Chocolate Ganache Glazed Donuts

Yan March 2, 2016

中文：巧克力甜甜圈

I suddenly crave for fresh donuts, but the only donut place in town went out of business two years ago. So I decide to make my own chocolate ganache glazed donuts. O(∩_∩)O~

I make a batch of donuts. The inner circle dough balls cut from donuts don’t go to waste either. I fry them along with donuts, top with icing sugar and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and sugar, yum!

Ingredients：

2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup luke warm whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
1 large egg
3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
oil for frying

Donuts toppings：

Chocolate ganache
sugar
ground cinnamon
icing sugar

Directions：

Add flour, sugar and salt to the bread machine. Mix together. Make a well on the top of flour mixture. Add milk, sprinkle with yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add egg and melted butter.

Start dough process.

The bread machine finishes kneading.

It also automatically proofs the dough.

Transfer the dough to a well-floured wooden board. Gently knead it with hands to get rid of any big air bubbles. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough to about half inch thin. Use round biscuit cutters to cut it into donut shapes. When done, cover them with plastic wrap again and let them rest for about another 20 minutes.

Add oil to a wok or pot. Heat it over high heat. When the oil gets hot, fry the donuts until both sides are golden brown. Each side takes about 1 minute, more or less.

Dip them in the chocolate ganache.

Cool on a cooling rack.

Now it is time to enjoy！O(∩_∩)O~

I know you want a bite of these too!

Do not waste the center part cut from donut dough. Fry them to golden brown too. Top with icing sugar and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and sugar.

They are surprisingly tasty too! O(∩_∩)O~

Coco Macarons

Yan February 28, 2016

中文：可可马卡龙

Coco powder and chocolate go so well with macarons. Whenever I make macarons, I have to make it with one of them. O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites
110 g powder sugar
45 g granulated sugar
50 g almond flour
10 g coco powder
a pinch of cream of tartar

Direction:

Combine powder sugar, coco powder and almond flour. Pour the mixture into food processor.

Run the process for about 10 seconds.

Shift the flour mixture through a flour shifter or strainer.

Discard any big almond pieces.

Add cream of tartar to the egg whites. Beat the egg white with an electric whisk.

Beat at low speed for about 1 minute. Switch to medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes. And then beat at high speed for 1 to 2 minutes. Add sugar in three batches in between. Stop beating when the stiff peak forms.

Add shifted almond flour mixture.

With a rubber spatula, gently fold the flour mixture into egg whites.

Fold it gently until the batter can fall smoothly like a silky ribbon.

Prepare a 14 inch decorating bag with Wilton NO. 12 tip. Use a wide mouth drinking glass to help the bag to stand up straight which will make it so much easier to pour the batter.

Fill the pastry bag with almond batter.

Line 2 cookie pans with silicone baking mats.

Squeeze a dollar coin size batter onto the silicone mat, about a quarter inch in height. Repeat it until all the batter is finished.

Tap the bottom of the cookie pan when done to smooth the cookie dough tops.

Let the pan sit on countertop until the surface becomes dry to touch. It might take 30 to 60 minutes depending on the humidity around.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Bake in the oven for 12 to 14 minutes.

Allow the cookies to cool down on the silicone mats before removing them.

Use any filling of your choice: jam, chocolate, cheese, nutella………. Be creative!

I love chocolate. So I always go with chocolate gouache.

I also make a batch of original ones. Although there is no food coloring added, they still look pretty, don’t they? O(∩_∩)O~

中文：抹茶马卡龙

Yes, I am so obsessed with macarons and I always try to perfect my recipe. O (∩_∩) O~

Through experiments, I make some tiny modifications to my previous macaron recipe. A little bit change makes huge difference in the finished products. You can see in the picture that the feet and the skirts improve a lot.

The matcha powder I bought just arrived. So I make a batch of matcha macarons.

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites
110 g powder sugar
45 g granulated sugar
54 g almond flour
8 g matcha powder (super fine green tea powder)
a pinch of cream of tartar