Daring Bakers Make Mousse in an Edible Container

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

So, can I tell you a secret?  I'm not writing this at the last minute.  It always seems that real life craziness gets in the way of my ability to complete the Daring Challenges until the very last minute (like the day it is due to be posted) and then I find myself up late after the kids are in bed trying to get the post finished.  Not this time!  I have more than a week to go before this post will publish.  It feels kind of...strange actually.  But I think I like it.

When I first read this challenge, I only skimmed over it assuming that it was the same as the Daring Cooks edible container challenge, except sweet instead of savory.  I missed one key detail in reading the instructions where it said, "There are 2 mandatory components to this challenge. You must make one of the 2 maple mousse recipes listed below and you must make an edible container in which to place your mousse for presentation."  They even put them in bold.  Somehow I thought I could make any filling and it wasn't until the other day that I realized I was suppose to make a maple mousse.

When I realized the filling had already been selected for me I didn't really mind, but I wasn't able to get back to the store to get the real maple syrup that was required.  Not seeing any time in the near future that would be convenient to pick some up and wanting to get started filling the bowls I had already made, I decided to go with Honey, which had been presented as an alternative.  The dried pineapple bowls were inspired by the dried pineapple flowers on Martha Stewart's site, which I saw quite some time ago.  Her recipe says you only need to dry them for around an hour which I found not nearly sufficient.  Perhaps if you can manage to get your pineapple slices paper thin that will be fine, otherwise expect to check it every half hour or so until it is nice and dry and tacky. 

I'm wondering if it would have helped to dried them flat for the first half hour or so before trying to flip them over and place them in my silicone muffin cups.  Trying to fit the stiff, fresh pieces of pineapple was a little tricky because they wanted to tear and break but I noticed when I was checking on them that they had become much more pliable after a little time in the oven.  Be sure that you dry your pineapple on some parchment paper, or a silpat, or something else that it won't stick to otherwise you will end up rather aggravated later.  The muffin cups I used were a gift from one of my brothers (hmm, I seem to get a lot of cooking paraphernalia from those guys) and I don't get to use them often but they worked marvelously for this.  I might make some individual sized fruit leathers in them soon.

Here I am rambling on and I haven't yet told you how wonderful the pineapple and honey went together!  The mousse on it's own was incredibly sweet and I can't really see myself eating much of it that way.  After I paired it with the dried pineapple I was surprised how much less sweet it seemed.  Even though pineapples are a sweet fruit the acidity from the citrus really seemed to mute the sweetness of the mousse.  The pineapple cups were a little chewy and I loved that next to the melting smoothness of the mousse. 

Don't forget that this month's challenge is a competition!  Browse around and see what some other creative souls from the Daring Bakers have come up with and make sure that you vote for your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!  And if you'd like to try it, find the challenge recipe here!

The Daring Bakers make Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

Holy cow was this good!  When I realized that I was going to be making this without any extra hungry people around to help me eat it (other than Hey, Babe and Little Man) I decided that I was either going to have to cut the recipe down or make half of it a savory version.  After sitting back and thinking of all the interesting filling possibilities we had in the pantry, I knew that cutting the recipe down was no longer a viable option.

I narrowed down my choices to three.  A savory pizza-like "cake" stuffed with chopped onions, pepperoni, mozzarella and herbs, and two sweet versions.  The first sweet cake had the standard chocolate, cinnamon and nut filling provided in the original recipe and the second had blueberries with a dusting of cardamom. 

I had no trouble getting the dough to come together, the only adaptation to the given recipe that I made was to use 2 yolks instead of one of the whole eggs that were called for to eliminate the waste the meringue would otherwise have created.  I did chose to allow it to rise in the fridge overnight so that I wouldn't have to deal with it the next day, taking it out of the fridge to come to room temperature a few hours before I'd need it (we have a cold house).

