biscuit donuts with naturally colored glazes

out of all the hacks in life, the biscuit donut might be my favorite. you know, the donut where the hardest part is having to withstand that terrifying moment of a tube of dough exploding in your hands? and the second hardest part is deciding if you want to call them donuts or doughnuts?

hi. 

i could use a good hack right now. i'm home for a week before leaving for tour with the knights and my to-do list is bursting with things that i cannot mess up: perfect those bacon truffles, get better at the snare drum, fiiiiind the perfect grey maxi dress. ok the last one isn't that important, but it still kind of is because i don't know that i could get away with wearing my overalls every single day for three weeks in front of people that aren't eggboy?

speaking of eggboy... he is almost done with planting!!!!! he comes in at night looking like he just ran a tough mudder and it is just the cutest thing. yesterday the ground was still a bit wet from some rain, so he came in a little earlier than normal and we thought it would be nice to pack up all of these donuts and deliver them to friends. 

so i packed them up perfectly in a little box and then stepped outside and dropped them face down on the driveway. oops.

(they still taste good...)

happy almost donut day!!!!!

biscuit donuts with naturally colored glazes

ingredients

for the donuts:

vegetable or canola oil, for frying

a few tubes of biscuit dough (i like pillsbury's "simply" buttermilk biscuits, but their basic buttermilk biscuits work well too)

for the glaze (this will make enough for about 40 small donuts):

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 tb light corn syrup

2-3 tb milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 c powdered sugar

natural food colorings such as india tree's line, or you could use things like jams, matcha powder, fruit juices, etc. 

clues

in a large pot, heat 2 inches of oil to 360ºf. you'll want to keep the temperature in the 360-375 range. while the oil is heating, set out your dough. you can either keep the rounds of dough as they came or roll out the dough into a big sheet and cut out your own circles (i like doing this if the biscuits are really big). if doing the latter, it will be easier to roll out the dough if it's close to room temperature.

if you don't have a special donut cutter but want to cut out holes in the center, you can use a large piping tip as a cutter.

fry the donuts on both sides until golden brown and cooked through and remove them with a slotted spoon to a paper towel. 

to make the glaze, mix together all ingredients, adding milk to your desired consistency. divide into bowls and stir in the coloring. dip the donuts in the glaze and let dry. you could also roll them in sugar and/or pipe filling in the center.

these are best enjoyed the day of!

-yeh!

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p.s. i am celebrating national donut day this week with some mighty fine homies! head over to their blogs this week to check out their donuts!!!

the faux martha: mix and match donuts!

i am a food blog: waffle donuts!

hummingbird high: sour cream donuts!

studio diy: marshmallow donuts!

wit + vinegar: peanut butter oreo donuts! (aka lindsey lohan donuts!)

edible perspective: gf samoa donuts! kale donuts! sooo many donuts!

a cozy kitchen: rhubarb poppy seed baked donuts!

coco cake land: milk tea donuts!!!

rosemary ricotta blintzes with strawberry rhubarb sauce

i harvestedededed the rhubarb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! look, see that above? that is my i-haven't-showered-in-a-week-and-omg-eggboy-has-a-camera-and-i-have-no-makeup-on-but-who-gives-a-poop-i-gots-rhubarbbbbbb face!

rhubarb is my new favorite because i didn't even do anything and, look, it grew in my backyard. how nice of it to show up! ok ready? let's make all the things.

first up: blintzes. 

i never enjoyed blintzes growing up. all the ones i had were soggy and had awful pancake-to-filling ratios. my problem was that i only ever met them in hotel brunch buffet situations. i typically love a hotel brunch buffet, but i don't love a thing that should be crispy on the outside and oozy on the inside at a hotel brunch buffet because that is a recipe for sogginess. so when my girl devra suggested blintzes i was like shit.

but then i made them, and then made them again, and i ate them, and ate them again. and i could not stop because blintzes are actually the best. all it takes is a spot by the stove to catch them in your mouth as they come off the pan, because that is key: they must be as fresh as can be. 

so here you have it, my first ever blintz recipe, all fancied up with strawberry rhubarb sauce and rosemary-infused batter for the upcoming shavuot, a jewish holiday where it is traditional to eat dairy foods. you can find the recipe in the latest installment of molly on the range and it includes not one, but two gifs.

-yeh!

las vegas // saveur best food blog awards

my face hurts from smiling so much, i did not accidentally get married at 5 am, and i got to make meatballs with some of my most favorite bloggers in the whole wide world. my heart is so full i could barf!

there were so many omg moments, like omg i'm splitting midnight pork buns with cynthia, omg i'm discussing pasta by the pool with valentina, omg i'm getting photobombed by love and lemons, omg steph (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). such love, such happy times. i didn't want to leave, i just wanted my whole existence to continue on being live-tweeted by josh in a delicious tasting menu situation.

saveur and the bellagio totally hooked it up: there was a tour of the underground chocolate factory, a peek into their dim sum kitchen, and a strategically timed scotch tasting that allowed for some tipsy meatball making (and obviously all of the balls jokes). 

it was like summer camp, said marcella. boozy, chocolatey, meaty summer camp where you don't have to worry about keeping in touch at the end because you've been keeping in touch all along.

everyone was so sweet and i'm so smiley about being able to call them real life friends. so, ok, if you'll excuse me, i am going to go microwave a burrito and miss everyone.

-yeh!

courtesan au chocolat with matcha, ube, and raspberry glazes

eggboy and i spend a lot of nights watching movies. between our big smushy couch/90s tv setup at home, and a town movie theater that makes you feel like you're in someone's log cabin, complete with clean bathrooms that smell of cinnamon, watching or seeing a movie always feels like a good option. 

the only problem is, we don't get all those cute independent limited release movies that at one point in my life only required traveling two stops on the d train. and when we do get something that doesn't star a super hero or hungry games, it plays for like one week. at least that was the case with the grand budapest hotel. 

so despite my girl crush on saoirse úna ronan and ooglie eyes over wes anderson colors, i have not seen the grand budapest hotel. yet i am still drawn to this courtesan au chocolat that apparently plays a huge role. it's a tower of chocolate-filled choux pastry puffs with pretty colored glazes and white filigree (!!!!!). so renee and lyndsay and i are all posting about these little guys today because how fun is that?!?!?1!!

until recently i had never done made choux pastry before. it was sort of grouped in my mind in the same category as the soufflé: fussy sensitive things that i should block out an entire day for. to my surprise, my first batch of puffs came out swimmingly, and so did the second batch, etc., etc. they were that easy. one day i am going to fill some with pimiento cheese but today they're filled with dark chocolate and topped with matcha, ube, and raspberry glazes.

courtesan au chocolate with matcha, ube, and raspberry glazes

first: study this cute video, it will explain a lot!

the choux: this recipe is the one i like. it's very similar to the one in the video. be sure to pipe out three different sizes, as shown in the video.

the chocolate filling: the recipe from the video, except i like using dark chocolate.

the glazes: gradually mix milk into powdered sugar until you get your desired consistency. (mine were super thick. like, thicker than honey!) divide into three bowls and add a few teaspoons of matcha green tea powder, a few drops of ube extract, and a few spoonfuls raspberry jam, until you get your desired color and flavor. i like to pass the raspberry jam through a sieve to get rid of the seeds so that the glaze is very smooth. 

assembly: fill the large and medium sized choux puffs with chocolate, dip them in the glazes, let the glazes dry, and then pipe on your filigree. you can use melted white chocolate or an extra thick powdered sugar/milk glaze, piped out of a small piping bag or ziploc bag. stack them all up and eat immediately! and also make renee's and lyndsay's :)

-yeh!