blog — molly yeh

donut

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?

RECIPE: SUFGANIYOT STUFFING (WITH BACON...)

in ,

please tell me you did not actually think that i was making plain jane and easy peasy sufganiyot yesterday and being serious about it. 

i mean, ok, they are a solid second rate choice for when you're busy last-minute constructing your menorah. but no way would any guests of mine catch me just making sufganiyot.  

when you're religion tells you to eat donuts, you eat donuts with a capital d. you work all day in the kitchen and you make it all from scratch, or you at least go to the donut plant. you don't just fry bullshit dough out of a can. 

so if you haven't already figured it out, i quickly made donuts yesterday so that i could have day old donuts today in order to simulate the timing between the first night of hannukah and thanksgiving... so that i could make stuffing out of my day old sufganiyot... so that i could make thanksgiving even fatter.

i didn't actually make them to eat them and share them with my friends. 

i won't even try to sugarcoat this (heh. get it? cause sufganiyot are coated in sugar?), this is going to be the reason that we all explode on thanksgiving. you might have trouble saving room for pie. or latkes. or whatever. this stuffing is the perfect marriage of the three food groups of salty, sweet, and bacon. it for sure isn't kosher (unless you use a dairy-free donut and turkey bacon). and i have only tried this with my biscuit dough sufganiyot, which are rather cakey, so if you plan on having a sufganiyah of a different texture, i recommend testing it out before the big day. i could see lighter doughs getting a bit too soggy, but i hope to be proven wrong. 

this recipe is based on the recipe that i wrote last year for pastrami sandwich stuffing. which presents another thought: does there need to be a stuffing-centric concept pop-up restaurant? yes, yes there does.

sufganiyot stuffing with bacon 

makes 6-8 servings 

ingredients 

one batch of these sufganiyot

2 tb olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

2 pinches of kosher salt

4 slices of bacon, chopped

1/4 c dried cranberries

1 c chicken or vegetable broth

1 egg

a pinch each of ground cloves, ground cinnamon, and thyme

a small handful of fresh parsley

 clues

preheat oven to 200 f. slice open your sufganiyot, extract the jam as best you can, and set it aside. cut sufganiyot into 3/4-inch pieces and then bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes, until they're very dry. when they're done baking, remove them from the oven and crank the heat up to 375 f.

heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. cook the onion and celery until soft and translucent, 5-7 minutes. add the bacon and dried cranberries, and heat until the bacon is cooked through.  

in a medium bowl, whisk together the broth, egg, spices, and reserved jam (you'll want 1/4 cup of jam-- if you don't have enough reserved from the donuts, add more).  

in a greased large loaf pan, gently combine the sufganiyot cubes and the onion mixture. fold in the parsley and the broth mixture to coat the cubes evenly. bake for 45 minutes.

enjoy while wearing your prettiest eating pants. 

-yeh!