recipe

cheddar donuts

in

if there were ever any remedies in the world for waking up with a grossly sticky phone, not even the wherewithal to gauge the ferociousness of a headache, and the sneaking suspicion that yes, you did in fact stand with a microphone in front of a large group of inspiring people and call them bitches and dude bitches, it's these:

1. a long soupy shower

2. emerging from the shower and seeing a large white bed with a plop of neon ombré blue hair in the center. this would be stephanie's hair. it is fantastic and we are slumber partying in brooklyn currently. 

3. very loud ben folds

i'm going to go try to pull myself together but first, a very very large hug to all of you for this. it has not soaked in, i predict i may cry today, and i'm going to send you a proper thank you note once i can collect my thoughts and words from wherever they are hiding. 

but before i leave, let's make donuts! because it's national donut day, the best day of the year.

now listen, i don't like deep frying. so when i deep fry, i want you to know that it's worth it. it's worth the energy, it's worth taking the extra step of putting on an apron so that you don't get oil on your cardigan, and it's worth the calories. these cheddar donuts are especially worth it because they're fried challah dough stuffed with cheddar and coated in cheddar powder. think of these as slightly sweet, fluffy fried grilled cheese balls that will take a couple of minutes off of your life, but we're all gonna die anyway, so let's just do this. 

cheddar donuts

makes 24 

ingredients

dough:

2 1/4 tsp yeast

3/4 c warm water

1/4 c + 1 tsp sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

3 c flour, plus more for dusting

2 large eggs

1/3 c flavorless oil, like canola

 

 

assembly:

3 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese

oil for frying

1/2 c cheddar powder

sriracha, for serving

clues

Combine the yeast, warm water, and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a medium bowl and give it a little stir. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it becomes foamy on top. 

Meanwhile, in a large bowl or the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, and flour. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. 

When the yeast is foamy, add it to the dry mixture immediately followed by the egg mixture and stir to combine. Knead, either by hand on a floured surface or with a dough hook for 7-10 minutes, adding more white flour as necessary (but try not too add too much), until you have a nice smooth dough.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature until it has doubled in size, about 2 hours. 

Divide the dough into 24 small balls. Roll each one out, stuff with 2 tablespoons of shredded cheddar and pinch the ends shut to seal in the cheese. Place them on a sheet of parchment and let them rise for about 30 more minutes. 

Meanwhile, heat 3 inches of oil in a large heavy saucepan fitted with a thermometer to 350f. Using a slotted spoon, fry up your donuts in batches of 3 or 4 for 3-5 minutes each, until golden brown. transfer them to a paper towel to pat off any excess oil, toss them in cheddar powder, and serve.

Enjoy!

and do check out all of the other awesome donuts for national donut day!! 

-yeh!

p.s. a few orders of business: i am heading to los angeles this weekend to play the opera that i won't shut up about. can you come? can you come?? there are still tickets left! and then after that, i will be scooting to new orleans for the sustainable seafood blog conference, where graham and i will be dressing up like tara and johnny and talking about food styling. tickets are still available for that as well!!! also what do i need to eat in la and nola?

strawberry and peanut butter cookie salad

in ,

i don't know if you and i have ever truly sat down and discussed the elephant that fills up the entirety of the upper midwest: there are no vegetables in salad. salads here contain jell-o and mayonnaise and sweets of all sorts (whatever, yes, grapes), but unless you specify a vegetable salad, there's a very good chance that asking a true midwesterner to bring a salad to the potluck will mean making more room for dessert. 

the salad chapters in the stack of church cookbooks sitting beside me are my favorite. oddly they're where you'd expect a salad chapter to be, right after the appetizers and before the mains, but ingredients like miniature marshmallows, cool whip, and cream cheese make regular appearances. after experiencing a few long winters here, the best reason i can think of for not using vegetables would be limited access to fresh ones. but why marshmallows? why cookies? do you know why? this all sometimes feels like a never-ending punchline where the joke is actually on me because in the end, i get to eat salad and have my cookies too. 