When the pepperoni version was baking in the oven my mouth started watering, it smelled so tempting that I could hardly wait to try it.  It was incredibly tender and moist and I said to Hey, Babe that even if the other two version were awful I'd still make this again.  Next time I might add some more cheese, but other than that it was delicious.

After having finished dinner I was curious to see if dessert would be as good.  I tasted the chocolate version and decided it was my favorite.  Then I tasted the blueberry version and decided that it was my favorite.  But when I tasted the chocolate a second time I changed my mind again.  Can you see where this was going?  They were both so delicious I really can't say which I liked more.

This dough was so easy to work with and has so many possibilities for filling variations that I know I will have to try some more versions.  I can see cream cheese, or apples, or sausage and peppers, or broccoli and cheddar, or...I think I need to go eat something.  All those possibilities are making me hungry.

Find the challenge recipe here.

Daring Bakers make Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

All month I have been putting off making this challenge for the simple reason that I didn't want to be the only one to eat it.  Hey, Babe isn't really big on dessert (so he claims) and insists that he pretty much just sticks to cookies.  Since the deadline for the challenges was very helpfully coinciding with our plans to visit my family, I was pleased to started whipping everything together.  I hadn't anticipated any trouble.  Since it just looked like a soft pudding to me, I thought it would be a cinch to make.

Actually, the Panna Cotta really was simple.  I didn't have any trouble tweaking it to make the coconut version I had visions of.  The trouble came when I tried to create a recipe for chocolate geleé.  You see, my vision included a chocolate geleé layered with creamy coconut Panna Cotta and served with a crispy almond Florentine cookie alongside.  Things didn't quite turn out the way I had planned.  The chocolate geleé never actually set, which I discovered as I was ready to pour my assembled Panna Cotta into the dishes.  On top of that, Hey, Babe became miserably ill with his second stomach virus in a month while I was in the middle of preparations.  It turns out that I won't be having anyone to share my incredible dessert with after all since we did not feel inclined to spread the plague to another household and opted instead to stay home. 

At the last minute I poured my coconut panna cotta into two large bowls and only one of the prepared glasses with the chocolate not-quite-geleé.  Since the one I poured into the glass didn't really layer nicely I feel it was a wise choice.  The chocolate not-really-at-all-geleé-now-that-I-think-about-it I simmered in a pot until it became a much thicker chocolate sauce.  Tasty, but not what I had planned.  The combination between the two was absolutely perfect.  The bitterness of the chocolate subdued the sweetness of the panna cotta and danced together with the coconut in perfect harmony.  It was exactly as I had hoped.  The Florentine cookies added a pleasant crumbly crunch to an otherwise silky smooth experience and all in all I am completely satisfied with the results.  The only shame was the lack of any appreciative audience to share it with.

To the given recipes I made the following changes:
-Substituted 1 can (2 cups) of coconut milk for the 1 cup of milk and 1 of the cups of heavy cream
-Substituted sugar for the honey (I wasn't sure how strong the coconut flavor was going to be and so I didn't want to take any chane that the honey would distract from it)
-Added 2/3 cup of chopped almonds to the cookies
-Substituted almond flour/meal for the all purpose flour (I think it made them quite crumbly but I liked them that way)

Daring Bakers Make Biscuit Joconde Imprimes, part Two

Our happy plans of celebrating some birthdays with this marvelous dessert over the weekend were shot to pieces when Hey, Babe came home from work with a stomach virus.  I suddenly found myself with an enormous dessert and no one to share it with, though I really can't complain about that part.  It is unfortunate that the change in plans happened so last minute, if the party had been canceled sooner I would have been able to put off making it, make a smaller version, or even try to freeze it right away.  However, that wasn't the case.

I wasn't sure how well the mousse was going to freeze since I've never tried it before.  Some Google searching didn't give me any promising reports for a mousse made with gelatin, noting weeping and separating in some cases.  Not only that, but I had no idea how to package the mousse to protect it in the freezer.  I didn't have a big enough container to fit it in as a whole and I was afraid that anything I could wrap it in would just stick to it and ruin it.  So I just ate the whole thing myself.

