Cooking up Fall

Today was an excellent day, one of those autumn days that is every thing an autumn day should be.  The only thing absent was raking leaves and jumping in the piles, but I don't miss that.  I have great memories of it from my childhood, but now I get creeped out thinking of all the bugs that must be hiding under those leaves.

Perhaps I really am a grown-up now, all evidence to the contrary.

This was supposed to be a post with pictures.  I love picture posts; they always hold my attention better than posts without visual aids because I am a big-time visual learner.  Unfortunately our camera is on the fritz, so this will be a picture-less post.  I am probably sadder about this than you are.

My sister and her husband and the inimitable Daniel came with us this morning to the local farmers' market, where we accomplished our mission of obtaining unpasteurized apple cider.  I've only been to the farmers' market a couple of times, but I like it a lot.  Plenty of locally-grown, organic whatsits, most of which I don't actually buy, but it's fun to admire them and think about buying, and what to buy next time, perhaps.  We saw some gorgeous autumn- and Christmas-themed greenery arrangements and want to go back and get one for our table once it gets closer to the holidays.

(The Christmas-themed arrangements were beautiful, but they did cause me to spend a little time pondering how insane it is that Christmas stuff is everywhere despite the fact that it's only three days after Halloween.  It has even infiltrated the local farmers' market!  What is this world coming to?)

This afternoon we had planned a fall-food sugar overload in the form of homemade donuts and homemade caramel apples, neither of which I'd ever tried doing before.  Rosie and I make a pretty good cooking team, and we have a lot of fun doing it, especially when the guys are there to keep an eye on the under-two set.

Epicurious.com provided me with a donut recipe (they call them doughnuts, but Typepad thinks I'm spelling that wrong) which I found appealing because: (1) it looked fairly simple, and (2) it has pumpkin in it, and I'm always up for a small mitigating factor - in this case vitamins - in my guilty-pleasure food.

Here is the recipe.  I highly recommend it.

I made the dough last night; it says to chill it for three hours but I figured more hours wouldn't hurt, and I was right.  The dough is a pretty basic cake dough, and was a cinch to whip up.  I figured frying would be the hard part, but it was pretty easy once we got the hang of keeping the oil at the right temperature.  Rolling and cutting and especially transferring the dough ended up being the trickiest part, and I've learned my lesson - next time I'll just go ahead and drop little scoops directly into the oil.  Donut holes are just as tasty as pretty round donuts and easier to coat in sugar, to boot.

Bryan and I always like to get ourselves to an orchard for cider and donuts sometime in the fall-time, and we did it this year.  We might still do it in the future, but I dunno.  Spending $6 a dozen on orchard-made donuts when we can have homemade-ones piping hot seems silly.

Donuts got twelve thumbs up (two moms, two dads, and two kiddos, who were delighted and never suspected that we were giving them the non-sugar-coated variety).

I didn't see a caramel apple recipe on Epicurious (I've since discovered one, which I'll probably try next year) so I found a recipe on Recipezaar from a user whose jalapeño-cheese bread rocked my world.

The reason I prefer Epicurious to Recipezaar and AllRecipes is the same reason I prefer Joy of Cooking to PTA-fundraiser cookbooks: the recipes have been tested and edited by professionals.  Recipes submitted by home cooks, although they might turn out beautifully when made by those cooks, often include imprecise or incomplete directions.  It is a definite handicap when one is trying a new recipe.

That's why our caramel apples didn't turn out so well.  It says to bring to a boil, it says to stir; we did all that and our caramel still started to scorch.

The only thing we could think to do was stop stirring so that the scorched part would stay on the bottom of the pan.  The caramel turned out dark, but the texture was good, so we went ahead and dipped the big, gorgeous Granny Smith apples I'd bought.  They don't taste too bad.  A little "smoky," as Rosie described it, but not bad.

