Welcome to This Wild Season! The idea for this food blog has been rolling around in my head for several months now and I finally decided to just go for it. No more worrying about what could go wrong, where I’ll find time, who will even read it. Enough weighing the odds and wondering “what if?” I’m naturally a dreamer and at any given time have about fifteen ideas running through my mind about things I want to do, see, and accomplish. But when it comes to actually acting on my dreams, I tend to play it safe, sticking with what I know. Slowly, tentatively, I’m ready to let go of that.
Lately I started wondering what it would be like to start a personal blog as an outlet for my thoughts. I blog over on our photography and videography site, but sometimes I simply need to sit and process my own story, think through the things I’ve been learning, and reflect on the day or the season. I’m a firm believer that if we don’t take time to assess our situation, where we are in life, what we’re dreaming about and accomplishing and how they relate to one another, the years will pass and we’ll look back and wonder “what happened?” Where did the time go and what happened to those things we dreamed about? Sometimes our dreams are childish or selfish and it’s okay to let them go. I believe that other times God places passions and desires in our hearts, He gives us talents and gifts, He gives us big dreams that only He has the ability to accomplish. Those are the dreams we should dream. Not our selfish ones, but the ones we feel compelled to pursue, after careful and intentional prayer.
My husband and I are photographers and videographers by trade, but we also have a passion for cooking together. We love sharing what we create with others and especially teaching them how to do it themselves. We love trying new techniques, learning from our mistakes, and passing what we learn along to others who might feel a little tentative in the kitchen. It pains me when I hear my friends and family say “Oh I don’t like to cook,” “I’m afraid I’ll mess up,” “I’d rather sit down and have someone else feed me,” “I don’t have time or energy for that,” “It takes too much creativity to make a meal from scratch.” Although I can agree with each of those sentiments at one time or another, the fact is that those are often excuses. Excuses to avoid trying something new, keeping ourselves from learning and growing. The worst part is that this fear hinders us from creating food and nourishment for ourselves and the people we love.
Over time, the tradition of shared meals each night with family has turned into a habit of grabbing dinner on the run. We cram food in our faces as we run out the door or fly down the highway, and we speed through the drive-thru and get annoyed when they take more than two minutes to deliver our food. Now, there is a time and a place for quickly getting food and being on our way. Every day and every night is not that time. I challenge you to slow down, to embrace the here and the now, to re-learn to savor food and family and conversation around the table.
This blog is a place to share what I’m learning in the kitchen and out. I’d love for you to join me in learning, growing, and trying new things! Feel free to take the recipes shared here and make them your own! Let me know how they turn out for you in the comments below. And if you have any questions about techniques, a recipe request, or just want to send a message my way, use the contact page. Keep up with what we’re working on by following us on our Facebook page, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram!
In the spirit of trying new things and slowing down, here’s a recipe that needs a whole morning of devotion to bring together. It’s totally worth it. Make them on a Saturday morning when you have nowhere to be, when you’d rather lounge around the house in your pjs with your coffee in hand. I made these donuts the other week in the middle of a crazy snow storm we had, and I decided they were so pretty I needed to photograph them. Obviously. It was just the push I needed toward actually making this blog happen! Thanks, pretty donuts!
The original recipe came from two different sources – the coconut caramel topping is from The Urban Poser‘s guest post here on PaleOMG, and the actual donut batter recipe is from Top With Cinnamon, because the former called for almond flour and that stuff is expensive! We’re not gluten-free or anything so that wasn’t a concern. If it is a concern for you however, there are lots of alternative ingredients over on PaleOMG for you to swap out!
Drooling yet? Okay excellent, let’s get started!
A couple tips – you’ll need a donut pan for this one. I legitimately ordered this donut pan after seeing the photos on PaleOMG. For real. My excuse was that Tim’s birthday was just around the corner, and Samoas are one of his favorite girl scout cookies. Solid reasoning in my book. Also, be sure to use good chocolate chips – don’t buy the cheapest ones! Tim and I once tried to make chocolate covered pretzels with el-cheapo chocolate chips. It was a disaster. First of all, they took forever to melt, and once we dipped the pretzels in, the chocolate refused to re-harden. Bah! For this recipe I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips and they worked great! And one last tip – this recipe made enough batter for 6 regular-sized donuts or 12 mini donuts, but enough caramel topping for probably 3 times as many! I’m betting you could double or triple this recipe (just the donut batter) and have enough goodness to feed an army. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
Samoa Donuts
Ingredients
For the Donuts
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 tsp active dry yeast
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- pinch of baking soda
- 1/4 cup butter
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 1 small egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp yogurt
- 1/4 cup milk
For the Coconut Caramel Topping
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk about 1½ cups
- ½ cup mild flavored honey or maple syrup
- A pinch of sea salt I used kosher salt
- 1 rounded tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup finely shredded coconut plus 2 more tablespoons for garnishing
For the Dipping Chocolate
- 1/2 bag of good chocolate chips
Instructions
For the Donuts
- Stir together the flour, yeast, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a small bowl, set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease a donut pan (6 regular sized donuts or 12 mini donuts)
- In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
- Beat in the egg, vanilla and yogurt.
- Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then mix in half the milk. Repeat this until you've added all of the flour mixture and the milk.
- Pipe the mixture (or use a spoon) into the prepared donut pan (each should be filled about 2/3-3/4 of the way up) and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Bake the donuts for 10-15 minutes until puffy and golden brown.
- Let rest for 5 minutes then remove them from the pan and let cool completely.
For the Coconut Caramel
- In a small-medium sauce pan, bring the coconut milk, honey and salt to a boil over medium high heat, being sure that they are well combined. Reduce to a medium heat, and let the mixture boil down for about 35-40 minutes.
- Add the butter and vanilla, stirring it in till well incorporated. Continue cooking for another 5-15 minutes or as long as needed until it is a deep caramel color. Don’t rush the process. Depending on how hot your burner is this process could be faster or slower. Stir often toward the end to keep the bottom from burning too much. A little burning is fine as long as you are stirring it in to the mixture. It will give it a darker flavor.
- Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and let cool for 5 minutes then stir vigorously until it’s creamy, shiny and smooth.
- While the caramel is cooking, spread the coconut out on an ungreased cookie sheet and toast it in a 325 degree oven. Stir often till golden, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Mix the toasted coconut into the caramel, reserving a tablespoon or so for garnishing later. Use coconut caramel while still warm for best spreading results.
For finishing the donuts
- Carefully dip the top of each donut in the coconut caramel mixture and place on parchment paper
- Sprinkle with the toasted coconut
- While that is cooling, heat chocolate chips in the microwave 10-20 seconds at a time, stirring each time, until smooth. Alternately, you can use a double boiler if you're feeling fancy pants.
- Once your chocolate is melted, carefully dip the bottom of each donut in the chocolate, returning to the parchment paper to harden.
- Carefully spoon leftover chocolate into a pastry bag (or ziplock bag and cut a tiny hole in the corner). If the chocolate has cooled too much, you can put it back in the microwave before spooning it into the bag. Pipe the chocolate over the donuts in whatever pattern you wish!
Notes
Be sure to come back tomorrow! I’ll be sharing a much simpler (and healthier) recipe!