I'm kidding! Although I really could have because whoa, it was the best one I've made to date.  I ended up cutting the mousse into pieces and freezing them in smaller containers and when I defrost a piece I will be able to find out how well this particular recipe freezes for future reference.  I had hope that Hey, Babe would recover quickly so I optimistically left a piece out for us to share.  Hey, Babe not recovering fast enough, plus the fact that Little Man also caught the bug, plus the mountains of gross laundry that resulted from all that sent me to the fridge often to console myself.  Needless to say, the unfrozen piece is long gone.  Poor Hey, Babe will have to wait until I defrost another piece before he can try it.

At first I wasn't sure that the caramel layer came through over the strong flavor of the white-mocha layer.  After several taste tests I have decided that it doesn't (and really can't) come through over the mocha layer, but it definitely complements it.  I am pretty sure that this is my new favorite triple mousse cake.  And thanks to some unfortunate luck on Hey, Babe's part, I will get to eat it several more times.  Hmm, I wonder how it tastes frozen?

Triple Layer Mousse
Ingredients:
Milk Chocolate Mousse:
10 oz. Milk Chocolate
1 1/2 c. Heavy Cream
1 tsp. unflavored Gelatin
2 Tb. cool Water

White Chocolate-Mocha Mousse:
10 oz. White Chocolate
1 tsp. unflavored Gelatin (or 2 sheets)
1 1/2 c. Heavy Cream
1 ½ TB. Instant coffee granules

Caramel Mousse:
For the caramel:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
For the mousse base:
1 tsp powdered gelatin
2 tsp cool water
1 egg yolk
1 TB sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup heavy cream


Instructions
For the Milk Chocolate Mousse:
Chop the milk chocolate and place it in a double boiler. Pour ½ c. of the heavy cream over the chocolate and allow the gentle heat of the simmering water below melt the chocolate. Stir the chocolate and cream mixture until smooth.

While the chocolate is melting, pour the 2 TB of cool water into a small dish and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Let sit until the gelatin has completely dissolved and begins to thicken into a gel. Add the gel and stir it into the milk chocolate mixture until it has completely melted. Allow chocolate mixture to begin cooling so it does not melt the whipped cream you will be adding.

Using your mixer, whip the remaining 1 c. of heavy cream to soft peaks. Check the chocolate, you want it around 80°F or cool but not stiff. Add about half of the whipped cream to the melted chocolate, whisking and folding gently until it is incorporated. Fold in the remaining whipped cream once the first half is whisked in. When the chocolate and cream are evenly blended, pour the mousse into your chosen vessel. I had a layer of the Joconde cut to the size of my Springform pan and placed in the bottom. But this can also be poured over a flourless dark chocolate cake, or into glasses to be served individually. Smooth the top and put in the fridge.


For the White Chocolate-Mocha Mousse:
Wait around 20 minutes after the first mousse was made before you begin to give it a bit of time to set and then proceed in the exact same manner as the first mousse with the exception of adding the coffee granules to the ½ cup of heavy cream before pouring over the white chocolate (unless you prefer to leave the white chocolate mousse plain, in which case omit the coffee). Pour the finished white chocolate mousse over the previous layer and place back in the fridge.

For the Caramel Mousse:
For the caramel:
Place the sugar in a small heavy bottomed saucepan set over high heat. Cook until the sugar has melted and is beginning to turn darker in color. Remove from the heat (the residual heat from the bottom of the pan will continue cooking it until it is a darker color) and add the heavy cream and butter. Stir with a wooden spoon until completely smooth, add the salt and stir a bit more until it is incorporated. Scrape out into a small bowl and set aside.

