Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts {Doughnut Diaries}

Y'all. I almost forgot how to blog. It's seriously been a hot minute. Remember when I said I would have more of a routine schedule? Well, that was a false statement. 

Very false.

Some rotations I have had a normal, predictable schedule. Others, not so much. Some were about as predictable as a newborn's sleep schedule. Bonkers.

Anyway. I'm back. For now. I hope to drop in here and there with a few posts -- I really have so much to share (Minneapolis, MN, Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania, VA, Hatteras, NC x 2, somuchfood, Charlottesville, VA -- yikes). 

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For all you Virginians, it's fall. 

That means an obligatory trip to the orchard. For most, that means Carter Mountain Orchard. Me? That's not my style. Don't get me wrong. It's close to the highway, great for families, and has some pretty wonderful views. 

But the crowds. Omylanta the crowds. I can't deal. Dickie Brothers Orchard is more my jam. 

Last weekend, one of my roommates came up from the beach and I had a pretty perfect 'Fall in Virginia/Virginia is for Lovers' weekend planned. Not all of it happened, but it was good. Really good. On the list? Dickie Brothers Orchard. They had other plans, though. They had been picked hard the weekend before, so they weren't going to be open for PYO the day that we had planned to go. Bummer. (Locals -- this weekend they are open for PYO Pink Lady apples!)

I wrapped my mind around going to Carter Mountain and we made the best of it. One thing that Carter Mountain is known for? Their apple cider doughnuts. Not to shatter any hopes and dreams out there, but for those that have never had one . . . . they don't taste like apple cider. They're made with apple cider and taste like fall (cinnamon, warm, etc.). 

A couple weeks before we went to the orchard, I invested in two doughnut pans (each one makes six and it's just more convenient since most recipes make 8-12 doughnuts). It's probably the best kitchen gadget you can invest in (besides a garlic press). I got mine at Michael's and used a 40% off coupon. It was like being rewarded for baking doughnuts! I dig it.

About that same time, the internet/blogosphere/Pinterest/etc. was flooded. Inundated. Overwhelmed. Swamped with doughnut recipes. It seemed like everyone I followed (blogs and IG) had bought a doughnut pan and were about to partake in doughnut benders just.like.I.was.

Know what I call that? Perfection. The stars aligning. A sign from above. Just kidding. But really though. I think this doughnut craze is mostly due to the recent release of Ashley McLaughlin's book, Baked Doughnuts For Everyone. For all you gluten free-ers out there, this book is your ticket to doughnut heaven.

A couple days after I bought my pans, we had planned a family get-together at my cousin's house to see my aunt and uncle off to Florida (they live there but made the trek to Virginia for their granddaughter/my cousin's wedding -- more to come). 

I decided that now was the time to break in that pan. First batch? Apple cider doughnuts.

Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts with Maple-Cinnamon Glaze

Doughnuts - borrowed from Eat Live Run

What You'll Need (for 12 doughnuts)

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C apple cider
• 1/4 C buttermilk
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

How To Make Them

• Preheat oven to 325F. Spray two doughnut pans with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, sal, and cinnamon.
• Grab a smaller bowl and blend the eggs, buttermilk, apple cider, and melted butter. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Batter will be thick and sticky.
• Using a table spoon, spread the batter into the doughnut cavities about 3/4th full. Full disclosure -- I filled the cavities all the way. Also, I just spooned the batter into the cavities and went back afterwards with my finder, spreading things smooth.
• Place doughnuts in the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes until fluffy and slightly golden. 
• Invert doughnuts onto a cooling rack over parchment paper and allow to cool. If your doughnut hole isn't pronounced, I used something similar to this to punch out the centers.
• While cooling, make your glaze.
• Traditional apple cider doughnuts are tossed in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. I decided on a glaze for fun. If you'd like the traditional topping, make a cinnamon-sugar mixture (1/2 C sugar + 1 tbsp. cinnamon). 
• Once glaze is made, dip the top of doughnuts into the glaze and allow to rest for ~15 minutes. 
• For traditional apple cider doughnuts, grab a small bowl, melt a couple tablespoons of butter. Dip doughnuts into the butter and then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
• Eat up! 

