Valentine's Day came too quickly for my liking, but it never has to really end. We celebrated by going out and playing some T-Ball with our oldest while our youngest was pretty much the cutest outfielder, ever. Don't believe me? Check it out....



But you're not here to tell me how cute my kids are (a little bit of favoritism there). You're here for this delicious recipe.

Red Velvet Donuts

Ingredients:

- 3 TBSP butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1/2 tsp red food coloring
- 1 C flour
- 3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt

- 1.5 TBSP distilled vinegar
- 1/2 C buttermilk

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350 and spray your donut pan.
- Use a standing or handheld mixer to combine your butter, egg, vanilla, sugar, and food coloring.
- In a separate bowl, mix together your dry ingredients. Alternate adding your dry ingredients, vinegar, and buttermilk to your butter mixture until all is well combined.
- Add the mix to your donut pan, filling each 3/4 of the way full.
Side note: I don't have a piping bag, but using one or filling a large ziplock and cutting off the tip to put the mix into the donut pan helps it disperse evenly and come out "prettier".
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove from the oven/pan to a cooling rack.
- Let them sit for around 20 minutes before adding your icing/frosting (and sprinkles if you like)!
Forgive the poor quality of my photos, they're all with my phone!
I cheated and simply stuck some Pillsbury frosting in the microwave before dunking these bad boys in it to frost them, but this recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting was paired with the original recipe.


Pair with coffee or milk for the greatest taste!


I wrote an "attitude" piece over at my new blog. You should check it out!

The recipes I've been posting this week may have been made in June... just to clarify that I'm not already diving into the deep end when I said I was going to do my Power Push.

Saturday morning (the last day of June) I thought I'd do something extra special for the hubby and make him his favorite: Apple Fritters. I've always been afraid to fry things, let alone attempt something so sacred to Clark, but I figured by now I should be able to handle it.

And boy, did I.

Ingredients:

- 1 C All-Purpose, Unbleached Flour
- 1/3 C Sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1/2 C + 1/3 C Milk
- A little over 1 C (about one apple) chopped into peanut-sized pieces or smaller

- 3/4 C Powdered Sugar
- 2 tbsp milk

- Oil for frying

Directions:

- Mix together all your dry ingredients (except the powdered sugar, which will be for the icing).
- Add your wet ingredients all together, mixing the best you can. Do not over-mix (aka beat the batter). It should resemble that of a cake mix, maybe a little lighter.
- Fold in your apple pieces.


- Heat the oil in your large frying pan (I used our wok). Test the oil with a small dab of batter (it will float to the surface if the oil is ready), or by sprinkling a little bit of water (from your finger tips) into the oil (the oil will start spitting right away if it's ready).
- Use a cookie scooper (or 1/4 C if you want to make them bigger) to put them in the oil.



*In the last picture the fritters were not cooked enough. You want them like the final pictures-- brown (or close to it) on each side for the middle to be as cooked as possible. I ended up cooking mine for almost two minutes on each side-- but do check on them to make sure they're not over cooking!*

- Remove them from the pan (I put mine on wax paper) and put the glaze on them immediately, or spindle them with powdered sugar if you don't want the glaze.

Enjoy... but don't eat ALL of them. Trust me. They're hard to resist!


This recipe was adapted from: Seemingly Greek.