Prepare the mousse base:
Measure the cool water into a small dish and sprinkle the gelatin over top to soften. Set aside. In the now empty caramel pot, whisk the egg yolk with the sugar until very pale. Add the milk and vanilla and heat slowly over medium heat until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the softened gelatin and stir until it all dissolves into the cream. Add the waiting caramel back to the pot and whisk well to combine. Let cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Carefully whisk and fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into the caramel base. Continue on and gently fold in the rest of the whipped cream. Pour the finished caramel mousse over the previous layer, smoothing carefully. Allow the assembled layers of mousse to chill in the fridge at least an hour (a few more would be better) before serving.

Daring Bakers Make Biscuit Joconde Imprimes, part One

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.  Now, when that was announced I had absolutely no idea what it was.  All I knew was that it sounded fancy, and complicated, and, well...challenging.  Back to the challenge aspect of the group.  However, since I like desserts I was not in the least concerned about liking it, just about managing to get it completed while corralling two kiddoes.  When I read the challenge further I discovered what we were making and found out that we were suppose to come up with our own fillings.  I knew without a doubt what I was going to be making.

The very first "fancy" dessert that I ever made was a three layer chocolate mousse cake, the recipe for which I got, ironically, from a King Arthur Flour Cookbook.  I say ironic because the original recipe didn't have any flour in it, strange coming from a company that distributes flour.  The bottom was a dark chocolate flourless cake, the middle layer a milk chocolate mousse, and the top was a white chocolate-raspberry mousse.  It is one of the few recipes I have made several times because it has always pleased the crowd. 

I was all set to make and fill my Biscuit Joconde but had no idea what sort of design I was going to attempt to implement.  After a lot of consideration I went with random squiggles, which didn't quite turn out as clearly as I had hoped, but since I didn't end up with a burnt or cracking mess I figured for a first attempt it went well.  Continuing on, I assembled my milk chocolate mousse and poured it into the pan with the jaconde molded around the edge.  Uh oh!  My estimates were way off since the mousse only came to about a third of the way up the side.  I was going to need to come up with another layer. 

After some searching through various saved recipes I decided on adapting one for a caramel mousse.  Throughout the entire process it was this step that gave me the most trouble.  I needed to make a caramel sauce from scratch since I wasn't about to to go out in our very strange lightning blizzard and that was the trouble.  I have attempted caramel once before and while it was edible, it was grainy and a bit bitter/burnt and unfortunately the first batch I made for the mousse came out the same way.  I was not going to ruin a beautiful dessert by using the subpar caramel I had just produced, so I did some quick research and decided to try again.

One of the suggestions for keeping the caramel from burning was to submerge the bottom of the pan into cold water to stop the cooking process.  This sounded plausible and so I did so only to be quite dismayed when my beautiful caramelized sugar seized in the bottom of the pan and turned into rock hard candy.  Not knowing how else to remove the sugary mass from the bottom of my pan, I decided to try and melt it off over a low heat.  Eventually, the mess began to melt back into beautiful caramel and although it was a time consuming process I was able to use it for the middle layer, a delicious caramel mousse.

It wasn't until after I made the caramel mousse that it occurred to me that the caramel mousse and the white chocolate mousse were going to have a similar flavor profile.  Proceeding on with the white chocolate mousse would probably have been fine, but I decided to alter it and turn it into white chocolate-mocha.  Judging from the bits I tasted that were leftover in the bowl, I believe it was an excellent decision.

(see that clump? that is the caramel mess starting to melt again)

The mousse is currently setting in my fridge.  There are as of yet no interior pictures since we will be eating it this weekend as we celebrate two family birthdays.  I still wanted to post today since it is reveal day, and since I already had so much to blabber about I will save the interior pictures to post with the recipe later this weekend or early next week.  I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge and must thank Astheroshe for introducing a new dessert presentation to me.  Be sure to visit some of the other incredible desserts that other Daring Bakers have produced this month.  If you wish to try the recipe for the Joconde, you will find the one we used here on the Daring Kitchen website.

Daring Bakers Make Stollen

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

I have to admit that I have never tried any variety of fruitcake.  I know that there are different versions of fruitcake for different cultures, but until this challenge I hadn't tried any of them.  I was a little leery of fruitcakes in general since they are so often disdained and joked about, but I am willing to try almost anything once so I was ready for the challenge.

