Allergy Friendly, Vegan Donuts Part 2 AKA this is turning into a recipe blog

Well, if you recall, last year I tried my hands at healthy, vegan, allergy friendly donuts. They weren't bad per se, but definitely nowhere near white flour, allergy laden "normal" donuts that you buy at the apple orchard or cider mill. They were too.... healthy. Anyway, if you're interested in too healthy donuts, you can search for that recipe in October of '08 right here in this blog, you weirdo (said with a virtual poke in the ribs and a hardee-har-har).

For all my normal readers, here is my attempt at less healthy, allergy friendly, vegan donuts, but because I cannot bear to use all white flour anymore, I did use some whole wheat. Clearly, I can't be too unhealthy anymore... I must be getting old. I modified a basic cake donut recipe, so here goes:

1 cup white, unbleached flour (because bleached flour is grotty)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 of brown sugar (I'll be honest and say you could probably use an 1/8 of a cup more just to improve on what I did, unless you're going to be a heathen and dip it in powdered sugar or glaze)
1 tablespoon baking powder
A couple generous dashes of pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons of your oil of choice, I'd suggest margarine, butter if you aren't vegan, or coconut oil , melted.
1/2 cup of So Delicious Coconut Creamer (or whatever milk you use) plus some
1 tablespoon flax meal mixed with 2 tablespoons warm water, let sit for a few minutes OR a quarter cup-ish of apple sauce OR Ener-G egg replacer for one egg. I used flax, but I know that isn't safe for everyone. Use the Ener-G or apple sauce at your measurements, since I'm not sure my measurements are right.
A deep fryer or cast iron dutch oven with LOTS of oil for frying. If you've come here for baked donuts, get thee gone and find somewhere else for healthy donuts.

Start by heating your oil on low-medium heat. Once your fat is all melty, turn it up to medium heat.

If you have a sifter, do that with your sugar, flours, baking powder, and spice. If you live in an apartment and have no room for such a contraption or if you grew up without one and are too chicken to start using one now, just use a wire whisk and whisk it all together. Make sure you get your brown sugar unclumped. Drizzle in your melted oil and kinda fluff the flour mixture to get it to clump a little bit. Stir in your flax meal (or other egg replacer) and coconut milk creamer. Knead that puppy a little bit. If you don't have a ball of flour in a basically clean bowl, add some more coconut milk creamer to get it to gel a bit.

Lavishly sprinkle some flour on your counter, toss that lump of flour on it and pat it down, real dirty like. Take a guess at how thick you want it. My first batch was too thin and looked like puny thin donuts. The next batch was much better.... trust me. Take a three or four inch round cookie cutter (or use your nice drinking glass, if you're me) and cut some circles in your flattened donut dough. Then take a smaller cookie cutter (think about an inch) and cut some holes in the middle of your big circle. Take out the smaller circle and it should look like a cross between a raw biscuit and a donut. Or a biscuity donut, take your pick. Plop a couple raw donuts into the hot oil and let it get nice and brown. Apparently the right temperature for donut oil is 350, but a thermometer is another kitchen appliance I don't own. Check the underside after a minute or two and flip it over when it is a shade or two under the right color. Cook the second side until its just right and drain on some paper towels. Or whatever. Repeat until all the dough is gone, then move on to the little circles you cut out to make donut holes. Oh, yeah.

Now a good rule of thumb is to let it cool a bit, but it is your tongue and if you want to burn it, have at it. Just don't come cryin' to me.

After the donuts and holes have cooled, you can dip them in cinnamon sugar or glaze or what have you. I'm guessing you could have a lot of fun modifying this recipe. Add a half a cup of canned pumpkin and take out the flax meal and decrease the creamer for pumpkin donuts. Add a bit more sugar and a couple tablespoons of cocoa for chocolate cake donuts. The possibilities are endless. Hope you enjoy!

PS: I hope Caden likes these better than the ones I made last year, otherwise I'm afraid my donut making career will be over.

Autumn Muffins

I modified the recipe from here http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1862,138166-235200,00.html to suit my needs and tastes. I think I modified it enough to make it really "mine". However, better to give credit where credit is due!

Autumn Muffins
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 can pumpkin
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup ground flax
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
pumpkin pie spice to taste
cinnamon to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix bananas, pumpkin, and apple sauce in food processor, vitamix or blender.
3. Add to bowl and stir in honey and coconut oil
4. Combine all dry ingredients.
5. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients.
7. Oil muffin tin.
8. Bake about 20 minutes for large muffins, 12-14 minutes for mini muffins.

I bet these would taste super good if they were iced or with cream cheese frosting for a more dessert type muffin. These didn't turn out as sweet as I thought they would so a 1/2 cup of brown sugar may be better. Or alternately the icing may sweetened them up a bit without making them too sweet.

Adding: I did end up making a icing with powdered sugar, vanilla, and So Delicious Coconut Creamer (original). It added just a bit more sweetness and made them perfect as far as I'm concerned.

Easy, allergy friendly pancakes (vegan too)

Being a dorm mom extraordinaire and a mom of two smalls, easy is always a benefit in my kitchen. I have been using Bisquik for my pancakes for several years, but I have always had a vague sense of distaste for feeding all that bleached flour to my family. At Costco last week, I noticed that Quaker had oatmeal pancake mix and was excited to have a healthier alternative. Unfortunately, it was not safe for Caden's food allergies. All the whole wheat mixes at Meijer were also out of bounds for allergy reasons. Lucky for me, Jason was shopping with us and spotted the Hodgson Mill Buckwheat Pancake Mix. Safe for us and much healthier than the bisquik nasties.

I modified the recipe on the back of the box to suit our needs and to improve the health factor.

1 and 1/2 cups of Hodgson Mill Buckwheat Pancake Mix
1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/2 cups So Delicious Coconut Milk (I loathe thick pancakes, if you're an odd canary and like them thick, use closer to one cup of milk substitute)
Spoonful of brown sugar (optional, could also use honey or other sweetener)
2 tbsps ground flax meal stirred with 4 tbsps warm water, let set for 5 minutes.
2-4 Tbsps liquid coconut oil (coconut oil is generally liquidy at room temp, set on a warm window sill if your kitchen runs cooler)

Stir the pancake mix, coconut milk, sugar, and flax meal together. Add liquid oil and stir to combine. Cook on a pre heated and oiled skillet over medium heat until golden brown on one side, flip and cook until golden brown on the other side. Serve with topping of choice.

This is a high fiber pancake, full of omega 3s, iron, and medium chain fatty acids (which can improve your immune system). Enjoy!