Maple-Cinnamon Glaze - borrowed from Top With Cinnamon who borrowed from Ashley McLaughlin's Baked Doughnuts For Everyone

What You'll Need (for 12 doughnuts)

• 2 C powdered sugar
• 4 tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 & 1/2 tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

How To Make Them

• Combine the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Add more milk if a thinner consistency is desired.

Virginia is for {Craft Beer} Lovers - Devil's Backbone, Bold Rock Cidery & Blue Mountain Brewery

Let's just call this what it is -- a Thirsty Thursday post. 

Recently, I mentioned visiting a few of Virginia's breweries -- it's only fair to share my day with you! 

It's no secret that Virginia is my place -- my roots, my home, what I love, where I'll always be (maybe). I may have mentioned it once or twice -- especially the mountain areas. 

We chose a Sunday to venture on up to Charlottesville to visit Devil's Backbone Brewing Company and Blue Mountain Brewery. It turned out to be beautiful day. Seriously. I was drunk on the weather that day. 

Devil's Backbone is pretty well known, but their brews aren't really my thang. That's ok. My company -- we'll call him Truman -- is pretty into their beer. I didn't really know what to expect from a beer tasting. I just assumed it was kinda like a wine tasting (I've had my fair share of those) or similar to Hardywood's setup. From what I gather, once breweries become established they throw food/restaurant biz into the mix. Kinda makes sense, you just gotta have someone good manning your menu/kitchen. 

Devil's Backbone is in Roseland, VA -- read: no cell phone service. Just you, your brews, and the great beautiful outdoors. A media fast is kinda freeing sometimes. Try it. As you're headed down 151, roll your windows down and clean your lungs out with that deliciously clean air. Thank me later. 

So we get there. I was expecting a tasting room. I got a bar/small tables on one side and a restaurant-type setting on the other. Not what I was expecting, but it was different. What I really didn't expect was feeling like I was in an Applebee's. For real -- this place was gorgeous on the inside, yet no one seemed to care that they were working in a pretty cool awesome place. I don't know - I was shocked really and it kinda left a bad taste in my mouth. 

We ordered a couple flights and Truman enjoyed most of them because like I said, not really my thing. Before we knew it, a few hours had passed so we decided to head out. 

While on our way down 151, I had mentioned Bold Rock Cidery. The evening before, we had gone to Bellytimber and a friend of ours (a bartender at Capital Ale House) was drinking Bold Rock. A few Googles later (before losing service), I found that they were in Nellysford, VA. Low and behold, we passed it minutes after Googling it. 

We decided to stop there for a few before heading to Blue Mountain. I've pretty much decided that 151 is a road lined with beauty and breweries, thus making it my favorite road :) Can I just say, this was the best stop of the day {in my opinion}! Their operation is extremely small, but everyone there was so friendly. We tasted their Virginia Draft (my favorite - a mix of different apples), the Virginia Apple (a sweeter version of the draft), and their Crimson Ridge versions, which I could totally make mimosas out of and be a happy girl (these are more bubbly, kinda like champagne). 

After getting a little tour of their operation, we bought some Virginia Draft to-go and headed to Blue Mountain Brewery. 

The day started winding down and this was a perfect last stop for the day. Their view is awesome, the bartender was very sweet, and they have a brew for just about everyone! 

Again, we ordered a flight and ranked our favorites (their springtime ale was pretty spectacular). I can pretty much always guarantee that the first couple (in this case, 4-5) will be my favorites and the latter Truman will take care of. Just not a darker beer kinda girl. 

All in all, we had an awesome time drinking in the fresh, spring air and delicious brews. 

-Sue

Bratwurst Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Balsamic Reduction - BMB Knockoff

Hey there! 

Been a little off the grid lately -- super busy doesn't begin to explain the past month or so of my life. Mostly involved things like exams, Easter, family time, the Monument Avenue 10k, brewery visits, cooking a few yummy meals here and there, trying not to cut jerk my nose off my face because of the pollen that decided to finally make its appearance this year, andddd a whole lot of other boring stuff for the in between moments -- ya know, like sleeping, driving, etc. 

