Sweet Corn Hushpuppies

So I thought that the buttermilk hush puppies were good, but these Sweet Corn Hush Puppies are SO GOOD! I didn’t even need ranch or fry sauce to dip them into, they were so amazing on their own. They were more sweet then the buttermilk puppies, but they were still salty—oh they were so good, nice little fried balls of sweet corn.  You will really want to try these puppies!

 So gather your ingredients

Once again you get to make some fresh corn meal. Can I just take a moment and say how much I love my electric WonderMill? Oh it is fantastic! It grinds grains so fast and fine, or course or whatever you want. I still love my hand mill and it is so nice when you can’t use your electric WonderMill for certain grains or in case the power goes out I will always have my hand mill, but I will admit my true love is for the electric WonderMill. Okay, that may have been more than just a moment… so back to the recipe.

Mix all your dry ingredients together

Next add your onions and corn

At this point if you need more milk to reach a drop consistency, add in milk a little at a time until you reach the right consistency. I had to add only about a ¼ of a cup.

Then drop into hot oil by the spoonfuls and cook until golden brown.

Let them drain onto a paper towel and gobble them up while they are still warm! However, even when they are cold they still taste GREAT!

So until next time…

Buttermilk Hushpuppies

Okay so hello again, I am back… sorry for the long hiatus. I won’t go into a long boring drawn out story. However, I will get to the best part of the blog… THE FOOD! This blog is about Hush Puppies, now I’ve never had hush puppies before. I thought it was just cornmeal fried up- more like a savory doughnut. So Chef Brad’s recipe for Buttermilk was just as I suspected it was a nice big doughnut hole only crispier and much saltier than a glazed doughnut. I thought they were very good, but then again I pretty much like-well strike that-LOVE anything fried! So what do you say I stop wasting time and get to the recipe?

 Round up all your ingredients

Next you’re going to want to take your popcorn and your WonderMill (electric or hand, both will do the trick). If your using your electric WonderMill put the setting on the pastry setting- you want it as fine as possible.

Turn on your WonderMill then pour your popcorn in and let the Mill do its thing!

Place your freshly ground cornmeal, WonderFlour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together and mix.

Next add in your chopped onion, egg and buttermilk and mix together.

Pour into the dry mixture and mix well

*Chef Brad calls for water, however I didn’t need any, but if your mixture is a little dry or won’t drop well into the oil then add water till it reaches that consistency.

Heat your oil up to about 350 degrees

Drop your dough into the hot oil and let them cook until golden brown.

Take them out and let them drain on a paper towel.

 Make sure not to make the balls too big so that they will cook all the way through. Then just enjoy them! I think that I would really have enjoyed mine if I would have dipped them in ranch…I’ll be honest,  I’m a sauce girl and I love fried dough so what more could I ask for?

So until next time…

Beignets

Beignets…Like some of Chef Brad’s recipes I have never tried them, so I was really excited to see that they are much like frybread, which I love!  Who wouldn’t like bread dough that is fried and topped with powdered sugar? I really enjoyed mine with jam too. Honey would be great a topper, oh gosh or nutella….my oh my what endless possibilities! I better pull my leftover dough out of the freezer now! Now all you need to do is get into the kitchen and make yourself some Beignets dough.

 Gather your ingredients

Next add all of your ingredients into your mixing bowl, but only add half of your WonderFlour.

Knead your dough while adding the rest of the WonderFlour. Do this until it pulls away from the sides.

Remove the dough from the bowl. I split my dough in half, wrapped it in plastic wrap, and let it chill overnight.

The next day remove them from your fridge and plastic wrap, roll out  and cut into squares

Toss your squares into the fryer and cook until golden brown!

Lastly toss them in powdered sugar.

Eat until your hearts content!!! Oh and please try them with your favorite topping and let me know what you enjoyed on your Beignets.

 So Until Next Time….

Churros

My Sophomore year of high school I was in a Spanish class- let’s just say that was the first and last time I took any sort of foreign language! At the end of the year we had a great fiesta – well as great as any high school party could be. I made a homemade piñata that was supposed to be a giraffe but looked more like a shot dinosaur…my other class mates brought Pace Salsa and Rosarita’s Refried beans, and it was a party to remember! Those memories have faded, but the one thing that I do remember the most is that my Spanish teacher brought homemade Churros.  I’m going to be blunt, her Churros looked like dog droppings and they didn’t really taste that good either…in fact they were really bad! Since then I have never tried any other Churros, and I was very hesitant to try Chef Brads recipe. However I was quite surprised to see how much my husband was enjoying them, so I tried one…not bad…my second one…kind of good and as you can see I enjoyed them a lot! I do have to say these weren’t like any other Churros that I had seen before. These weren’t thick and heavy, they were very light and fluffy. That could be due to the fact that the biggest tip for my piping bag wasn’t very big.