The first thing I decided was that I wasn't going to buy the candied fruit.  Not only was I going to make the candied orange peel, which seemed simple enough to do myself, but I was also going to make my own Glacé Cherries rather than buy a package of the loaded-with-artificial-flavors-colors-preservatives-and-chemicals variety.  It wasn't until after I decided to go that route that I realized that doing so would add a week to my prep time.  Apparently making candied cherries is a slow process.  Nevertheless, I felt that it would be worth it and followed through ending up with not only a large bunch of candied cherries, which was much more than the dozen the recipe called for as optional (oops, didn't catch that part until much later) but also a pot full of mildly cherry flavored sugar syrup.  I set the syrup aside for another use (which I will talk about another day) and continued with the Stollen.

The candied orange peel was quite simple to do and I am sorry I only made two oranges worth. I used most of it in the Stollen and there isn't any more left to snack on.  Of course since it was so easy to make it will be no trouble to make another batch.  I didn't try any of them dipped in chocolate because I liked them to much the way they were to change anything.

In the Daring Bakers forums I picked up quite a few tips as to flavor variations as well as assembly, and I am quite happy with the ones I chose to implement.  For the most part I used the recipe as written, but I did make a few adjustments.  For example, raisins? Not happening in something I bake.  Raisins are okay plain, or dipped in chocolate, or mixed into a trail mix, but once you start cooking them and making them all weird and squishy I am gone.  Instead of adding the raisins I added an equal weight of my previously mentioned plethora of candied cherries (yes, I know they are also squishy, but since they aren't raisins for some reason it doesn't bother me.  I can't explain it so don't ask.)  I didn't want to lose the flavor and moisture that the rum was supposed to add with the soaked raisins but I didn't have any rum, so I just mixed an equal amount of blackberry brandy in when I was adding the chopped fruit and nuts.

One of the tips I read was regarding the mix-ins.  It was suggested that by only adding half of them during the mixing process and the remainder after the dough had risen and been rolled out, you allowed the fruit to avoid being smashed and deformed and it was easier to roll out the dough.  I followed this advice, mixing in only half of the chopped and candied orange peel, the slivered almonds, and the chopped glacé cherries.  When it came time, I rolled out the dough with a little bit of flour to prevent sticking (wow, did it get big!) and sprinkled on the remaining chopped fruit and nuts.  I wanted to experiment a bit with the flavor so I added about 1/2 a cup of mini chocolate chips and about 6 oz of almond marzipan pinched off into small pieces so that it would be evenly distributed.  The dough looked very full before I started rolling it up.

I was thrilled with how this turned out.  None of the individual steps were time consuming or hard, but since some items required several days to complete this is not the kind of recipe you can start on a whim and finish in one day.  My mother in law said after tasting it that not only was it delicious but that "it is an experience."  Coming from a die hard chocolate fan that is saying a lot.  I thoroughly enjoyed the Stollen, and might not be so hesitant to try another type of fruitcake in the future.  Right now I am trying to decide between turning the last few pieces into french toast or bread pudding.  Of course, if I keep stealing tastes that will eventually become a moot point.  Thank you Daring Bakers for the lovely challenge!

Please visit the Daring Kitchen for the original recipe and don't forget to see how everyone else tweaked their version of this Stollen. Enjoy!

Daring Bakers Make Crostata

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

I have never tried crostata before, so I was looking forward to this challenge.  While the cream filling sounded right up my alley, I decided to instead go for a simpler version topping it instead with my homemade apple butter.  I thought it would be a nice addition to our Thanksgiving dessert spread.

This was a very easy tart to put together, especially since I was able to whip it together in the food processor.  It was nice and tender and just sweet enough to complement the apple butter.  I actually enjoyed this crust so much that I may use it instead of my standard crust for the pumpkin pies next time.  There are several variations for a crostada including fresh fruit, preserves, or cream, so rather then put all the recipes here I will instead simply provide the link to the options, please head over to the Daring Baker's site if you would like to try one of the variation for this delicious dessert.

