He brought the donut-topped delivery car as close as possible to the back steps. I armed the building’s alarm system, went outside, and made certain that the back door was locked. Dep would be secure until we returned for her and our crullers.
Brent ran up to the porch, put an arm around my waist, and half-carried me down the steps. I didn’t really need help, but I didn’t complain. He eased me into the passenger seat, got in behind the wheel, and drove down the driveway, carefully, for the sake of my foot and the lovely old car.
At the street, he pressed down on the gas pedal and turned on the donut’s sprinkles. Colored reflections splashed across store windows. Brent smiled. The 1950 Ford couldn’t possibly attain the sorts of speeds he was used to, but he was apparently enjoying driving it, dancing lights and all.
I thought of broadcasting the siren through the loudspeaker on the roof. Instead, I started the 1950 soundtrack playing inside the car.
A male singer crooned “The Tennessee Waltz.” I couldn’t help a small gurgle of laughter.
Brent looked over at me. “Does your foot hurt a lot?”
“I’ll be fine.” I knew it was true.
Recipes
Honey-Glazed Crullers
Light and eggy crullers are popular in many countries—and they all seem to use the same basic recipe, the French pastry known as pâte à choux. Don’t be intimidated by French cuisine. These are quick and easy. If you’re the sort of person who wakes up before the rest of the family, whip up a batch and surprise everyone when they arrive at the breakfast table. And pâte à choux is also used for eclairs and cream puffs, so master this dough and you can make all sorts of exotic-seeming pastries. Pâte à choux is light on sugar and flour and heavy on butter and eggs. Sounds healthy, doesn’t it . . . ?? This makes a small batch and can be doubled.
½ cup water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar
Dash of salt
½ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
2 large eggs
1 egg white
Vegetable oil with a smoke point of 400°F or higher, or
follow your deep fryer manufacturer’s instructions
Place the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed pot on medium-high heat. Stir to melt butter, if necessary. When mixture simmers, add the flour, lower the heat to medium-low, and stir with a wooden spoon. You might be afraid the flour will clump, but keep stirring over medium-low until a ball of dough forms. Continue to cook and stir for a couple of minutes to dry out the batter. The dough is ready for the next step when a thin film coats the bottom of the pan.
The next step can be done with a mixer or by hand. Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl. Stir the dough until it cools slightly, a minute or two. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix on medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add some of the egg white bit by bit until when you draw a spatula through the batter, the channel you made begins to close quickly. The batter will be glossy and damp, but not wet.
Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch star piping tip or to a plastic bag with one corner cut off (try cutting it in a star shape).
Pipe circles of batter onto parchment paper or a silicone baking pad.
Heat at least 2 inches of oil to 370°F.
With a smooth metal spatula, slide crullers into hot oil. Fry only a few at a time until golden, 1½ to 2 minutes per side. Remove with chopsticks, a slotted spoon, or a spoon handle and drain on a paper towel.
You can also bake these crullers, and they’ll come out with a texture more like cream puffs or eclairs (so who’s complaining?).
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone pad and pipe the crullers onto it, at least 1 inch apart. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F and bake for another 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, open the oven door a whisker (prop the flat side of a fork handle in the top of the door), and let the crullers sit in the cooling oven for 5 minutes.
While the crullers are still warm, spoon honey glaze over them.
Honey Glaze
cup honey
Confectioners’ sugar, sifted
In a small bowl, warm the honey in your microwave oven. Add confectioners’ sugar by teaspoonfuls and stir, dissolving the sugar until the glaze is as white as you’d like.
Black-and-Whites
These little gems are baked, not fried, and they’re very rich and sweet.
Donuts
Melted butter or unflavored coconut oil
⅓ cup black Dutch process (alkalized) cocoa powder, pressed
through a sieve to break up clumps
cup all-purpose flour, sifted
cup light or dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white vinegar
¼ cup (4 tablespoons) melted butter
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly brush melted butter or unflavored coconut oil in the cups of a regular-sized donut pan.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla, vinegar, and melted butter or vegetable oil. Don’t worry if the vinegar curdles the milk and melted butter.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until blended
Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, filling them about ¾ full.
Bake the donuts for 10 to 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Do not overbake.
Remove the donuts from the oven, allow to cool a few minutes, invert cooling rack over pan, and turn pan and cooling rack together right side up. If the donuts do not fall out of the pan, loosen the edges carefully with a narrow silicone spatula and try again.
Let donuts cool. Using a serrated knife, carefully slice donuts in half horizontally so that you have two circles from each donut.
Form vanilla filling (see below) into ball.
Using a rolling pin, roll filling between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/4 inch.
Using a donut cutter, cut out rings of filling.
Slide a thin metal spatula underneath rings and gently place them on the flat side of the donut half that was on top in the oven.
Make a “sandwich” by gently pressing the other slice on top. Serve rounded side up.
This makes six regular-sized donuts. These are so rich that you might prefer to make them as mini-donuts. If using a mini-donut pan, bake for about 7 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake.
Recipe can be doubled.
Vanilla Filling for Black-and-Whites
1¼ cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons refined (non-virgin) coconut oil, softened
(warmed until workable, about 80–100ºF). If you substitute
virgin coconut oil, your filling will have a coconut
flavor. Do not substitute liquid coconut oil.
2 teaspoons hot water (Try mixing the hot water with the
coconut oil to soften it.)
Place ingredients in bowl and beat until combined. Filling will be stiff, but it rolls out well at room temperature.
Recipe can be doubled. Excess can be stored in refrigerator.
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Goodbye Cruller World Page 27