Breakfast Coffee Doughnuts

Happy New Year 2015 folks! It's now beginning of February. Can you believe that? Boy! time seems to be slipping through my fingers daily. One moment, I was busy prepping for Christmas, New Years and now my family started talking about Chinese New Year preparations too. Not to mention, Valentines Day seems to be just round the corner. To me, every day is Valentines Day, depending how you see it of course. If you're like me, who may not be keen on paying for overpriced food on a fixed menu, couldn't tolerate a rude waiter or waitress, couldn't get a reservation or better yet would just like to spend simple quality time, fret not. I got you covered with 5 ideas, that I think it not only pleases both you, and your man and for parents alike, you can spend the day with your kids. After all, it's about showing what love is.

First stop, have a coffee or milk with these Breakfast Coffee Doughnuts. Be in your PJ's, have them in bed, or not, the idea is to be casual, grab a semi-light bite to wake up those senses.

Tagged: Seven Links!!

Wow.. this is like a trick questionnaire. Elisabeth from Food and Thrift Finds and Sandra Garth from Sweet Sensations tagged me to the latest game called "Seven Links'..How fun is that. I always like how suddenly somebody tags you and you'll be put on the spot to really crack your head to look for the answer.

However, right now in my opinion, I'm having the hardest time to even draft this post.. LOL.. a sudden loss for words or maybe just no clue at all. Instead, I will do my level best to go through all my posts and share with you on what I thought about them. Walking down this memory lane, I now know I've come a long way. So long that at one point I was demotivated to even posts anything, partially busy at work plus I had a mind block. No excuse there.. I know.. especially when I love food, treats or even hosting a cookout or party so much. It's scary, and I hope I will not have another mind block again and start losing all of you readers and supporters.

Also I like to mention this as I still recall that Elisabeth was the very first person to discover me, added me in Foodbuzz and the rest was history. No bias here, and because of her; I'm glad I met all of you lovely foodies. So here goes.. and taking a deep breath [phew...]

1. The Most Beautiful Post

Hmmm... this is tough, as I really love all my posts. Whether the photo is good looking or not. If I had to pick, this is seriously a tough choice... I will pick my Gerbera Daisy Cake. This was an exotic rich cake flavour. Dark rich chocolate cake with light fluffy mango butter cream. Let's just say I'm a sucker for Gerbera Daisies.

2. The Most Popular Post

It has to be the most recent cake I baked for my niece's full moon. My Amanda's Pink Rainbow Cake made to Top 9 and was on the no# 1 spot, then was tweeted or mentioned by Foodbuzz themselves on Twitter. It's my first time ever having so many bloggers, readers stop by leaving me with the sweetest comments ever, and not only that.. it helped shot up my followers from 48 to 61 now. This is real epic, and I feel I don't say it enough.. THANK YOU for making it possible.

3. The Most Controversial Post

I'm not quite sure what it means by controversial, but I believe I was taking a gamble on the ever classic Lemon Meringue Tart. I decided that it was time for a make over, and made it to my very own version of Lemon Curd Pavlova Tart.. still covering the base elements of the lemon tart. I could have either had foodies like it or maybe disliked it as I was changing a classic tart.

4. The Most Helpful Post

Well let me see, I think it could probably be my Homemade Pizza dough post and I hope this is good enough to inspire you to make your very own pizza base. It's light and crunchy and will have you asking for more.

5. Post That Was Surprisingly Successful

I love samosas, but not willing to deep fry and end up with heaps of cleaning up to do. So for the first time I posted my Jo's Veggie-ish Samosas, it surprisingly attracted a lot more readers too. And this was my very first time making Foodbuzz Top 9. This was the day that I decided that I will continue to make more lovely treats or even share with you my cooking recipes.. whether I make it to Top 9 or not.

6. Post That Did Not Get The Attention It Deserved

I think it definitely had to be my Tiramisu tarts, and Scrumptious Strawberry tarts and Heavenly Mango Mousse Cake. Come to think of it they are really lovely and deserve some love and attention too ;). Though one; is thinking out of the box and one is classic or should I say.. maybe common, I feel they are all delish. So I hope you do try them out.. Maybe tarts can be the new trend, just like the macaroons or the cupcakes.

