In addition to our Magic and Merriment trip, we had a very Merry Christmas with our families. We’re fortunate enough that although our families are in three states, they’re all relatively close together so we can see everyone in the holiday period! We started off by seeing my Mom at her new house on Friday night with a side of tTHE BEST cream of crab soup!

Then Saturday morning we were off to PA to enjoy Ravens and Christmas Eve/Christmas morning with Noel’s brother and his family. Gosh do I love those kids! And they’re basically the perfect age to really love the whole Christmas routine–from leaving cookies for Santa and reading The Night Before Christmas, to running down the stairs Christmas morning! So wonderfully magical. And we made out pretty well Christmas morning–who knew Santa would know to leave us gifts in PA? But this is by far the favorite:

Yeah, Noel looks pretty good as a werewolf, right?

After a morning with Noel’s family, we headed off to the Broadkill Beach Club to catch up with the rest of my family. We made it to Delaware in record time, then settled in to exchange presents and enjoy a traditional Christmas ham.

The strange thing about all of this? I didn’t cook AT ALL. I didn’t even carry a tray of cookies or treats with me. So by Boxing Day, I was pretty much going through withdraw. Good thing Dad made my Christmas gifts cupcake themed this year, including a babycakes cupcake maker, which I used to make these Dangerous Donut Muffins that morning. It worked like a charm and so did this recipe!

Donut Danger Muffins
Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup Flour
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoons Salt
1/2 teaspoons Nutmeg (I used apple pie spice)
1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/3 cups melted butter
3/4 cups White Sugar
1 whole Egg
3/4 cups Milk

Directions:

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Combine melted butter, sugar, egg and milk. Add dry ingredients and stir only to combine.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the white sugar with the cinnamon in another bowl.

Shake muffins out while still hot. Butter the tops, then roll them into the sugar/cinnamon mix. Let cool.

This face says it all!

Well another fantastic Thanksgiving has come and gone. This one was extra special, since it was our first one (and first holiday!) at the shore!

On Wednesday morning I packed up the turkey and seemingly half of my kitchen and headed to the shore. I had to make a not so brief stop off at the doctor for a running related issue, but eventually I made it to the beach!

I started cooking almost immediately, mostly because I knew I needed to get the star of our meal, a beautiful, free range 20 pound turkey into our brining solution as soon as possible. What a comedy of errors that was! First I foolishly cut the brining bag (don’t ask), then the bottom of the bag ripped out. After a frantic search at the grocery store, we ended up using this recipe and brining in a Hefty bag. Actually two Heftys.

This was one seriously fantastic turkey. Moist, golden, perfect. We barely had enough leftovers for the turkey pot pie I made later in the weekend!

But let me share credit where it’s due–everything at our potluck style meal for 18 was fantastic. We had a ton of food and everyone loved it all. Some of our old favorites–like dinner rolls and pumpkin cheesecake were there–but we also had some fantastic newbies, like a great apple sausage stuffing.

But the great food didn’t stop there! On Friday we did some black friday shopping tasting at Dogfish Head, where they were sampling dark beers to celebrate!

And then on Saturday, there was Christmas decorating! And turkey pot pie! Because nothing says bring on the next holiday like all time comfort food. I used this recipe to use up our leftover turkey–delicious!

And now, a word about the tree and Christmas decorating. In our family, we’re pretty serious about Christmas decorating. So after an exhaustive search, we settled on a 9 1/2 foot tree with 1,000 lights! It’s beautiful and fits the space great! But our decorations don’t stop with the tree…

And no, that’s not all of it!

Kori and I even decorated ourselves in matching pjs!

And finally, Sunday morning, because we weren’t ALL stuffed to the gills, I made applee cider doughnuts. Because who doesn’t love doughnuts?

All in all, a holiday weekend for the record books!

So I will admit, I was brought to this recipe by a joiner instinct. I’m usually not much of a joiner, preferring instead to be my own personal cruise director most of the time, but sometimes something that everybody else is doing just seems so wonderful, that I just have to try it out myself. Even if it is totally out of character.

Which brings us to apple cider doughnuts. Let me start out by saying–I don’t usually like doughnuts. When people bring doughnuts into the office, it makes me a little sad. The only doughnuts I actually enjoy are Migue’s Marvelous Minis at the Sunday Market, which I only like because they are so un-doughnut like–they’re light, fresh, and they melt in your mouth. So not the experience you get with most doughnuts, which tend to be dry, heavy, and a bit stale tasting. Honestly, I would just rather eat cake.

