fall

glazed apple cider donuts

in ,

i went to portland for 1.5 seconds this weekend! what a neat-o, beautiful place. i had only been to the pacific northwest once before, a very very long time ago for like the 1997 eugene bach festival or something, so my clearest reference point for what the pacific northwest looks like was actually that zach efron movie, charlie st. cloud. it is a very weird movie but it has a wildly hunky dark moody forest-y hilly scenery, and i got to experience that in person this weekend! i totally now get why my entire instagram feed is so in love with the p.n.w. 

and it was the loveliest backdrop for the hello sessions, a new blog conference that i hope was the first of many because joy and melissa did such a great job with it! when i wasn't food styling and schmoozing with the hello sessioners, i was snooping around the pearl district, touching all of the cookbooks in the middle eastern section of powell's, eating tasty quiche, and searching for the perfect full body sweater. i found an ok one, it was just a little bit too wooly scratchy.

and then! on saturday night, i ventured out into oregon wine country for an amazing meal hosted by chelsey and maggie in the newspaper printing warehouse that's been in chelsey's family for four generations. it was so cool. and tasty (thanks to letumeat!) and local. i loved it.

now i am back on the farm, adjusting to post-harvest life and working on my hotdish skills. 

how was your weekend?!

i have some big news i need to share: i've surrendered to baked donuts. for quite some time, i was on the fence about them: are they really donuts? or are they just donut shaped muffins? are they hiding something? or are they real, honest desserts?

my skepticism was more or less 100% brought on by the fact that i didn't yet own a donut pan, so even if i wanted to, i couldn't join in on the fun. but all of that has changed, thanks to the good people at king arthur flour. i'm a new woman. and i have found that the shape of a donut, the ratio of surface area to glaze, and the instagrammability (😂 sorry, i had to) indeed makes the experience of a baked donut different than that of a muffin. so to begin this new baked donut phase of my life, we have a classic soft apple cider donut that goes the non-traditional route of having a white glaze. nothing against the traditional cinnamon sugar coating, i just love the texture and sweetness of a glaze and its ability to keep the sprinkles on.

glazed apple cider donuts

makes 10-12

ingredients

1/2 c sugar

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp kosher salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tb apple pie spice

1 large egg

1/2 c whole milk

1/4 c flavorless oil, like canola

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate

glaze:

1 c powdered sugar mixed with 5 tb heavy cream

decorations:

sprinkles + cinnamon sugar

clues

preheat the oven to 375ºf. grease a 12-cavity donut pan and set it aside.

in a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. in a separate medium bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and stir to combine.

Fill a piping bag with the batter and pipe the batter into the donut pans, filling each cavity halfway.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a donut comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove to a rack and cool completely.

To decorate the donuts, dip them halfway into the glaze and then allow excess glaze to drip off. Sprinkle the tops with sprinkles and/or cinnamon sugar and enjoy!

i used the following king arthur products in this recipe: boiled cider, all-purpose flour, apple pie spice, donut pans, vanilla extract, cinnamon vanilla sugar, caramel sugar, rainbow sugar, and perhaps the quirkiest sugar i ever did taste, butternut sugar! these are all ingredients that i would recommend and i am so excited to be partnering with them on this post and on some upcoming posts! thanks so much, king arthur! 

-yeh!

pinot noir marshmallows + a bonfire

in ,

over the radio, jeremy played his goldberg variations and out the window, a large flock of birds flew all oblong-like in that pretty way that birds do. i kept looking left and looking right to check for people and other cars, but there was never anyone else, not even on the highway. 

it was like being on another planet or in another time, but no, it was just north dakota being all zen and unassuming. 

i ended up at my friend evan's ranch, where we lit a fire in an old tractor part, and pet the cows as the sun set. we roasted weenies and talked about china, told our halloween stories and fed the doggies. i had s'mores and a sausage and it was the perfect sunday supper, or just the perfect sunday in general: all cozy and animal-filled. 

i do love a good bonfire.

the crackly sounds. cooking things on sticks. driving back into town, stopping at the target, and smelling like a smokey burnt up log. 

bonfires almost make me want to delay the first real snowfall. almost. 

here was our little fireside menu:

for noshing // leftover halloween candy

for melting // s'mores with pinot noir marshmallows

for roasting // bourbon smoked sausages and hot dogs

for sipping // kendall-jackson grand reserve pinot noir

-yeh!

thanks so much to kendall-jackson for sponsoring this post!!!! all opinions are my own!

mini chicken pot pies

in ,

i would first eat the crust, inspecting all surfaces to make sure there weren't any mushrooms or peas. i would then filter through the innards, making sure not to ingest any mushrooms or peas. eventually i would give up and go searching for a handi-snack.

to say that i'm impressed with those second graders who made it through daniel is an understatement.

at heart i'm still the pickiest of all the eaters. so even now when i eat something as comforting as chicken pot pie, i consider it a triumph because you never know what could be hiding in that thick creamy goop. it could be a mushroom.

of course my version doesn't have mushrooms. when will i enjoy mushrooms???? and this version is v heavy on the crust, a perk of its miniature size. i've grown into tolerating peas, so those are there, along with the remaining usual suspects of a chicken pot pie, and nothing else. 

this is a no frills pot pie. a simple pie, a humble pie.

these little pies are cute, fun to make, and functional, especially for a small household like mine that can't eat an entire pie for supper. i just wrap the leftovers up individually and freeze them and wam bam, easy as... (wait for it) pie.

i made these in my new favorite pan, the lodge mini cake pan, feel free to use a muffin tin though!

mini chicken pot pies

makes 10-12

ingredients

2 tb unsalted butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 c whole milk

enough chicken soup concentrate for 2 c liquid*

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1/2 c frozen peas

1/4 t dried thyme

black pepper

2 lb pie dough

*i like orrington farms brand, which requires 2 tsp mix per cup, but other brands, like better than bouillon i believe only require 1 tsp. best to check the instructions.  

clues

in a large skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the onion, stirring until soft, 5-7 minutes. stir in the flour so that it gets evenly distributed. whisk together the milk and chicken soup concentrate and pour it into the skillet. whisk the mixture constantly until it begins to thicken.

add the carrots, chicken, peas, thyme, and pepper, and simmer, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked. taste the mixture and adjust seasonings, if desired.

at this point, i find it easiest to let the mixture cool and then form my pies, however you can definitely form your pies immediately if you'd like.

preheat oven to 400. lightly grease your molds. line them with pie dough so that there is some overhang on the edges (for my pan, i used a 5 1/2-inch circle). spoon in a heaping 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture, place a smaller (3-4-inch) circle on top, and then crimp the edges from the bottom circle over. poke a few holes in the top. bake until golden brown, 30-40 minutes.

let cool slightly and enjoy!

-yeh!

this post is part of becky's eat seasonal roundup! check out a bunch of other seasonal goodies here!