Farm Stand Buttermilk Doughnuts Two Ways - Club:BAKED

To be honest, the very first time I found out that Farm Stand Buttermilk Doughnuts was our second expedition in Club: BAKED ... I was terrified. I am a doughnut fan but I have never even dreamed of making homemade doughnuts before. I hadn't ever fried anything before and I have never made any type of dough other then cookie dough. I almost wanted to quit! I thought, "I am WAY too inexperienced for this baking group, maybe I should start with a more basic baking book." 

I am glad I didn't quit! Making these little treats was not as hard as I imagined. In fact the whole process went incredibly smoothly because... my wonderful boyfriend helped me out haha. We have been together over 6 years now and he is very good at keeping my stress level low. He also know that when I say "UGH I HATE BAKING!" it really just means "help I am lost!" When he first heard me utter that statement he popped up and took over photographer duties as well as became my soothing mentor and assistant fryer. 

Well back to the doughnuts...

I don't have any cookie cutters or doughnut cutters or any thing like that at all so I took a metal insulated cup that looked to be about 3 1/4 inches in diameter and used this to make the main doughnut ring. I chose this cup because the rim was thin which made cutting very easy. For the hole I used the smaller side of a double sided shot glass. It was maybe an inch in diameter and made the perfect size hole for my doughnuts.

I forgot to say that I had to add extra buttermilk to my dough. I noticed it was pretty dry, not sticky like the recipe described, so I just added in a bit more buttermilk until the dough looked right.

Anyway, I was very very nervous about frying these doughnuts and as I watched the temperature on the thermometer go up and up and up my nervousness increased, but finally it was time. Once I got them in the oil it was actually pretty fun to watch them puff up and brown.

I ended up with about 16 large doughnuts and 20 doughnut holes (which is way way way to many, I really should have made only half the recipe).

While I was waiting for the oil to heat up I began making the toppings. I first made the chocolate topping, then I got started on the vanilla. I was panicking about not having all the toppings made in time and I made a HUGE mistake. I used regular sugar instead of powdered sugar and didn't even realize until I was mixing it all together and it didn't look right.
Well instead of starting over, I just trashed it. I am not a vanilla fan anyway so I really didn't mind. After I though out my vanilla mistake I mixed up the Cinnamon sugar topping and by then the oil was hot and ready.

Once I began topping my doughnuts and doughnut holes I realized another mistake I made... I didn't half the recipes so I ended up with way more toppings than what could cover even my excessive amount of doughnuts. Luckily I really like having Cinnamon sugar toast so I saved that mixture in a baggy and I also REALLY love the chocolate topping so I saved the left overs in a bowl in the refrigerator. This will probably sound really strange but I have been enjoying a spoon full of this cool chocolate treat with a glass of wine at night.

 Enough of my random ramblings... here is my final result!

 Both my boyfriend and my family really enjoyed these Farm Stand Buttermilk Doughnuts.

My boyfriend really enjoyed them dipped in milk.

I found a great way to use the left overs. Obviously, they just aren't as good after the first day because the loose there fresh crispyness but the taste DELICIOUS dipped in coffee! Every morning since I made them I have been popping a large doughnut in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then I dip it into my morning coffee, it is SOOOO good! The chocolate topped doughnuts work best as coffee dippers and I am really sad that I am all out of doughnuts.

Awesome pick Gloria, and I am not just saying that because you're my sister! For the full recipe check out her blog The Ginger Snap Girl! To see how the other bakers did check out Club: BAKED.

:)

P.S. I keep hearing that people had bad experiences with the chocolate topping and boy am I sorry, mine was PERFECT and truly the only topping I would reuse.

How I made it:
 4.5-5 ounces of Lindt 70% Cocoa coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

I made mine way before the oil was ready so mine cooled off a bit so I zapped it in the microwave but it came out thick and creamy and deliciously dark! I am a HUGE dark chocolate fan and I know a lot of people aren't so I would imagine replacing the dark bar for a 50% or a milk chocolate would work just as well.

NY Style Crumb Cake - I finally made it!

I've been so busy lately that for the first time in my life I became a procrastinator... I honestly don't know what I was thinking putting off this delicious crumb cake for so long!

To be honesty, I wasn't exactly excited when I saw that New York Style Crumb Cake was the first recipe we would be making for Club:BAKED because I am a chocolate fanatic so I always chose CHOCOLATE over anything else. I was a bit nervous when I realized that Baked Explorations was not filled with tons of extra chocolatey treats... NY Style Crumb Cake changed my mind. Don't get me wrong I still LOVE chocolate but now I am excited about all the Baked Exploration recipes.

Well anyway... I had every intention to bake this crumb cake weeks ago because I cannot STAND waiting till the last minute. I am an 'always early' person, so a few weeks ago I bought all the ingredients I needed to bake this crumb cake but life threw a curve ball at me.

I recently graduated from college and I have been applying to jobs like a mad women, but up until now I hadn't heard back from anyone. Well right around the time I purchased all the ingredients for this recipe one of the jobs called me back! The most promising and high paying job in fact. So my last few weeks have been consumed with interviews and paperwork and online courses and finger printing and background checks and such and well... I used up my sour cream on nachos and almost completely forgot about this weeks recipe.

If you have read any of my posts before now you probably already know that I did not go to the grocery store today to buy more sour cream but I instead came up with a substitute. (I should probably change my name to Totally Substituted) Well I rummaged through my fridge and decided that I could substitute the sour cream for strained yogurt.  Of course I didn't have enough vanilla yogurt ( a little less than a cup) but you know what I did have? Yoplait's Strawberry Shortcake yogurt... so I added that in as well with a little bit of baking soda to thicken the yogurt up. ( I also had Key Lime Pie flavor but I figured Strawberry Shortcake would blend a little better). To my surprise... it worked out! You could taste a hit a strawberry in the raw batter but once it was baked you couldn't even notice.

Ready for the oven!

In the oven

My crumb cake came out so much better than I ever imagined! Both my mother and niece enjoyed it too.

Fresh out!

I am so excited about that this crumb topping... all the other crumb toppings I have made before sink down to the bottom but this one help up wonderfully!

Oh one more thing... I decided to a Cinnamon and brown sugar filling. I mixed together a version of the crumble topping without adding the flour and I added it half way through pouring the cake mix then added the rest of the cake mix on top of it. I am so glad I did! It is one of my favorite aspects of the cake!

I would say over all this was absolutely a success! I can't wait to bake the Farm Stand Buttermilk Donuts Three Ways from Baked Explorations.

Check out all the other bloggers crumb cakes here!

:)