Autumn Foods - Soups and Doughnuts

Soups and donuts...what a delicious combination!  Not sure what had made me so soup crazy this fall, but I really want to cook it.  All. The. Time.  The problem is that often the soups I make from recipes found online don't always live up to the delicious soup I have in my memory taste buds.  I go for recipes that have spices and chicken broth and lots of vegetables, but it doesn't necessarily work.  The first soup I made was the Spicy Tarragon Potato soup from Happyolks.  I left out the spicy because I'm not to into that, but it was still pretty good.  I halved the recipe for Mom and I, but it still left a lot of soup.  I, of course, imagined cooking it on a dark, cold, rainy day and we found the perfect one!  Here's the photo version of cooking soup in my beautiful new pot.

I have to say that the soup was....only okay in my book.  I probably would have liked mashed potatoes better.  But, only one person's opinion folks.


Next it was our idea for Halloween to make donuts and watch Hocus Pocus, but neither happened.  Mom worked very late and I was recovering from my surgery and it just never happened.  But work was having a potluck on the Tuesday we went back, and Mom had bought the buttermilk, so I made apple cider donuts.  Now these were DELISH!  We got the recipe out of a newspaper article, so I'm including it below.  I thought I'd taken pictures, but apparently I was too tired to remember that...

Glazed Apple Cider Doughnuts

(From the Yakima Herald Republic via smittenkitchen.com)

For dough:

1 cup apple cider

3 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for work surface

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used 1 teaspoon...always use twice as much cinnamon as they say)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

Vegetable oil or shortening for frying

For glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

4 Tablespoons apple cider

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cook apple cider in small saucepan over medium-low heat until reduced to 1/2 cup.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.  Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Mix in reduced apple cider and buttermilk until combined.  Add flour mixture and mix until incorporated.

On a floured parchment lined baking sheet, pat out dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick.  Place in freezer for 15 to 20 minutes until well chilled.  Using a 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, cut out circles of dough.  Place them on another parchment lined baking sheet or a plate and place in fridge until ready to fry.  Take scraps and roll with your hands for doughnut holes and place those on a plate in fridge.

While uncooked doughnuts chill, heat oil and prepare glaze.  In a bowl mix together confectioners sugar, cider and vanilla.  Mix until all of the sugar has incorporated.  You might need to make a second batch of glaze for all the doughnuts, or you can roll the rest in a cinnamon sugar mix.  

Heat 3 inches of oil in a deep pot over medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 370 degrees.  Carefully drop dough balls into oil (I did 3 at a time) and wait for them to rise back to the top of the oil.  Cook for 1 minute on each side.  Remove the doughnuts with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate.  While still warm, roll in glaze or cinnamon sugar, and place on cooling racks over paper towels.  Try to maintain a 370 degree oil temperature.  You may need to let the oil heat up or cool down accordingly.

Since our first soup wasn't spectacular we went back to old reliable during the weekend.  On Saturday we spent 4 hours removing the debris and cleaning up the garden.  All that's left out there are the carrots and they can stay in the ground for a little while.  We really needed a rest day on Sunday and some clam chowder was in the cards.  Here is our own cobbled together recipe for clam chowder and we think it's pretty fabulous.

Carrie's Crazy Good Clam Chowder

3 Tablespoons butter

1 to 1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 teaspoon (or 1-2 cloves) garlic

4 1/2 cups peeled and cubed yellow potatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon marjoram

1/4 cup flour

3 bottles clam juice

4 cans minced clams

2 1/2 cups half and half

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

4 strips bacon

Melt butter in large pot.  Add onion, celery and garlic and sauté until tender.  Add potatoes and clam juice to the pot.  Open clams and add drained juice from the clams to the pot.  Simmer covered until potatoes until tender enough to break them apart against the side of the pot, about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook bacon in the microwave between paper towels at 1 minute intervals until crisp and break into small pieces.  Make up a roux with the flour and some water until you have a nice thick sauce.  When potatoes are done add clams, bacon, salt, pepper, thyme and marjoram.  Stir in roux.  Soup will thicken up.  Add half and half and heavy cream and cook over medium heat until chowder boils and thickens slightly while stirring constantly.