But when Deb over at Smitten Kitchen posted an apple cider doughnut recipe, people started going nuts in her comments section. I mean NUTS. There was all this talk about how apple cider doughnuts were the best doughnuts ever, how they brought back madeline-esq memories of childhood and apple picking and holidays. How people we’re going to use the recipe to make their own holiday traditions (i’m a total sucker for this type of stuff). I was intrigued.

And then suddenly, it seemed like there were apple cider doughnut recipes everywhere. On many of the blogs in my feed. In the newspaper. On TV. I think I even dreamed about apple cider doughnuts. It seemed there was only one thing to do. It was time to make the doughnuts. So I gathered the ingredients, found some usual suspects that would be willing to do doughnut sampling, and convinced myself that it would be okay to deep fry in the house.

Apple Cider Doughnuts
Adapted from the Washington Post via Smitten Kitchen

So about me only liking Migue’s doughnuts? Well, scratch that, because I officially like these ones too. These doughnuts are lightly cidery, moist and cakey, with crispy outsides and a wonderful crumb. Everything I like about cake, in doughnut form! Perhaps the secret to really excellent doughnuts is freshness, because I thought these were phenomenal the first 8 hours or so after they were made, but not so good the next day. I did most of mine with just a dusting of powdered sugar, and only a few with the cider glaze, but if I did these again I would glaze them all, because we were all over the moon for the glazed ones.

A few technical notes–I used skim milk with vinegar in place of the buttermilk (as always) and my doughnuts turned out just fine. Don’t skip reducing the cider, because it’s really what gives the doughnuts their cidery taste–the reduced cider is like apple cider syrup–so good. And finally, don’t be turned off if you don’t have a doughnut cutter. I just used a biscuit cutter and–wait for it–the shield from my cherry pitter! Any combination of a roughly three inch cutter and a one inch cutter will work–so be creative! And the frying is not as scary as you think–it was actually pretty quick and painless for me. I don’t even have a candy thermometer (and my ill advised attempt to use a meat thermometer TOTALLY DID NOT work) but it still turned out okay.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup apple cider
• 3 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for the work surface
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (low-fat or nonfat work fine)
• Vegetable oil for frying

For the glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons apple cider

Directions:

For the doughnuts: In a saucepan over medium or medium-low heat, gently reduce the apple cider to about 1/4 cup, 20 to 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed (with the paddle attachment, if using a standing mixer) beat the butter and granulated sugar until the mixture is smooth. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue to beat until the eggs are completely incorporated. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the reduced apple cider and the buttermilk, mixing just until combined. Add the flour mixture and continue to mix just until the dough comes together.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or wax paper and sprinkle them generously with flour. Turn the dough onto 1 of the sheets and sprinkle the top with flour. Flatten the dough with your hands until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Use more flour if the dough is still wet. Transfer the dough to the freezer until it is slightly hardened, about 20 minutes. Pull the dough out of the freezer. Using a 3-inch doughnut cutter, cut out doughnut shapes. Place the cut doughnuts and doughnut holes onto the second sheet pan. Refrigerate the doughnuts for 20 to 30 minutes. (You may re-roll the scraps of dough, refrigerate them briefly and cut additional doughnuts from the dough.)

Add enough oil to a deep-sided pan to measure a depth of about 3 inches. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and heat over medium heat until the oil reaches 350 degrees. Have ready a plate lined with several thicknesses of paper towels.

For the glaze: While the cut doughnut shapes are in the refrigerator, make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners’ sugar and the cider until the mixture is smooth. Set aside.

To fry and assemble: Carefully add a few doughnuts to the oil, being careful not to crowd the pan, and fry until golden brown, about 60 seconds. Turn the doughnuts over and fry until the other side is golden, 30 to 60 seconds. Drain on paper towels after the doughnuts are fried. Dip the top of the warm doughnuts into the glaze and serve immediately.

Let me just say again, I don’t really like doughnuts, but I LOVED these. So do yourself a favor, and make these while the excellent fall cider is still at the farm stands. It’s okay as long as you just do it once a year. Or for special occasions. Not that I’m trying to justify more doughnuts in my future or anything.