I really enjoyed them the way they turned out though. Now I need to know if all Churros are as good as these were, and if I should venture out to try some or if I should just stick to Chef Brad’s Churro Recipe. So please try these and let me know, because every time I go to the fair and see the Churros sitting under the heat lamp I’m tempted, yet never can bring myself to make the commitment.

 Pull together all the ingredients

In a saucepan combine your water, butter, sugar, salt, and nutmeg and bring to a boil. Add your WonderFlour all at once and remove from the heat. Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until it starts to pull away from the sides and forms a thick paste. (It happened pretty fast for me!)

Next you should add your eggs one at a time, beating fast after each egg.

Beat until the dough is smooth.

(I thought that a whisk would be good for this part and would incorporate the eggs nicely- but don’t do that! Just stick with your wooden spoon…)

Stir in your vanilla and then let the dough rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. While you’re doing that go ahead and get your fryer ready. Once the dough has rested, scoop it into your pastry bag, which you will want to fit with your largest star tip. (As you can see mine was pretty wimpy.) Squeeze out your dough into the fryer and use scissors to cut the dough at whatever length your desire.

Fry until golden brown and then drain on a paper towel.

Roll your warm churros in sugar **MY FAVORITE** Or you can use powdered sugar, or a cinnamon sugar mixture.

At  first I was squeezing the dough into the fryer- but straight into the oil. It wasn’t working so well, so next I brought the basket up and made little churros on the basket then dropped them down in the oil.

After a batch or two I just decided to squeeze the dough in the fryer and not care what they looked like!

Hence the pretzel shaped one. When my husband found out what I was doing he really started to like them and wanted in on the action.  And of course he wanted a man size Churro, not one of these “little girl” ones, so please enjoy the next couple pictures!

I then decide to follow suit, yet make mine just a little bit smaller

These were really good and so much fun to make, I would suggest doing it with your kids and letting them go crazy with the dough- much like my husband, but then I think hot oil+children….umm better not.

 So until next time…

 

Apple Fritters

Whenever I go to the store to get myself a doughnut, I always walk right on past the Apple Fritters…What can I say? Maple bars or the raspberry filled doughnuts are my down fall….Depending on the day, I might even go for both!  However after having these delightful little treats I may have to try one next time and see how they fair.

 Collect all your ingredients.

Sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg.

Add in your half & half and egg.

Mix until smooth.

Next chop up your apples into chunks. (I also peeled mine, but that is up to you.)

Fold your apple chunks into your batter.

Next drop teaspoonfuls of batter into the fryer

Cook for about 2-3 minutes. Drain on a paper towel and then roll in powdered sugar.

Now enjoy!!

So Until Next time…

Wonderflour Yogurt Doughnuts

Just like the butter milk drop doughnuts, Chef Brad’s Wonder Flour Yogurt Doughnuts were fantastic! Technically they were supposed to be Kamut Spelt Yogurt Doughnuts, but I was fresh out of Kamut and Spelt—except the spelt  which is 1 of the grains in Wonder Flour so I figured why not just sub?      I loved these doughnuts. Unlike the butter milk doughnuts, these doughnuts actually fluff out when frying …and then when you roll them in powdered sugar they are sooo good!

Collect all your ingredients.

Mix together your Wonder Flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

In a different bowl combine together the yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, honey, and oil.

Now add the wet mixture to the dry.

Place the mixture in the fridge for about 30-60 minutes. While your batter is chilling get your bowl of powdered sugar ready along with your plate of paper towels to dry your freshly made doughnuts on.

Remove and scoop a few large spoonfuls into the fryer and cook until golden brown.

Let them drain on the paper towels and then to finish up, toss them in the powdered sugar!

(Wait for the doughnuts to cool just a bit before sugaring.)

I tried both white sugar and powdered sugar, and I definitely liked the powdered sugar rolled one best!

Which ones will you like best??

So until next time…

Buttermilk Drop Doughnuts

Okay a while ago I made Chef Brad’s Twisted Doughnuts and neither me or my husband liked them very much at all. After that recipe I was skeptical to try anymore recipes in Chef Brad’s doughnut section. Well, it turns out that I was proven wrong…. Chef Brads Buttermilk drop doughnuts were AMAZING and so dang easy to make!