out of all of my new midwestern food friends, cookie salad might be the one that i've had the most fun with. a typical cookie salad is fudge striped cookies, vanilla pudding, buttermilk, cool whip, and mandarin oranges or bananas. you can find a recipe for that here. but when you start making substitutions and taking liberties like a millennial, you realize that a cookie salad is not so different from an eton mess or perhaps a breakfast parfait. 

i have an eton mess inspired version of a cookie salad in the latest issue of saveur along with a little story that i really want to show you! i had so much fun with it. i haven't seen it yet because magazines just take longer to get here, but perhaps if you're near a newsstand, you could pick one up??

and then here is another version of a cookie salad. it's a slightly healthier take, as the cream and pudding get swapped out for yogurt, but it feels right for both breakfast and dessert. you can use plain yogurt, as i usually do, especially if it's for breakfast, or you can use any flavored variety that you'd like. it's also embarrassingly easy. are you ready?

strawberry and peanut butter cookie salad

ingredients

for each serving you will need:

a big plop of yogurt

a handful or two of peanut butter cookie crumbs (i used this recipe)

fresh sliced strawberries

and, yes, sprinkles

 

clues

stir all of the ingredients together in a bowl and serve immediately or the next day (it's actually really good the next day when the cookies have absorbed some of the yogurt!) or layer them artfully in individual dishes and let your guests toss their own salads. 

enjoy!

-yeh!

thank you to the wonderful celeste for stopping by and helping me make these little cookie salads on her drive across the country! come back, celeste! we forgot to eat them! 

pictured: coasters // glasses // wooden spoon

a savory yogurt + egg breakfast salad situation

in

i've had a really bizarre relationship with breakfast recently, in that sometimes i get so distracted by the morning twitter and email and other things around the internet that i straight up forget to eat until eggboy comes in hungry for lunch. in my mind i am one of those people who wakes up, eats a toast, runs, and then works. in reality, this whole process can take until well into the afternoon because the internet has so many things and i just want to look at them all. 

i did go through a phase a few months ago after i read this comment thread that said that it's healthiest to eat a large breakfast with many carbs, a medium lunch, and a light dinner with no carbs. i would eat kale and matzo brei and bacon and oatmeal for breakfast, and a salad for dinner. i slept really really well!! but i did not look forward to my dinner because i hated limiting myself and i just wanted spaghetti. <3 spaghetti <3

but then in the past month or so there were way too many days when the only reason i ate breakfast was because eggboy told me i should and it was usually a handful of peanut butter granola, an avocado toast, or a pile of hazelnuts. nothing against any of those foods, i've just been searching for more. more excitement, more colors, more things that are going to wake me up better than pictures of rihanna as an omelette. 

and then cheryl's book arrived and a new version of one of my old favorite breakfasts was staring at me saying hi, remember me!!! a simple fresh salad served over a big old plop of savory yogurt, drizzled with olive oil, just like what i had every morning on my trip to israel and every morning for the few months after. cheryl's is fancier though, with micro greens and maldon salt, and the recipe is nestled in her book among a slew of the most perfect savory yogurt applications i ever did meet. yogurt frittatas, yogurt omelettes, yogurt soups... there are sweet ones too of course, like a labneh brownie tart, omg, but the most inspiring part of her book for me is her case for savory yogurt, especially at breakfast. it's so refreshing and exciting that for the past few days, i've been itching to wake up and eat this breakfast.

to further my trip down israel memory lane, i started adding za'atar and an egg*, which makes for a filling/healthy/delicious situation that you should definitely try right now. it's a perfect protein-y breakfast. thank you, cheryl!! you rule. 

a savory yogurt + egg breakfast salad situation 

inspired by the tomato, avocado, and cucumber salad from cheryl sternman rule's yogurt culture

makes 1-2 servings

ingredients

1 c plain yogurt (ideally, greek yogurt)

a fried egg or two

1/2 avocado, diced

1/2 c diced english cucumber

1 tomato, diced, or a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

flaky salt, such as maldon

black pepper

a pinch of za'atar

a substantial sprinkling of minced fresh herbs or micro greens (i've been using watercress though bc sista can't get micro greens in the middle of nowhere)

olive oil-y or buttery toast with salt

clues

spread the yogurt in a shallow bowl or on a plate, place the eggs on top and sprinkle on the avocado, cucumber, and tomato. drizzle everything with olive oil. sprinkle with salt, pepper, and za'atar. garnish with herbs or micro greens. serve with toast.

enjoy!