So I mentioned breweries (a whole post to come with deets). Last weekend I paid a visit to Devil's Backbone Brewing Company, Bold Rock Cidery (officially in love -- cider is about to be the new craft beer -- mark my words), and Blue Mountain Brewery. If you're not familiar with these, that's ok. Their beverages are yummy, but their views are even better! Seriously -- this part of Virginia is one of, if not my absolute favorite (mountain momma at heart, remember?). 

From what I gather, once breweries have been around for a little bit, it's only natural to introduce food/restaurant flare into the mix of things. This can be good and bad, depending on the person in charge of your menu/kitchen. I didn't taste anything at Devil's Backbone {besides beer}, but by the time I made it to BMB my tummy was ready for some yummy. I got the crab dip and it was pretty decent. I definitely want to feel a fierce presence of crab in my crab dip and I didn't with this dip -- nonetheless, still good. 

After finishing off the crab dip, I continued to peruse their whole menu and stumbled across a pizza (Bratwurst w/Apples and Onions) that kept me coming back -- I seriously considered ordering it over and over. I didn't order it but I did snap a pic of the description so that I could make it at home. 

Monday evening came and here's the result:

Bratwurst Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Balsamic Reduction - BMB Knockoff

What You'll Need

• Pizza crust -- I bought mine from Whole Foods because I needed easy, not hard (work smarter, not harder).
• Sauce -- also purchased from Whole Foods -- ditto on the easy.
• Two bratwursts (or a package) -- I bought two from the case at WF becuase I cannot control my actions when I buy bratwurst, and would put them all on the pizza if I were forced to buy an entire package.
• 1 package of mozzarella
• 1-2 oz. of cream cheese
• Blue cheese crumbles
• Pepper
• 2-3 tbsp.vinegar (white or white balsamic)
• 1/2 - 1 C regular balsamic vinegar
• 1 yellow onion
• Olive oil

How To Make It 

• Rub olive oil on a pizza stone and roll out your pizza crust on the stone.
• Slice yellow onion and sautee in a bit of olive oil until caramelized.
• Preheat your oven to 400F.
• Next, you'll make a blue cheese whip. That's right. I said whipped blue cheese. Mine was more of a sauce than a whip becuase I didn't want to pull out a food processor for just a little bit of whip (if you do want to go all out, then follow this recipe for the whip). 
• So for my whip/sauce -- Just put an ounce or two of cream cheese in a bowl and melt it in timed increments in the microwave. Then add blue cheese crumbles to the warm cream cheese (however much you want) -- stir to melt/distribute. Add a dash of black pepper and white vinegar (about 2 tbsp to the mixture). Stir and heat again if needed. Honestly, just make this to taste and to the consistency of your choosing . . . or not at all if you're not a blue cheese lover addict. 
• Squeeze your brats out of their casing into a skillet, separate into crumbles and brown until almost cooked through (kinda like ground beef for spaghetti).
• While you're cooking your brats, pop your pizza crust in the oven for about 8 minutes.
• Next, put ~1/2 C of balsamic vinegar into a sauce pan and heat over medium heat (don't boil) to make a reduction (like this).
• Once crust has cooked for about 8 minutes, take her out and dress her up! 
• Spread sauce over somewhat cooked crust, sprinkle mozzarella over sauce, sprinkle brat crumbles over mozz, add dabs/drizzle blue cheese whip, place onions all over pizza, then finish with balsamic reduction drizzle.
• Pop her back in the oven for about 20 minutes, broil for 1 minute before taking her out.
• Enjoy!

I don't know how BMB's pizza is, but I'll have to order it next time so that I have something to compare my own to. 

I promise -- deets to come about the breweries.

-Sue

Brunch at Heritage and the James River Park System/Belle Isle

It's Monday y'all - thank goodness it's over (serious case of the Mondays over here). 

Let's talk tv. Anyone out there watching The Following on Fox? It's a fairly new show based out of Richmond, VA and a few other surrounding cities (Petersburg, Norfolk, etc.). A brief synopsis? A romantic literary professor turned serial killer that drew his inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe. The link? Edgar Allen Poe lived in Richmond for a large portion of his life. Y'all know me by now - I eat.sleep.breath all things Richmond. It's muh city, what can I say? O and you're in luck! It's coming on tonight. I definitely recommend getting caught up on episodes you've missed. Besides, who doesn't love some Kevin Bacon (he plays the detective)?

