Little Pillows of Delicious

The story begins about a week ago when I asked my colleague Andrew to bring me back a present from his work trip to New Orleans. Lucky for him, he brought me back the below amazing gift.

If this photo is an indication of anything...it should be that this will be a photo heavy post.

So since this alligator, er.. crocodile...gator type animal oven mit is from New Orleans it only seemed right to make something from the lovely south. Beignets it is!

What is a beignet you ask? A little pillow of delicious. I'm not a pro but after making these I believe these are donuts without holes. I digress.

If you're going to make these you'll need some equipment. You'll want this equipment so you don't burn down your house or make it smell like the floor of McDonalds. And because Hubs wanted to avoid both of these inevitable situations he picked me up, what I like to call, "Baby Mini Fry Daddy." Another handy tool Hubs picked up is a Flipper. The Flipper is clutch if you like your finger prints so, yeah. Yay for that!

Here are the ingredients and the recipe I used now that all the equipment was available:

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (don't get crazy with boiling or ice water people...somewhere in between. Why? No f-ing clue)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 envelope active dry yeast (there is a different in yeast types...that's all we'll say about that)
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup evaporated milk (different then cereal milk)
• 7 cups of bread flour (don't even think about using all-purpose, self rising, normal human flour)
• 1/4 cup shortening (fatty fatty. No literally it is fat)
• Oil, for frying (you'll need about a quart)
• And at least 5 cups of powdered sugar

Mix water (not hot you fool!), sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Now that I am looking at this recipe and retyping it...I just noticed it said let sit for 10 minutes. I did not do this. Whoops.

Ten minutes later, in another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together. Add the egg mix to the yeast mix that's been sitting there for 10 minutes.

Sift the bread flour into another bowl - be sure all of your bowls, spoons, etc. are clean in your kitchen...you'll be using many items.

Add three cups (why three? no flipping clue) of flour to the mix until mixed. Add shortening and continue to add in flour. It is crazy sticky. So please don't underestimate the amount of flour you'll need to put the dough on to knead until smooth...and not so sticky.

Spray a large bowl (larger than you think you'll need) with non stick spray and put the dough in it. And here's the kicker. Cover it with a dry dish towel and set aside in a warm place for at least 2 hours. Shocked and annoyed? Yup, ya are.

Here are a few things that I did in those two unexpected hours I had to kill last night:

• Take out the trash
• Strip the bed
• Two loads of laundry
• Mop the basement floor (it is always dirty...no one ever goes down there but it is always so flipping dirty!)
• Put away newly washed clothes and remake bed while re-watching the episode of The Office when they're at the beach and they wrestle in the sumo outfits - classic
• Wash and put away the 24 dishes and spoons used to get to this point
• Um....I think that was it.

Two hours later the dough in the bowl is doubled in size and spilling over the sides of the bowl.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface so it's a 1/4 inch thick. The dough is really springy so when you roll it out flour will go everywhere meaning onto your feet.

After the dough is rolled out preheat your fryer to 350 degrees and cut the dough with a pizza cutter. Depending on how big your fryer is cut them to 1x1 or 2x1 pieces.



Ta-da!



I don't know how else you tell that oil is ready unless you have a fryer that tells you. I got nothin' for ya' otherwise.

So now that the little squares are ready...it is time to go outside! Here's a few photos to show you what I was dealing with in the elements.



Reptile friend loves some fried goodness





Joey served as quality control while Sammie did a
million laps around the backyard following my shadow.




These don't take long to golden up on each side and you can do several at a time without fear of creating  MEGA BEIGNET. When their light brown on each side toss them into a paper bag with some paper towels in it. And then after lots of frying, flipping, splattering and so on later take out the paper towels and dump in the powdered sugar and just shake the crap out of the bag.

Pillows of delicious in a bag people!!

A quick lesson learned from this morning however - if you put these lovelies into a bag and let them set overnight they will look more like glazed donuts. These seem like they are best made and served in the same 12 hours. Noted.

Also a shout out to Mom for my sweet new apron. That's right, it has the name of the blog on it. This just in the blog is now known as, "Face Plant into Fatty Goodness." Just kidding. :)

Yum,

Laura

Ode to Summer

Although it was 80+ degrees today I feel that fall is upon us. Reasons why:

• Starbucks is now surving the epic Pumpkin Spice Latte
• There was an evening where it was about 60 degrees out - bonfire weather peeps
• I'm bored with sandals and flip flops. Bring on the boots!
• It is apple picking season at Eckert's Farm
• The Apple Pie Concrete is at Bobby's
• Football started, which always makes me want to make soup or chili (Reigning Chili Champ at Weber St. Louis by the way)
• Target has Halloween candy out, which taunts me while I look at new sheets, Tide, toothpaste, and TP

While I revel at the idea of Fall and chilly evenings, I thought I'd take a step back and look at Summer 2011.

