Sweet treats

Oh, my. I am in trouble. Well, first off...the donut holes. They are delish, but since I can't stand the smell of fried food in my house, I don't think there's a sincere danger of these happening all that often in my house. But they are quite wonderful, and definitely worth sharing the recipe!! Thanks, Karen, for the recipe!!!

Apple Cider Donut Holes

Canola oil for frying
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup apple cider
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

About 1 cup powdered sugar and 2-3 Tablespoons of apple cider mixed to make a thin glaze (approximate - I really didn't measure this)

Heat oil to 375 degrees (helps if you have a candy or deep fry thermometer - I didn't, and had to use trial and error to get it right...the first couple donuts burned!).

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add milk, cider, oil, vanilla and beaten egg....stir until mixed well. Drop into heated oil by rounded teaspoon-fulls - just like cookie dough. Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side - until a deep golden brown. Take them out and rest them on a paper towel for a minute or two.

While they're still warm, either put them in a bag and shake to coat them with cinnamon sugar, or dip them in the glaze. I only did the glaze, and they were so yummy!!

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The second sweet treat, I do not have a picture of. This is, in part, because it actually isn't very pretty, but mostly because I devoured it before I could have ever taken a picture. It never had a chance. This little baby will have a short life-span, let me tell ya!

The original recipe can be found here, but I altered it a bit to try to make a tad less fattening and to make it a bit more chocolate-y and it turned out fabulous.

Coffee-Cup Chocolate Cake

1 coffee cup (microwaveable)
4 T. flour (not self-rising)
3 T. sugar
2 1/2 T. baking cocoa
1 egg
3 T. milk
2 T. plain yogurt
1 T. oil
Splash almond or vanilla extract

Mix the dry ingredients in the coffee cup. Add the egg and mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and mix again. Microwave on high for 2 1/2 minutes. Note: the cake WILL rise above the top of your coffee cup - don't worry - it won't overflow and won't make a mess. Let cool for a minute or two, then dump out onto a plate. I ate mine with powdered sugar sprinkled over it and whipped cream on top...YUM!!! (And I used the almond extract - SO yummy!!)

This did NOT have a normal cake-like texture, by the way. The original recipe calls for it to be cooked 3 minutes, and maybe if I cooked it that long, it would have more of a cake-like texture, but I could smell the chocolate heading towards that too-cooked state, so I took it out after 2.5 minutes. It was very moist and dense, almost like the texture of bread pudding. The flavor was awesome...totally satisfying. Too satisfying. As in - every time I have a chocolate craving now, I'm gonna want to make one of these babies. And because it only dirties one cup, and takes all of 5 minutes from start to finish, I can see how this could become a big problem.

If you try it out, let me know how it comes out!!! Oh, and the original recipe also suggests adding chocolate chips, but you could try anything, I suppose...nuts, peanut butter chips, whatever!!