Back in November, I was in Anaheim, California on vacation (I’ll bet you can guess where). One night I got the itch to get out of the house that we were renting, so I went on a little drive down the block at about 12:00 am. I drove past a little donut shop called M & M Donut and there was a line of cars winding around and around in the parking lot. It was so busy and the line was so long that it looked more like a tailgating party than anything else. I had to stop! I figured that if other people were crazy enough to brave the line, I had to as well. I asked some people in the parking lot what the big deal was and they told me that the donuts were made fresh and the blueberry donuts were the best that they had ever had. With that, I decided to get in line.

I waited in line for about 40 minutes and was still no where near the entrance and decided that even if they were the best ever, it wasn’t worth the wait when I had a 24 hour drive the next day, so I headed back empty handed. The next morning I went back and they were still open, still making fresh donuts to order, with no line! Apparently the party starts when they first open at midnight, but in the morning (when normal people eat donuts), the party would already move on. Either way, I bought a dozen of their hot, fresh blueberry donuts…and they were great. Not only were they piping hot, but they tasted great as well. I decided that I had to try and replicate the recipe.

I think I succeeded. Like my Facebook page and let me know if you agree.

Blueberry Donuts (Adapted from this recipe)

1 cup – All purpose flour

1 3/4 cups – Cake flour

1 Tbsp. – Baking powder

1 tsp. – Salt

1/2 tsp. – Fresh ground cinnamon

1 tsp. – Fresh ground nutmeg

3/4 cup – Sugar

2 Tbsp. – Shortening

1 – Large egg

1/2 cup – Milk

1/3 cup – Plain mashed potatoes

3/4 cup – Fresh blueberries

Peanut oil for frying

Icing (see below)

 

Sift the flours, spices, baking powder, and salt into a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

Cream the shortening and sugar together in a large stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the egg and mashed potatoes and cream again until smooth. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture with 1/3 of the milk to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated. Repeat twice more until the flour and milk is just incorporated. Add blueberries, stir once. Cover and chill for 24 hours.

Heat oil in a large heavy pan to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s important not to skimp on the oil because it will keep the temperature more consistent (I used enough for the pan to be about 4-5 inches deep). You don’t want the temp to swing either direction. Oil that is too cold can result in greasy donuts. Oil that is too hot results in raw centers. Line a small baking sheet with paper towels and place a wire rack on it that will sit above the paper towels without touching.

Flour a clean dry surface with until well coated. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the contents (still cold) onto the floured surface. Press lightly with your hands (no need to roll and fold, the less you work the dough the better) until the dough is about 1/2 inch thick. Flour the top of the dough and make sure that there is enough flour on under the dough so that it doesn’t stick. Using a 3 inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut circles out of the dough. Using a 1 inch cookie or biscuit cutter, cut the centers out. Gently ball up the remaining dough and repeat the process.

Fry the donuts, a couple at a time at the most. After each batch, wait for the oil to hit 360 again. When the dough is dropped into the oil, it will first sink to the bottom. Once it rises to the top, flip it over using a chopstick. Go ahead and flip the donut 2-3 more times to ensure even cooking and a golden brown surface. Once completed, remove to a wire rack to drip dry. Setting donuts (or any deep fried food) on a paper towel, will make the food more greasy. It is better to allow the food to drip dry so that it doesn’t sit in the cooling oil.

Once the donuts are slightly cooled but still hot, dip one side in the glaze and let cool (if you can wait).

Simple Cinnamon Glaze

2 cups – Powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. – Ground cinnamon

2-3 Tbsp. – Light cream

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and stir well. The consistency should be so that when you write your first initial into the bowl of glaze with a spoon, the glaze returns to smooth after about 3 seconds. If it’s too thick add more cream. If it’s too thin add more powdered sugar.

 

I made up this fun, delicious soup that is essentially a version of Mexican tortilla soup. It can be a little spicy the first day but mellows quickly in the refrigerator if you can wait that long to eat it (I couldn’t). For the chicken and broth in this recipe, I roasted a whole chicken and we ate it for dinner one night. I then picked the carcass and reserved the leftover chicken, then roasted the carcass in the oven for 10 minutes and placed it in a large pot of water to simmer for 12 hours. I strained the resulting broth into a container and placed it in the refrigerator. When I removed it for this recipe, I removed the hardened, separated layer of fat off of the top of the broth.

Roasted Poblano Soup

3 – Large Poblano peppers (I show four here but 3 is enough)

2 – Large onions

1 1/2 cups – Corn

1 1/2 cups – Black beans (cooked, drained, and rinsed)

2-3 cups – Shredded chicken

4 cups – Chicken broth

10-12 – Small tomatillos (or two can’s worth)

1 tsp. – Ground cumin (I toasted whole cumin and coriander then ground it with my mortar and pestle)

1/4 tsp. – Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. – Ground coriander

2 – Avocados

4 oz – Fresh cotija cheese

1 bunch – Fresh cilantro

10-12 – Fresh corn torillas

Salt/Pepper

 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Start by toasting the Poblanos and one onion. I did this using a kitchen torch. You can also do it by grilling directly over your gas flame of your stove (be careful!). If you don’t have any way to do this the proceed to roasting them.

Place them on a small baking tray and roast until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place immediately in a plastic bag to ‘sweat’ them. Let rest for 5 minutes. Remove from the bag and rub the skins off of the peppers (you can rinse them under cold water if you feel like you need to). Remove the top, seeds, and veins, of the peppers then chop into 1 centimeter squares.

Place 1 of the roasted onions, 1/3 of the peppers, and the tomatillos into a blender and blend smooth.

Dice the reserved onion and peppers; sauté lightly. Heat a large skillet on medium heat (I use cast iron) and add the corn without oil. Stir occasionally as the corn dries out, then leave it to scorch for a minute or two without stirring so that some sides of the corn is blackened.

Add the tomatillo mixture, sautéed onion and peppers, corn, beans, chicken, broth, and spices (cumin, coriander, cinnamon) into a large stock pot (or crock pot). Bring to a simmer and simmer for at least an hour. I left mine in a crock pot for 2-3 hours. The soup should thicken just slightly. Salt and pepper to taste.

Before serving prepare the following toppings.

Slice the tortillas into strips using a pizza cutter. Heat oil in a heavy pot to 360 degrees, and fry the tortillas until crisp and lightly browned.

Mince the cilantro. Dice the avocado and cotija into small cubes.

Top each bowl of soup with cotija, avocado, cilantro, and tortilla strips.