edge.

If you're like me and have very little self control when it comes to fried dough, make sure you have a plan to share these puppies with people asap!


Pumpkin Spice Sour Cream Glazed Doughnuts

Makes 12 doughnuts and 12 doughnut holes

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ + 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon clove
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons milk or buttermilk
1 egg
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, browned, and divided
1 + ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, divided
1 ½ cups icing sugar
1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup
3 – 4 tablespoons warmed milk

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices and make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk/buttermilk, egg, ¼ cup of the browned butter, and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla.  Pour this wet mixture into the well and mix just until a soft dough forms.  Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare your glaze by mixing the icing sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons of browned butter, ½ teaspoon of vanilla, maple syrup, and 3 tablespoons of warmed milk in a small bowl.  You want this glaze to be on the thinner side so, if needed, add another tablespoon of warmed milk.  Cover the glaze directly with plastic wrap and set aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge and heat about two inches of vegetable oil in a large, deep pot over medium heat until a thermometer registers 350F.  On a generously floured work surface, roll out your chilled dough to a ½ inch thickness and, using a 3-inch round cutter, cut out as many rounds as possible.  Using a 1-inch round cutter, remove the very centre of each circle, giving you doughnuts and doughnut holes! 

Feel free to bring the remaining dough together to reroll and cut out more doughnuts but only do this once as rerolling the dough a third time might make the doughnuts a bit tough.

Before frying, prepare a draining station for your doughnuts by lining a cookie sheet with paper towel and a cooling rack.

Now, it’s time to fry!  Gently lower four or five doughnuts into the hot oil and cook, flipping once, until all the doughnuts are golden brown and lovely.  Remove the cooked doughnuts to the rack-lined cookie sheet and continue to fry until all of your doughnuts and doughnut holes are done.

When cooled, dunk each doughnut in the glaze and allow them to drain and dry on a rack-lined cookie sheet.

Ice Cream + Tacos = a very happy Mary

Homemade Choco Tacos

Homemade Choco Tacos

On warm summer evenings as I sit in my apartment, there is one guarantee: at some point, the slightly spooky sounds of two ice cream trucks battling for the same neighbourhood will drift in our windows.  Always playing creepy versions of knockoff childhood classics, the sound of one ice cream truck will spark excitement in pretty much anyone.  For me, as soon as I hear a faintly off-tune rendering of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I dash about trying to find some change so that I can score a swirly cone rolled in chopped peanuts.  When a second truck rolls around however, with its music playing overtop, it starts to sound like a weird dystopian battleground… Rather than choose sides, I figure I might as well just make my own novelty ice cream treats…

Here is my version of an all-time fave, the Choco Taco.  It’s this wonderful concoction by Klondike that I can seem to only find at US gas stations. 

The ice cream here is so simple, you’ll feel like a culinary maven, the sugar cone taco shell can easily be made into a cone or edible dish, and the chocolate shell makes you feel like a real pro.


Ice Cream Tacos

Makes 6

Ice Cream Cone Taco Shells, recipe follows
No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream
Magic Chocolate Shell
½ cup roasted chopped peanuts

To assemble an ice cream taco, fill a shell with a good helping of no-churn vanilla ice cream.  Make sure to fill it to the brim and smooth the top out using a spoon.  Dip the open sides of the taco into the chocolate shell making sure to cover all of the ice cream and roll in the chopped peanuts.  Place the finished ice cream tacos into a loaf pan standing them upright, cover with plastic wrap, and pop back into the freezer to firm up.

These can be made ahead and stored in the freezer for up to two weeks.

 

Ice Cream Cone Taco Shells

Makes 6

1 egg white
3 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch fine sea salt

Preheat your oven to 400F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set out a standard muffin tin.

In a small bowl, beat together the egg white and sugar, followed by the butter and vanilla.  Finally, stir in the flour and salt just until combined.

Drop the batter by two tablespoonfuls onto the parchment lined baking sheet, being sure to leave lots of space between each so there is room to spread the batter out.  Using a butter knife or offset spatula, spread each little mound of batter into a thin circle about 4-5” across.

Bake for 4 - 8 minutes or until the edges just start to turn brown.  Remove the tray from the oven and set next to an upside down muffin tin.  While still hot, remove the rounds from the parchment one at a time and curve into a taco shell shape.  Place in between two of the upside down muffin cups and repeat until all of the shells have been formed.  Pop back into the oven for 3- 5 minutes to firm up the shells and allow them to cool on the upside down muffin tin until room temperature.

Fill with ice cream and top with chocolate shell!

*Note: these can easily be made into traditional cones by rolling into a cone shape or even made into little edible ice cream bowls by using the muffin tin right-side-up and pressing the par-baked rounds into the cups.

Magic Chocolate Shell: It's like if Honeydukes were an ice cream shop

Magic Chocolate Shell

Magic Chocolate Shell

The easiest thing to make to bring your ice cream to the next level.

Now, if only Hagrid would barge on into my kitchen and proclaim "You're a wizard, Mary."


Magic Chocolate Shell

1 cup chocolate chips, milk or semi-sweet
2 tablespoons coconut oil

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips and coconut oil.  Microwave, in 15 second intervals, until completely melted.

Allow the chocolate shell mixture to cool slightly before dunking or pouring over ice cream.

Ice Cream is always the answer

No-Churn Ice Cream (vanilla, strawberry, and a mishmash of the two)

No-Churn Ice Cream (vanilla, strawberry, and a mishmash of the two)

No-churn ice cream should be in everyone’s summer recipe repertoire.  It has only four ingredients and literally takes about 5 minutes to put together.

Pair it with some homemade magic chocolate shell and you’ve got one heck of a treat.

Rather than blather on about its wonders, I’ll keep this short and sweet… just like the recipe!


No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream

 1 – 300ml can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch fine sea salt
1 ¾ cups whipping cream

Place a loaf pan in the freezer while you prepare your ice cream base.

In a large bowl, mix the sweetened condensed milk with the vanilla extract and fine sea salt and set aside.  In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks.

Using a whisk, fold about half a cup of the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture.  Follow with one more half cup to lightened the condensed milk then, switching to a rubber spatula, fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Retrieve the chilled loaf pan from the freezer and pour in the ice cream base, levelling the top with the back of your spatula.  Press a layer of plastic wrap directly on top of the ice cream base and pop it into the freezer for at least 6 hours to firm up.

Enjoy any which way your heart desires though I'd recommend a good drizzle of chocolate shell and a scattering of sprinkles!