Still, I've got a saucepan soaking in my sink that might never recover, and a sinking suspicion that I should have gone the simple route and just melted some Brach's caramels for apple-coating.  What was I trying to prove?  I'm going to have to make some jalapeño-cheese bread just to restore my faith in humanity and Recipezaar.

Good heavens, this post is long.  TOO long.  Tomorrow: an in-depth look at our laundry procedures.  You're on the edges of your seats, aren't you?

Comments

[Jen]

Nope, not too long! I call them doughnuts too. Sounds like a fantastic cooking day. I would like to try making doughnuts soon too. I usually take a day off work for Christmas baking, maybe I will try doughnuts then.

[Lindsay]

I do not really cook -- truth is, I don't really know how -- but I can follow recipes easily enough and the times that I have bothered to dapple with cooking it has turned out pretty decently. That being said, given that I am below amateur status, I prefer epicurious as well (when I have access to a kitchen, of course) because it makes my life immensely easier.

This post makes me want to go to an orchard and pick apples. Or just go to an orchard. I love autumn. The imagery makes me sad that there were no pictures, too.

[Margaret]

I've always wanted to try making homemade donuts- just never got around to it. The apple cider sounds wonderful!

[cjmr]

I just go the Brach's Milkmaid caramel method myself when I'm making caramel anything.

The doughnuts sound delicious. I've got to try those once my kiddos are over this whatever it is they have.

[Diane]

One time my mom got those preformed sheets of caramel. You just drape it over the apple, and melt in the oven for about 5 minutes or so.

I do not recommend this. They were just awful.

I typically prefer homemade treats, but I absolutely LOVE the caramel apples I can buy in the store. It's not so much the cooking, but the cleaning up after that TERRIFIES me. Good luck cleaning that pan!

[parodie]

I love discovering how easy it can be to make things I have always bought, but yes, sometimes the required work/outcome makes one appreciate the price paid. I have found bagels fall into that category for me - good to know caramel apples do too.

[Sarah]

Christmas ornaments
presented in October
utterly insane.

Caramel apples?
I melt some Brach's caramels
in my microwave.

Oh, unpasteurized
cider, how I long for thee!
Alas, I'm pregnant.

[Ellen]

Okay, you seriously have me drooling over here. I LOVE doughtnuts, but can't say that I ever recall having homemade ones. Orchard-made doughnuts, however, I do know from firsthand experience are wonderful. Makes me homesick for Michigan...

[Shelby]

Are cider and doughnuts a Michigan thing? I have to say, you totally validated the craving for cider and doughnuts that I've been having all fall. Here in San Diego, cider is hard to find -- at least the good, opaque brown (am I thinking of the unpasteurized?) kind. And my husband (a Canadian) looks at me with mildly disguised disgust every time I mention cider and doughnuts. His perspective: cider -- good; doughnuts -- good; cider AND doughnuts -- not so good. He doesn't even know what he's missing =)

[Maggie]

Here's what I want to do: Come home and do some serious apple-picking, real apple-picking, Macintoshes and Idareds and three red deliciouses, because they're actually delicious when they're picked right off the tree, for hours and hours, on a sunny and slightly crisp breezy autumn day, with the oaks and maples blazing in the background, wearing clean jeans and a real sweater, and then go home and make pies and drink tea by the fireplace and play with my nieces and nephews and talk to my siblings and try to keep Daniel from beating up the dog. Instead I will read Northanger Abbey and eat a Granny Smith I purchased from a drugstore in the basement of the train station in Rome. My life is pathetic.

[Kim]

Sounds like a perfect day to me! Those donuts sound divine!

[Caroline]

It sounds like a very yummy day. :)
I hope your camera gets fixed soon. We need more pictures of Milla the Muffin!

[Salome Ellen]

Caramel is always tricky. But the upside of burnt sugar is that it always does dissolve in the end.

[maggie]

i want to be the maggie near the train station in rome. :(

Do you have a butternut squash soup recipe?