My First Daring Bakers Challenge

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I had to laugh when I first read the challenge.  You see, around five years ago I attempted to make my own doughnuts and failed miserably.  They were awful, soggy, greasy, doughy, bland, you name it, they were bad.  I ended up throwing the whole mess away and decided I'd never again try to make them at home.  It was too much of a hassle and was not worth the effort.  So then it would figure that my Daring Bakers debut would be the one thing I never wanted to make again.  What better challenge then my biggest flop?

We had the option of making either a yeast doughnut or a cake doughnut, and I actually chose to do both.  I thought that way I would get a very clear idea of which type, if either, were worth ever making again.  I am glad I gave doughnuts another try because these were awesome!  It started off a little shaky but in the end I am glad I persevered.

I started with the recipe for Alton Brown's yeast doughnuts.  Figuring that Hey, Babe and I didn't need 20 something doughnuts and munchkins all for ourselves (twice that amount if I tried two kinds) I cut the recipe in half.  It wasn't until I had finished combining everything that I realized I went terribly wrong in my math somewhere.  Instead of the pourable soft sticky dough that I was expecting, I had a hard, dry lump.  This was not an auspicious beginning for my second-chance doughnut making.

Rather than attempt to fix the dough, or proceed with an incorrect dough and therefore bias my results, I set it aside and started again.  (I ended up letting that dough rise overnight and baking it the next morning to see what would happen.  It tasted like a crumbly sweetbread and was delicious with some homemade apple butter).  This time I wasn't going to bother halving the recipe, instead I just called to see if any of my family was interested in coming over for dessert.  I was sure that some of them would be more than happy to come and help.  I was right.

After that everything proceeded without a hitch.  They finished cooking and were melt in your mouth good, after dipping them in a chocolate icing they were better than any doughnut I've ever bought.  I dipped most of  them in the chocolate icing, but I did save a few to shake in a bag with powdered sugar.  They were both incredible, but the ones with chocolate glaze seemed to be everyone's favorite.  Thanks Lori, for ruining me for life.  I don't think I'll ever be able to buy a doughnut again.

For that first attempt, I didn't really make any modifications to the given recipe.  I left out the spice called for because I knew I was going to dip it in a chocolate icing, and I increased the sugar a bit as someone in the threads discussing the recipe had recommended, but for the most part I stuck to the recipe.  For my second attempt I was going to do some major tweaking.  I waited until game night with my brothers had come up, so that I wouldn't shot myself in the foot again with faulty math.  Then I pulled out my mixing bowls and got my little sous chef on his stool and started making my version of Chocolate Cake Doughnuts using Nancy Silverton's Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts as my base.  

I am for real in trouble now, because these were hands down the absolute best chocolate munchkins I've ever had.  Better than the best bought munchkins I've ever tasted and without the slight chemical aftertaste that you sometimes end up with.  Please pardon the not so appealing photographs, they are quite deceptive.  I am okay with the trade off between their incredible taste and their un-photogenic nature (and yes, it is the munchkins' fault, never the photographers ;-).  On top of the incredible flavor, they were so easy to make (that's why I'm in trouble, these are all too easy to make more of).  I opted not to attempt rolling out the very sticky batter I mixed up and instead took a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop and used it to plop them right into the hot oil.  Next time I'll use a 1 tablespoon scoop because they puffed up quite large and a few of them weren't quite cooked through in the center.  I almost regret waiting until we had people to help polish them off to make them because they were good.  

Thank you Lori for this awesome challenge, both recipes I tried were keepers and I will definitely have to make doughnuts again.  So much for swearing off them, I guess this teaches me to try something more than once before I back away from it forever.  I can't wait to find out what next months challenge is!  

