Spicy Pumpkin Donuts

After a much-needed break of over a year where I had to care for personal matters, it is time to get back to food blogging. I couldn't be any happier. Food, and especially baking, is not only a hobby for me, but it's a cure, it's cathartic on several levels. I know for a fact that a lot of you are on the same boat. Food drives us and motivates us, it's not just a basic survival need, but it's part of who we are and how we view the world.

While creating this recipe I reconnected with the joy of testing the right combinations of flavor and texture, of styling and photography. Despite the hard work it takes, it is my ultimate comfort zone; the zen space that I cherish the most.

Donuts seem just like a banal dessert that you easily snatch on the go from your favorite "donut" shop. But don't let the humbleness of dessert fool you. If done right, it is a wonderful treat that offers endless customization possibilities. Making donuts at home puts you in full control over the flavor and texture that appeals the most to you.
This particular donut recipe delivers light, pillowy, sweet and mildly spiced donuts that just capture the best fall flavors. What's best is that the recipe makes use of a bountiful ingredient this time of the year: pumpkin. There is no shortage of pumpkin recipes on this blog and this is a welcome addition that I am sure you'll love and enjoy with a warm cup of coffee, perhaps spiked with the wafting aroma of pumpkin pie spice.

For 10 to 12 donuts you need:

• 300 g flour (I used 150 g bread flour and 150 whole spelt flour, you can use all bread flour if you want)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 to 2 tsp of mixed spices (add the spices you prefer)
• Zest of half an orange
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
• 60 g butter, cold or at room temperature
• 40 g brown sugar (I used coconut sugar and maple sugar)
• 6 g salt
• 100 g pumpkin purée (I make mine)
• 60 ml of warm milk (37C)
• 5 g fresh yeast

First, in your mixer bowl, mix the yeast and milk and stir well until it´s dissolved, then add 60 g of flour and mix well. Then add the rest of the flour, cover and let it proof for 30 minutes. This step will make your donuts softer and last longer. Now add all the other ingredients except for the butter, and  with the hook attachment and mix for at least 10 minutes on medium to low speed.

If the dough feels a bit dry, add more milk. Keep in mind that different flours absorb water differently. 

Add the butter and mix again for another 8 to 10 minutes or until your dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

Cover the dough and let it double in volume. This should take around 2 hours.

Now, slowly deflate your dough by bringing the sides to the middle, cover again and put in the fridge overnight. I start working on the dough in the evening, so before I go to bed I just pop it into the fridge and leave it to ferment slowly and develop its beautiful flavors.

The next day , drop the dough on your lightly floured counter, and roll it out to about 1 cm thick.
Using a round cutter, cut the donuts and place them on parchment paper. This is optional, but I usually cut parchment paper squares to fit only one donut as this makes it easier to handle the donuts later on, but you can place all your donuts on a single paper. 

The cut donuts need their final rest to rise and puff. Depending on the warmth of your kitchen, this may take anything from one to two hours. Yup making donuts requires some patience.

Now we're ready for frying. Fill your frying pan with about 2 to 3 cm of vegetable oil and heat it to 180 C. The oil should not be too hot or else the dough will burn on the outside and remain raw in the middle and if it's cold the dough will absorb the oil like a sponge.
Fry the donuts until golden on both sides. Don't forget to flip the dough so both sides have a nice and even color. Placing the donuts on individual parchment papers helps me to place them in the oil directly without losing their shape as the dough is quite fragile when raw. 

Put the fried donuts on absorbing paper to get rid of any excess oil. 

You can simply dust your donuts with simple powdered sugar, or glaze them. Here;s how you do both:

• Simple sugar glaze: just mix 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar with a 1 tsp of cinnamon. 
• Maple glaze:  mix 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and add enough powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency, which should not be neither too runny nor too thick. 

The donuts should keep well for up to three days but of course they are best fresh.

Enjoy this delicious dessert with its typical autumnal flavors that go so well during Thanksgiving.

A Spooky Pumpkin Cheesecake

Like every year on Halloween, I like to bake something for the occasion. Halloween celebrations are becoming more ingrained within the Spanish cultural landscape and I don't mind it at all! I think it's a fun way to express our dark side in a totally benign manner.  

I have made cookies, cakes, muffins and more for Halloween. This year I went for a cheesecake, my soft spot in the dessert world! What's a pumpkin cheesecake like? Extra creamy and full of the wonderful pumpkin pie spice flavors; you really can't ask for more! 

Like all recipes that have a substantial amount of spices, the flavor is always better the following day, so do take the effort of preparing the cheesecake one day before serving. Let your imagination go wild and surprise your guests, your friends or your family with this perfect end for a gorylicious Halloween dinner party. 

Let´s start baking.

For the crust you need: (18 cm spring-form pan; serves 6-8 people)

• 100 g digestive cookies
• 25 g melted butter
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Place the cookies in a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin until you have a coarse powder. Place the pulverized cookies in the spring-form pan, add the melted butter and sugar, mix well then press the mixture to cover the bottom and the sides of the pan. Bake in a preheated oven (180 C) for 8 to 10 min. Leave to cool.