-yeh!

*there is another reason i added an egg (other than the fact that i love eggs (and eggboys)): and that is that i've officially become an egggirl for the american egg board! over the next few months, i'll be bringing you eggcentric recipes and egg facts in partnership with the incredible egg. (for example: do you know the difference between cage free and free range eggs?? free range chickies can go outside and forage! some cage free chickens can too, but not all of them. more on this here. most eggs reach the store within one week of being laid, and for those of you who like baking with room temperature eggs: an egg left out at room temperature for one day ages about as much as a refrigerated one does in a week.) the word is still out on whether or not i get to meet kevin bacon, but regardless, i am very excited about all of  the egg things that are in my life right now. 

thank you so much to the american egg board for sponsoring this post! all opinions are my own.  

pictured: tiny spoon // spatula // plate

marzipan marzipan blueberry cake

in

because it's my birthday.

!!

i bought myself these gifts: health insurance, a set of fringe & fettle bowls, and chickens (they will arrive mid-june!)

i am celebrating in this way: in bismarck, for my friend jean's wedding tomorrow! i plan to get a pedicure and help make cookies for jean's rehearsal dinner and drink and hang out with eggboy. 

i will eat: a greasy breakfast sandwich*, cheese fries*, friday pizza, and this marzipan marzipan cake.

i will drink: anything that is placed in front of me. it might have rhubarb simple syrup in it because i brought my own with me to bismarck.

i will listen to: mahler 5*

i will not: use the internet (too much).

*per tradition

last year i got the tastiest cake in the mail. it was so dense and almondy, i just wanted to lie in a bed of it. it was not too sweet and a perfect cake for the mail because it didn't require any frosting and it's one of those that gets better with age. (can i be one of those??? or do we even talk about age on our birthdays anymore? just cake? you're right, just cake.) it was so delicious and unique that it might have been one of the best cakes i've ever had. so this week, i tracked down the recipe, in amanda hesser's book cooking for mr. latte, and, well, covered it in marzipan. because that seemed like the correct thing to do during my birthday week. i also halved it to make it a mini 6-inch situation and added some blueberry jam because st. dalfour's wild blueberry jam is having a moment in my life right now. also almonds + blueberries = a very good thing.

marzipan marzipan blueberry cake

makes one 2-layer 6-inch cake

cake adapted from amanda hesser's almond cake

ingredients

cake:

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 c unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 c sugar

3.5 oz almond paste, cut into small pieces

2 large egg yolks

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 c all-purpose flour

assembly:

about 1/2 c blueberry jam

about 10 oz marzipan

gel or liquid food coloring

sprinkles

clues

cake:

preheat oven to 350 f. grease two 6-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment.

mix together the sour cream and baking soda and set it aside.

in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. add the almond paste and beat at medium speed for 5 minutes. add the egg yolks one at a time and mix until incorporated. blend in the almond extract, the sour cream mixture, and the salt. reduce mixer to low and gradually add the flour until just combined.

divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly. bake for about 30 minutes, until the tops are browned and the edges shrink from the sides of the pan. the centers of the cakes will likely cave in a bit once they come out of the oven but that's ok. let the cakes cool for a few minutes in their pans and then turn onto a wire rack to cool fully. you can wrap these in plastic wrap and keep them at room temperature for about a week or so. 

assembly:

level the tops of the cakes, if needed. spread a thick layer of jam on one layer and then place the other layer on top. spread a thin layer of jam all over the entire cake. 

roll your marzipan out on a piece of parchment paper into a large circle, about 1/4 inch thick. use the parchment to help get the marzipan sheet over the cake. smooth the marzipan down over the cake and trim the edges. knead food coloring into any excess marzipan and use it for decorations. stick on your decorations, complete the look with sprinkles!

-yeh!

pictured: cake stand // cake server // rolling pin