Here are the recipes with my modifications:

Alton Brown's Yeast Doughnuts

Ingredients

For Doughnuts:
1 1/2 cup Milk (360 ml)
1/3 cup Butter (80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz)
4 1/2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast (2 pkgs / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / 1/2 oz)
1/3 cup Warm Water (80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C))
2 Large Eggs beaten
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar (120 ml / 110 gm / 4 oz)
1 1/2 teaspoon Table Salt (7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz)
1 tsp Nutmeg grated (optional, I left this out)
4 2/3 cup All Purpose Flour (1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz) + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil- DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you need around 3 inches of oil

For Chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup Milk
1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup
2 teaspoon Vanilla
4 oz Bittersweet Chocolate chopped
2 cup powdered sugar

Instructions
For the Doughnuts:
1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)

2. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.

4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.

5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.

6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.

7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).

9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.

10. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.

11. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).

12. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

For Chocolate Glaze:
In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, milk, corn syrup and vanilla over medium heat until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate, whisking until melted and combined. Carefully stir in the powdered sugar and then whisk until there are no lumps. Keep glaze warm over a bowl of boiled water or on your lowest setting on the burner. Stir occasionally to prevent it from setting up as you are using it.

Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts & 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size

Old Fashioned Chocolate Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts Ingredients For Doughnuts: 1/4 cup Sour Cream (60 ml / 60 gm / 2 oz) 2 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour + extra for dusting surface 3/4 cup Cocoa Powder 3/4 cup Granulated Sugar (180 ml / 170 gm / 6 oz) 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda (2.5 ml / 3 gm / .1 oz) 1 teaspoon Baking Powder (5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz) 1/2 teaspoon Salt 1 1/8 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast (5.6 ml / 3.5 gm / .125 oz) 3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoon Buttermilk (210 ml / 225 gm / 7 3/4 oz) 1 Egg, Large 2 Egg Yolk Large 1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract (15 ml) For Vanilla Glaze: 3 cups Powdered Sugar 1 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup Milk

Instructions
1. In a small stainless-steel bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, heat the sour cream until just warm.

2. Heat the oil to 375°F/190°C.

3. Over a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg; make a large well in the center. Place the yeast in the well; pour the sour cream over it. Allow it to soften (if using packed fresh yeast), about 1 minute.

4. Pour the buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla extract into the well. Using one hand, gradually draw in the dry ingredients. The mixture should be fairly smooth before you draw in more flour. Mix until it is completely incorporated. The dough will be very sticky. Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour.

5. Sift an even layer of flour onto a work surface. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of flour. You don’t want the doughnuts sticking to your counter. Scrape dough out of bowl onto the surface; sift another layer of flour over dough. Working quickly, pat dough into an even 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness. Dip cutter in flour and, cutting as closely together as possible, cut out the doughnuts and holes. Place holes and doughnuts on a floured surface. Working quickly, gather scraps of dough together, pat into 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness, and cut out remaining doughnuts and holes.
(alternatively, do as I did and use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to drop dough carefully into preheated oil, this dough is sticky and I don't know how well it rolls out after being converted into this chocolate version.)

6. Drop three to four doughnuts at a time into the hot oil. Once they turn golden brown, turn them and cook the other side. Cooking times may vary, but with my oil at 375 °F/190°C, I found they only took about 20 to 30 seconds per side.

7. Once cooked, place on a baking sheet covered with paper towels to drain.

For Glaze:
While munchkins are cooling, mix together all the glaze ingredients very well until completely smooth. When munchkins have cooled, dip each one completely into the glaze and allow to cool on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. I found that my glaze was a tad bit runny so I dipped some of them twice. Next time I will reduce the milk to make a slightly thicker glaze. Or, skip the glaze and just lightly dust the munckins with powdered sugar.

Yield: About 15 doughnuts & 15 doughnut holes, depending on size

Doughnut Recipe adapted from Nancy Silverton

By the way, this is what the mathematically challenged recipe turned out: 

 

Not quite the fluffy doughnut I was going for.