Since I love all things Richmond, it's only fitting to share a little piece of Richmond with ya. How about the James River Park System? Never heard of it? My mom hadn't either until we were skipping across the bridge to Belle Isle. Like myself, my mom was born and raised in Richmond -- so how could she have never heard of the James River Park System? Because when she was my age there was no "park system." It was just rocks and the swiftly flowing James River -- you had to hope the river was low enough so that you could skip rocks across. Yep, that was one of many stories we bonded over a couple of weekends ago. Of course the ones about her skipping school with friends on those same rocks were also included - HA! #sorrymom #youvebeenouted

So yea - about a month ago on a Sunday morning, my mom and I straight grubbed at Heritage. There was nothing lady-like about what we ordered or how we ate it. My mom got the Chicken and Waffles and I got their Biscuits and Gravy. If you're a local go. Now. If you're not, ya need to come visit and grab brunch here. ASAP. Trust me - I'd never lead you astray.

Best post-brunch idea? Go walking along the river. It was a crisp, cool January day and while things were definitely grey and bare, it was still muh city and I loved it.

The river was super high that day.

Sun flare and just a little snow that hadn't yet melted.

These trees. I love them.

How my mom used to get across . . .

Here's where our road ended and we had to find alternative means.

When I was in high school, we used to come down here and lay out on the rocks. Talk about a good time.

How we got across - the bridge that was unheard of when my mom was younger.

Look at that flare would ya?

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree -- someone must have gotten seriously angry with this tree.

Check out the park system. You can walk, bike, run and it's tons of fun.

-Sue

Fishing Boat Curiosity - Phoebus, VA

Happy Friday peeps!

I'm trying not to be bitter about the fact that I didn't get to see the snow last night because I was at the beach for school . . . just being honest. Ok - now I'm over it. It's Friday! AND I have a three day weekend! And an awesome baby shower with some friends to attend (back in Richmond).

I'm taking my camera to the shower to grab some photos of friends, cakes, gifts, cute yittle baby girl clothes, and story books galore (more to come). My goal is to put together a little Shutterfly Photo Book of the shower for the soon-to-be-mama . . . a little keepsake of sorts.

Last night, I was messing around in Lightroom because I really want to process the baby shower photos to have a washed out effect - the look where everything is muted and soft and pastel-like. I rarely use filters, but I have to say - I kinda like them alot. In middle school, black and whites and sepia tones took over most of my point and shoot photos, but once I bought my DSLR I felt filters took away from my photos. I've decided to branch out a bit and play around with them. Here are a few pictures with the "Aged Photo" filter from Lightroom 3 - I tinkered with the exposure and brightness some because they were far too washed out for my taste.

Enjoy!

 

More on the quaint, little town of Phoebus here. How did I discover this little town?

Everyday on my long exhausting drive to school, I have to pass through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel - the one that is always backed up in the summer year round because people just can't seem to drive . . . like . . . normal. Once I reach the other side of the tunnel, I look to my right and see these huge red and white boats. For months I've been telling myself I would figure out how to get to those boats.

One Friday after class (in October - sorry I'm late), I decided to find those boats. I knew they had to be close if I could see them! I meandered through small, quiet side streets until I reached a small tiny bridge. There was water all around me at this point - I could almost sniff those boats out.

I drove just a little further until I found a small, gravel lot - site of Fort Monroe. I parked, got my camera, and began to walk. I stumbled upon the Wanchese Fish Company. My parents have bought fish in bulk from them for years (in Wanchese, NC). The quality of their fish is on point. See the red boats painted on the side of this building? I started putting two and two together that my red boats were indeed fishing boats.

Pelican headquarters. They're just waiting for the fishermen to unload so they can fly swarm in for anything they may drop.

My boats! I finally found my boats.

See those crazy pelicans? They were huge! My lens is a buzzkill, so it can't do their enormity justice.

I love that this boat is called The Good News II {kinda makes me wonder what happened to #1}.

Loving this filter! And this town! Super quiet and cute and small. I stood on the middle of the bridge and went back and forth from side to side snapping pictures, never once having to worry about cars. Love that!

-Sue