It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

So with  fall coming on and the leaves changing I've got Fall Fever. And I've got it BAD! I love the crisp mornings, and the air just smells different.  With Autumn in the air everyone starts getting ready to set in for the winter. Apples and pumpkins start showing up in abundance in the farmer's markets. And I can't wait for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and all the BAKING.  I know it's kinda early, I usually don't start getting this antsy until the first week of October but this year I just couldn't wait!

So this morning while perusing all the pumpkin recipes on Pinterest I got a craving for a pumpkin donut. Not seeing one I decided to make my own recipe.  I can't take full credit for this one being as I used a recipe for a baked cake donut I found and just omitted, substituted and added new ingredients to come up with this one.

I got about 38 donuts outta this...
Donuts
 4 cups all-purpose flour
 1 1/2 cup sugar
 2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
4 large eggs,
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large can pumpkin pie mix
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Glaze
  1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chocolate chips
1 cup cream
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar




For the Donuts whisk your dry ingredients together and then mix your wet ingredients together in seperate bowls.  Mix the two bowls together and then add the chocolate chips.  I spooned about 1/4 cup of batter into each of the holes in my donut pan. Spread the batter evenly around and then bake at 325 for about 12-14 minutes. When the tops are springy they are done.

While donuts were cooling I made my glaze. Simmer the cream or you can use half and half on the stove but be careful not to scald it.  Using a metal bowl I poured the cream over the remaining chocolate chips and let it sit for a minute or two. Then I whisked it still smooth, and started adding the powdered sugar a half cup at a time.  Be sure to whisk it until its smooth.  I made the mistake of thinking it was smooth and when I put it on my donuts figured out it wasn't. I still had little bits of powdered sugar running through my chocolate. Next time I'll use the kitchen aid with it's whisk attachment.

My kids were drooling over my shoulder and watching through the oven door. Every time the timer beeped Boo jumped up and down screaming the donuts are done! Can't tell he likes donuts can ya? Even now while they sit cooling he's standing guard over them! Hope this one works out for everyone the way it worked out for me!

Breakfast for Dinner

Happy summer everyone! It's so nice when I don't have to get up before the suns up to get my oldest ready for school. We get to sleep in and have pajama days. I love those days! When we spend till lunch in our pj's and finally decide that we better get dressed before Dad gets home. It's great! But with the lazy days come the hot lazy days.

You know the one's I'm talking about. The ones that the heat just sucks the energy right out of you. And you were able to feed the kids pop tarts for breakfast, pb&j for lunch but now its the dreaded hour of dinner. Now normally I can't wait for dinner time. Because I LOVE TO COOK! And I love that we get that time to be together as a family before we rush off to work on whatever needs to be done. Or usually that my husband has go back to work.

But when the heat is so much that the thought of turning on the stove let alone the oven is enough to make even me go running from the kitchen in fear what do you do? I had one of those days this week. It was hot, I was tired, and obviously my kids were not in the mood to actually like each other that day. 

I trudged through the house to the fridge looking at what could I make that wouldn't require effort, I decided on pancakes. A staple in our house, pancakes are usually made from a made from scratch mix that I'd made a few weeks before. Or if in a pinch Bisquick. I don't use just water like I know some of you like to do. Especially with Krusteaz. But use whatever mix you normally have on hand.  I add eggs, milk, and vanilla to mine with the result being a thick fluffy sweet pancake that my kids just eat up. Literally! They eat like five or six pancakes a sitting. 

Well this time, I was out of vanilla and didn't want just a plain old boring pancake and syrup for dinner.  This is kind of off subject but my favorite kind of ice cream shake is cherry chocolate chip cashew.  And as I searched for what to add to this pancakes I thought that all I really wanted was a shake for dinner. Lightbulb! I had cherries, and I had chocolate. Cashews? Nope, but the thought of those in a pancake just didn't seem right to me.

So I threw together this crazy idea and twenty minutes later and the griddle not heating up my house this is what we ended up with.

The recipe (approximatly)

4 cups pancake mix
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract ( I use butter or almond if I'm out of vanilla)
1/2 c pomegranate juice
2-3 cups milk
1/2 c sugar
Pitted Cherries
1 cup chocolate chips or about half a bag
2-3 drops red food coloring

I just threw everything in the bowl and mixed it together.  Then we topped them with some whipped cream, whole cherries and chocolate shavings.

Now if you know me you know that I usually don't follow a recipe. They never turn out for me. So everything I make is usually just me throwing together a make-shift recipe.  And when it turns out trying to remember the amounts! You can add more or less of anything I use.  I added the juice to add some fruity flavor to these but you don't have to use it. The only thing I will say about the milk is that milk is expensive. I use it because I can't stand just water in pancakes. But feel free to use just water or to half and half it with the milk.

I leave my pancake mix a little thin and let it sit for a few minutes. I like it to thicken up before I pour it on the griddle. It gives you a thicker fluffier pancake. If you come back and your batter is too thick add a little more liquid and use the consistency you and your family like.

 Brooker's ate 3 of these and the other two together polished off almost 10 and were complaining they wanted more. Definately another hit around here! Next time I have a quick and easy chicken salad recipe for another hot day dinner!

Happy Cooking!