[Lisa]

I always love food at this time of year...especially stuff with apples and spice. It always makes me think of fun holiday meals with family all around. And this year, with one more little one at the table (or rather, sleeping in a carseat near the table). Actually, four more little ones, to include my nephews, but they were born in the Spring, so we're used to them at/around the table now.

[Simone]

Yum. Those doughnuts sound tasty. Thanks for the bread recipe link - I'm going to have to give that one a try.

Is there any particular reason that you prefer recipezaar to AllRecipes? I find Recipezaar harder to navigate, harder to find recipes after I've saved them, and kind of annoying with the constant requests to pay for a 'premium membership'. I'd be interested to hear your reasons.

[Pearl]

I've had a weekend of soup-making. Yum. My flatmate has a herb garden, and there's something deeply satisfying about venturing out in the cold and dark and coming back with a fistful of lovely-smelling things to put in the soup.

[Pearl]

I've had a weekend of soup-making. Yum. My flatmate has a herb garden, and there's something deeply satisfying about venturing out in the cold and dark and coming back with a fistful of lovely-smelling things to put in the soup.

[Emma B]

But the upside of burnt sugar is that it always does dissolve in the end.

Depending on just how badly you burn it, I beg to differ! I had a pan of caramel burn badly enough that it took a couple hours with a paint scraper to get it off...

[Meika]

Mmmmm... that was a cozy post. I don't think you can go too long on a cozy post.

I remember making doughnuts with my mom when I was very small, and oh, were they good. I think we said farewell to them around the same time skim milk started appearing in our fridge. Maybe it's time to revive the tradition.

Maggie, I'd love to be with you in the train station in Rome, too... but for some reason, fall was far and away the season I missed most whenever I was overseas. I remember my mom sending me an envelope full of fall leaves during the semester I was in Egypt, and I just sat there and breathed them in...

[Keri]

I'm hungry now.

[Kate]

Cider!!! Oh....you should see what passes for cider in some parts of the US...

The doughnut recipe looks yummy! I've always wanted to try making doughnuts...but the one time my mom tried they turned out really greasy, and that sort of turned me off. How did you keep the oil at the right temperature?

I may just try...it sounds like they turned out well for you!

Kate

[Mykal]

If you haven't managed to clean that burnt caramel pot yet, I recommend filling it with water and putting it back on the stove to simmer, should help dissolve the burnt stuff right out of there. I've tried my hand at homemade candy a few times and you get good at cleaning out blackened sugar from pots after a while.

[ashley]

I just went to Ann Arbor for my birthday weekend (the one I share with your daughter! :) I think I MIGHT remember you mentioning you live in that area?

It was not only the most adorable little town (with a plethora of coffee shops. yay!) but also - we had some pumpkin donuts that were to DIE for. Oh man. And went to an orchard, but didn't fall for those super expensive apples. $8 for a 10 apples. No way. :)

[Christiana]

I'm behind in the NaBloPoMo commenting! It's just that my 6 months pregnant self got totally enthralled by the thought of homemade donuts and I got distracted, because - wow! That sounds really good! I think i'd kill for a Krispy Kreme right now thanks to that lovely image of donuts.
I have to say that sometimes I am jealous that your siblings are around and you can do these great projects with them and your kids can bond... my sister is a missionary in Sweden and her 4 children (whom I love as if they were my own) are all over there. I know you do, but I encourage you, especially in this season of thanks to thank God for your family! :-)

[Celeste]

We make "homemade" donuts here, using the Pillsbury-style biscuits. Just fry 'em up, coat in cinnamon and sugar. But they are definitely best served hot.

[Hoo]

Ha! My husband's biggest pet peeve is the early arrival of Christmas decorations. I find his irritation to be funny only in it's magnitude. As a former retail drudge and current home-decorating-madwoman I will just plead - hey, it's takes a long time to get that stuff up!
My pet peeve however is leaving any trace of it inside after Jan 6th and outside say, Jan 15th, unless it's totally encased in ice.