 Round up all of your ingredients and set your fryer to 375 degrees. Or if you opt for a pan and oil, just use your thermometer to gauge the temperature.

Mix your Wonderflour, sugar, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, & baking soda

Then add in your buttermilk, oil and egg

Mix well until smooth

Get a plate and paper towels ready to place cooked doughnuts one before rolling in sugar.

Drop the batter in to the heated oil

Fry until golden brown

( I may have cooked these just a tad too long)

Next roll into sugar

**** Make these doughnuts small! At first I was using what I call a “big” spoon, (my husband calls it a normal spoon) and they were not cooking all the way through and getting really dark. I then switched to what my husband would refer to as a small spoon and I would call a regular seized spoon and they came out perfect!

 After consuming about 12 of these doughnuts I called it quits for the day!  I saved the rest of the batter and made them for Sunday dinner dessert and couldn’t get them out of the fryer fast enough for everyone to eat!

So until next time…

Zucchini Muffins

 

How would you like some, tender, moist and delightful muffins??? I knew you would say yes! They are a zip to make and they aren’t too shabby tasting either. It will only take you one bowl- your mixing bowl, a muffin tin, spatula and your oven. It doesn’t get much easier than that! Now that you have the basics down, gather your ingredients.

[Normally I have a picture here for you guys to see, but I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that my memory card wasn’t in the camera the whole time! Afer I took the pictures it would tell me that my memory card was missing….well I did finally fix it but it was later that I realized what was going on.]

So first you mix your eggs, sugar, coconut oil, and vanilla together until it reaches a mayonnaise like consistency.

(Sorry once again I did take a picture but it’s not there, so to the next step!)

Add all the other ingredients.

(I finally put the memory card back in…hehehe)

    Mix well and scoop into your greased tins

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until your tooth pick comes out clean.

Oh and P.S. I may have added chocolate chips to my muffins…mmmm!!

Enjoy and until next time…

Fried Ice Cream

Here is a fast, easy, and DELICIOUS recipe! I honestly think it has been my favorite so far! Fried Ice Cream, but it comes with a secret… it’s NOT fried. Oh boy do they taste good!  The best part is that you’ll never want to go back to the original because you won’t feel guilty about eating one, or two, three, or four! One word of advice though – make a lot because they will go fast. I made these for my family over Christmas Break up at our family cabin, made them again for our New Year’s Eve party, and AGAIN for my husband’s birthday party tonight! In all three instances, they were literally gone in seconds!

 Gather your ingredients.

Place your pistachios, pepitas (which are pumpkin seeds-if you’re like me and don’t know what they are), coconut, cinnamon, and nutmeg in the food processor (or in my case a blender).

Chop until fine.

Next add your corn flakes and popped amaranth*(Confession time: I may have burned the Amaranth to a crisp, so I didn’t add it in to the mixture). Pulse for a few minutes.

 Place your mixture onto a pan or in bowl so that you can roll your ice cream scoops in it.

Scoop your ice cream into a ball and roll into the mixture.

I placed wax paper on the bottom of my container and once I filled up the first layer I placed another piece of wax paper over the top and then did another layer of fried ice cream balls. Once I filled up the container I covered it and put it back into the freezer until they firmed up again.

When everyone is ready for a sweet treat, just pull these out of the freezer and serve as is. My husband’s favorite variation was with raspberry jam on top. Chef Brad suggests also serving with honey or whipped cream. No matter what way you chose to eat it you WILL enjoy it and go back to the freezer to get more!

So Until next time…

Zucchini Loaves

I don’t know a single person who doesn’t like a good, soft, moist zucchini bread. This is going to be my new fall back recipe for zucchini bread because it is truly divine! Let’s just say I made three loaves and two of them were gone before the next morning! The zucchini bread is not only delicious, but Chef Brad has a glaze recipe that goes on top that sends this recipe over the moon! You have to make this recipe, believe me you will be happy that you did!

 Gather up your ingredients.

Now combine all ingredients in the mixing bowl and blend together.

Split your batter between your bread pans. They don’t rise too much, so you can fill them pretty full and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

Make the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream until you reach the consistency and taste that you prefer. I personally don’t like the taste of powdered sugar glaze, so I halved the amount and doubled the cream- but it is all your call.

 Let the loaves cool and glaze, then top with chopped or whole pecans!