7. Post You're Most Proud Of

For this I'm indecisive, and like to share with you 2 out of 3 of my posts which I truly am proud of since one of them is up there too. For me, kneading dough has been daunting. However, I feel I've overcome this fear of mine, and am definitely going to come up with more recipes or test out any recipes. Right now, I like to share with you my Peanut Butter and Jelly Doughnuts and Tana Ramsay's Bagels. I assure you frozen or store bought ones are completely different from the ones you make on your own. Though slightly more work.. but every single minute is worth it.

Now, I am going to tag a few new 7 blogger friends too. Let me see who's the lucky one ;).

1. LOLA LOBATO
2. Katie's Cucina
3. Amanda @ Baking Without A Box
4. Stacey @ Baker Court
5. Stephanie @ Eat. Drink.Love
6. Sheri @ Homemade Served Here
7. Pierre @ Little Hungry Heart

Till then everyone.. TGIF and have a good weekend.

xx

Baking Recipe: Peanut Butter & Jelly Doughnuts

It's now doughnut time.. What could be screaming in my head? Peanut Butter and Jelly of course. This was also another staple breakfast I had as a child. Looks like this week's gonna be a lot about dough huh? Yes.. I admit.. I really am addicted in kneading dough right now. Well of course we can always use the Kitchen Aid dough hook. But then... I don't know why I like giving myself more work. I do it manually.. Yup.. you got that right. I mix the batter with a wooden spoon etc. Bottom line, I really do enjoy getting my hands dirty.. doing all the work. It's sticky but at the end, you really get a soft, elastic and smooth dough. The feeling is FANTASTIC. Do try it some time to release some stress if needed ;).

This time round, the recipe is adapted from another fellow blogger who's also on FoodBuzz [drumrolls..] Recipe's from Lindsey at Gingerbread Bagels. How cute is that? In fact this was part of the Daring Baker's Challenge. Double fun!! I took on the challenge myself since I'm not part of the group. I cannot believe my eyes that I'm making doughnuts. I'm evolving.. Yeayyy!!

Okay, I think I wouldn't paste the recipe here, and would like to link it to Lindsey's blog instead. So for recipe, click here. However, I will not leave you empty handed, and would like to share a couple of tips or what I thought about the recipe.

Here goes ;):

• Recipe yields slightly more than 2 dozens of small-medium size doughnuts. Refer photos above. I'm not a big fan of large treats, and that could probably explain why I always get more out of what the recipe calls for.
• I made 20 medium doughnuts, and the remainder is a surprise. Will share with you more on that later on.
• If using a wooden spoon to mix flour and yeast, that requires a little arm strength. Persevere, as you just need to make sure the mixture combines together. Flour your work surface and hands with adequate flour. Knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes [usually close to 10 minutes] or until when is no longer sticky but elastic and smooth to touch. Work with a timer if that helps as I find that useful.
• Make sure to always cover dough with damp cloth or I prefer a cling film wrapped tightly around the bowl and rest dough according to suggested time to allow it to rise.
• If you do not have a cooking termometer, and not sure if oil is hot enough? Take a tiny rolled dough and drop it into the oil. If it sizzles and floats up, your oil is ready to go.
• While frying the doughnuts, if you notice they are burning faster, turn down the heat. Then turn it back up if it cools down too much. I suggest fry 1 at a time. This way you can control how golden the doughnut turns out. Also it gives you enough room to take out the doughnut if it starts burning.
• Taste your peanut butter filling. I don't really like my treats overly sweet, so I always keep it to a minimal amount of powdered sugar as suggested. Use a small knife to make a small hole in the doughnut, piping bag and a regular Wilton tip to pipe filling. Clean off excess filling so it does not spill out.

At the end, you will get a light crispy soft chewy doughnut [YummmmMmm..]. Enjoy!!

xx