For the filling you need:

• 600 g cream-cheese at room temperature
• 3 large eggs at room temperature 
• 100 g sour cream (or thick yogurt,)
• 130 g sugar (70 g brown sugar and 60 g granulated)
• 120 g  pumpkin purée (mine is homemade)
• 1 tbsp flour or cornstarch
• dash of salt
• 1 to 2  tsp of pumpkin spices, adjust the quantity to your liking (I used: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, star anise, allspice, fresh and powdered ginger and a bit of cardamom)
• 1/2 tsp of bourbon (optional)

In the mixer bowl, add the cheese and mix on a low speed with the paddle attachment for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add the sugar, sour cream, spices, salt, pumpkin purée and flour and mix again until well blended and no lumps are visible. Add the eggs one by one and keep mixing on a low speed. Finally add the bourbon mix for a bit. 

Pour the batter in the pan, and bake in a preheated oven (150 to 160 C). 

Usually it's customary to wrap the spring-form pan with aluminum foil and place it in another pan filled with warm water and then bake for the required time; that is one hour to one hour and a half (oven-dependent) for a pan of this size.  This bain-marie method of cooking is needed to bake your cake at a gentler heat to avoid surface cracks.

What I did is different though. I put in the middle layer of the oven a pan and filled it with warm water then placed the cheesecake pan over a cookie sheet and put both over the pan. This created  a steamy environment in my oven and allowed the cheesecake to cook all the way through while retaining a smooth creamy texture and most importantly with no surface cracks whatsoever.

After one hour, turn off your oven, shake the tray, make sure the middle is still wiggly and leave the oven door cracked open for another half an hour to an hour. 

Let it cool completely before you put it in the fridge overnight. 

Before serving decorate the cheesecake to your liking. I added some crushed digestive cookies, and decorated a sugar cookie following this tutorial to resemble a tombstone. I also added some royal icing spiders and pine nuts as maggots for that extra graveyard feel. 

And there you have it: a gory but delicious dessert for your Halloween party!

For other Halloween recipes click here, here, here and here

Tangarine and Cardamom Cake

The long needed Christmas and New Year's vacations are long over and we are now back to our daily routines. Madrid post-vacation is cold and wintery and I couldn't be happier as I love this kind of weather. For me this weather is synonymous with a laid back routine with time spent indoors seeking the comfort of a warm bed or the joy and warmth baking provides.

Speaking of comfort, what´s more comforting than a piece of cake with a hot cup of coffee or tea eaten alone or shared with close friends when it's raining outside.

I often combine the flavor of fruits with that of spices and there are combinations that work better than others. Cardamom and citrus is a winning combination that I often use in my baking. I would usually use oranges but this time I decided to change and try out tangerines. The result was just perfect.
With a strong flavor base and few key ingredients this cake is really easy to make and is perfect in the morning, afternoon or for these guilty moments of late night snacking.

The follwing ingredients are enough for a high cake using a 15cm cake pan, but 18 or 23 cm pans can aslo be used however you need to reduce the baking time.

For the cake you need:

• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 100 g sugar
• 160 g flour
• 100 g tangerine purée (recipe follows)
• 50 g yogurt
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 70 melted butter
• 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cointreau (optional)
• pinch of salt

To make the tangerine purée just place 100 g of tangerine in a saucepan and cover with cold water and cook for about 20 minutes or until tender. Cool down, remove the pits (if present) and just process into purée.

To make the cake, combine flour, baking powder and soda, cardamom and salt in a bowl and set aside.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs with the cointreau then add the sugar gradually. Keep whisking until you have a pale and creamy mixture. Lower the speed of the mixer and add the melted butter, then the yogurt and the purée.
Turn off the mixer and fold in the flour mixture with a spatula or a large spoon.
Pour the batter in a greased pan and bake in a preheated oven (175C) for about 30-35 min or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

You can serve the cake as it is, or you can add a simple frosting, by combining powdered sugar and some tangerine juice!

The vibrant and warm flavors of the cake are like a ray of sunshine in these wintery days, just what you need!

Roasted Cranberries Bundt Cake!

The year 2016 is only one day away. Time surely flies by. What an exciting year 2015 was for me! I learned a lot of new recipes, experienced new flavor combinations and new methods of cooking. It is only fitting to say goodbye to this year in baking style!

The last bake of this season had to be beautiful and featuring the season's colors and flavors. It  had to be easy to make too as no one wants to be tied down to the kitchen during these festive times! My answer to all of this was a roasted cranberries cake baked in a beautiful bundt mold.

To make this cake you need to start with its flavor base: the roasted cranberry sauce. The process is really straightforward, you just need to get the ingredients and combine them together. For this you will need:

• 125 fresh cranberries
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 cm of ginger, fresh and grated
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 strips of orange zest

Combine all the ingredients in a pan, and slowly roast them in the oven at 150C for about 20 min. They will be done when your whole house smells like Christmas!
Let the cranberries mix cool down as you prepare the cake mix. 

 For a pine forest mold with 10 cups capacity you will need, :

• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 150 g soft butter
• 220 g white sugar
• the cooled roasted cranberries with their juice
• 220 g cake flour
• 10 g baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 150 ml whole milk or cream
• 1 tsp cointreau (optional)

First combine the flour, the salt and the baking powder and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until creamy. Start adding the eggs one by one, making sure the egg combines well with the dough before adding the next one. 
Now add 1/3 of the flour mix, beat until combined then half of the milk and mix again, repeat with another 1/3 of the flour, then the rest of milk and finally the rest of the flour. Finally, gently fold in the cranberries and their juices.

Pour the batter in the greased and floured pan and bake for about 45 to 50 min in a preheated oven (175C).

Leave the cake to cool in the pan for around 5 min and then flip it over a cooling rack.

Dust with some powdered sugar and enjoy the deep flavors of this wintery cake!

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, yet again, and a very happy new year. May it bring you nothing but joy and loads of sweetness!