A great trip to Dallas to visit Mom and Dad where we got to bake in the 110+ degree heat and visit with friends. I made Oreo Balls for a BBQ (note to self, buy Mom a food processor) and we enjoyed more Shiner brews than should be legally allowed.

Family re-union in Chicago was great and was one of the hottest/most humid days in the history of the world. I didn't bake anything but there is a lot to be said for Fried Chicken, Taco Dip and other picnic food goodness.

Ryan and I took a week away from the world and enjoyed the Gulf of Mexico in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Beautiful beach, no tar balls and I ended up drinking my desserts instead of baking them.

Mom, Sis and I ventured to Ft. Myers, Florida to enjoy food, sun, trashy books, shopping and MORE shopping.

But all of these things are no match for what happened tonight. Angel Food Cake with homemade whipped cream. I am not kidding.

Tonight I made my first Angel Food Cake - I got the idea when I bought strawberries and realized strawberries are quickly going out of season. So to send the blog off instyle and to bid 'adu' to Summer I thought this would be a good recipe to try.

Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:

• 8 - 9 eggs (Oh, you read right people. The recipe called for 12 egg whites or 1 1/2 cups worth of egg whites - for me it was 9 egg whites)
• 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar (I still have no idea what the purpose of this 'spice' is but I tried some of it and it is gross)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar

Directions:

Get a lot of time on your hands. Not the quickest recipe in the book folks.

Measure egg whites to equal 1 1/2 cups (sorry it is kind of blurry - I swear I wasn't drunk).

Now, let them sit out for 30ish minutes to get to room temperature. I thought this was weird but I went with it - surly this makes it more delicious and non-bacteria filled. Whatever.

While the eggs are sitting out (ew) sift the powdered sugar and the flour into a small bowl.

Once the eggs are hot - no, not hot - room temperature, you can preheat the oven to 350.

Start beating the egg whites at a high speed and add cream of tartar, vanilla, almond extract and salt. Once these are mixed well, gradually start adding in the sugar. Now the directions I have say to keep beating until the sugar is dissolved and 'stiff peaks form.' Seriously? What the H does that mean? I go by time people. Should this take 2 minutes? 18 minutes? Put a timeline to it - so, I made a video of once it was finally to that point. It took about 8-10 minutes of beating.

To put it in even more perspective, it tasted like and felt like non-sticky marshmallow fluff. Yum. If it weren't full of warm, raw eggs I would have enjoyed way more of this batter by itself.

At this point, gradually add and fold in flour/powdered sugar mix. Once mixed spoon into pan. I used a metal bunt pan I bought at Target (Oh Target, I would write you a love song if I knew how to play the ukulele). I read an interesting tip that recommended taking a knife and running it through the batter to help get rid of air bubbles that may have formed when the batter was being poured into the pan. I did this and then tapped the pan on the counter top and that seemed to force a couple of air bubbles out.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes. The batter will raise up really high and you will probably panic like I did that it will spill over the sides. But it won't. Don't worry. Maybe worry a little bit.

I always make fun of the cake tester sticks at the kitchen shops but this is one time the 'stick a tooth pick in it' method was not going to be helpful. A bunt pan is about eight inches deep - tooth pick, two inches. Oye.

Now if this was for a party, I'd put this on my super cute cake tray but this isn't. This is for me, sitting on the couch in my 'yoga' pants and U of I t-shirt watching Family Guy and Will & Grace re-runs. Don't judge me. There is no judging in this blog.

Also, when cutting the cake use a serrated knife, like a bread knife. Otherwise it will squish. Yup, squish.

I am about to blow your mind with the best recipe evvvvver. You will never buy Cool Whip again. Never. I have seen the light...and the light is homemade whipped cream.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbs powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Beat cream on high until it thickens up and add powdered sugar and vanilla then beat it some more until it is thick. That's it. Seriously. That's it.

Whip it up until it is like whipped cream. You can make it sweeter by adding more powdered sugar but be sure not to beat it to long or you'll end up with something to thick - like butter. Ew. This took a total of about 10 minutes. I also read that it is best to chill the bowl and the beater. Not sure why but if the Internet says it, it must be true.

And because I'm a glutton for punishment I looked up how to make strawberry garnishes. Turns out there is only one out there and it is really simple. Thank goodness. After I plated these two pieces of cake for myself (NO JUDGING!) I realized I should have done this on cuter plates instead of my classy paper plates. But eh. It is the cake we should focus on.



With grated dark chocolate



Simply Summer

I do not expect this cake to last long in my house.

Cheers to Fall friends, I hope you enjoyed the Summer as much as I did and here's to many pumpkin-apple-nutmeg-chocolate-cinnamon treats.

Yum,

Laura