Easy Homemade Funnel Cakes Shauna Sever. So a couple of weeks ago, in a fit of I dont know what parental duty John Mellencamp esque inspiration, we packed the kids into the car and headed north to the Marin County Fair. All things considered, it ended up being a near perfect day, with minimal crowds and the most fantastically sunny, warm yet breezy weather that we sorely lack down here in San Francisco during the summer months. We lazily walked the grounds, listened to a showy preteen girl belt out pop songs for the talent contest, hung out with farm animals. The baby napped in the stroller. I ate a second hot dog as a snack like some kind of aspiring Biggest Loser contestant. AppleTurnover1.jpg' alt='Baking From My Home To Yours By Dorie Greenspan Pdf' title='Baking From My Home To Yours By Dorie Greenspan Pdf' />Family outing success Speaking of that hot dog snack, lets talk about fair food. Is there anything betterDorie Greenspan, author of Baking From My Home to Yours, created this recipe for figgy Christmas pudding for All Things Considered. Makes 8 to 10 servings. In a stupor of sugar, I baked through the three pounds of butter in my freezer within the first week of receiving my copy. Vibrant flavors, colors, and textures have. Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online. Easily share your publications and get. Nicole Im not usually up at that hour, except when I have a baking project or idea stuck in my craw. Unfortunately the shops arent open that early so if I need. On my favorite running route, there is an old house that has a huge, neglected lemon tree. It is an absolute crime, I tell you. The branches are always heavy with. I mean, you have to get on board with the whole thing before you even get there. Just give in, be in it to win it, and accept that youll be eating something fried on a stick more than once in a two hour period. Aint that America Like any good county fair, this one had the fair food booths out in full forceyou couldnt walk 1. The Rifles No Love Lost Speed on this page. Twinkie. We had ourselves a righteous fair food lunch of multiple types of sausages, BBQ ed tri tip, frozen lemonade, and a huge ear of roasted corn that my girl attacked with impressive swagger. And then of course there was lots of soft serve ice cream. We like to do it up right. However There is an unexpected drawback to fair food. The first of bite of that sausage or roasted corn is kind of like a gateway bite. Its delicious and vibrant and perfect and youre surrounded by the fair sights and sounds and colors and smells and before you know it, youre all LETS EAT ALL THE THINGS. But you cant possibly. How to Keep Lettuce Fresh. Lettuce has a shorter shelf life than most vegetables, especially the tender butter lettuce variety. It stays in best condition. I learned how to make Funnel Cakes from scratch in my 8th grade Home Ec. What a brilliant teacher to inspire her students to enter the kitchen via fairfoods. Something has got to give and Im not talking about your pantsyou did have the good sense to wear an elastic waist to the fair, didnt you. In our case, even with all of our best fair food mowing intentions, we missed out on an essentialthe funnel cake. Wha I know. John Mellencamp is going to come and take our American passports away at any second. But I decided to make up for it here at home. Because what kind of mother am I if I let an entire summer pass without letting my child have a funnel cake Priorities Luckily, I came across the most genius idea for making super easy funnel cakes on Serious Eats using a pancake mix we always have on hand. Dont judge me for using a box mix for pancakes. Yes, I know how easy they are to make from scratch, but have you tried this mix Its really, really good. And I learned a secret tip to add a little drizzle of vegetable oil to the batter and now I can make perfect pancakes after years of unexplained pancake failures. Plus I can make the batter all bleary eyed without messing with measuring cupsI just dump some in a bowl, add water and mix, eyeballing the consistency. Everybody needs a good shortcutthis pancake mix is mine. Now you know. So lets talk about the elephant in the roomFRYING. Dun dun duuuuhhhhnnnn. If you can get over any fear of frying you might have, you will absolutely love, love, love these funnel cakes. To be real, frying isnt my favorite thing on the planet, eitherit can be messy and tricky and feel like one big oily DJ ing session, trying to adjust the heat while youre flipping the goods and what not. And then theres the whole Food Police issue about fried food being the devil and everything. I get it. But its really not too hard if you have the right equipment, and honestly, how often are you really frying things at home So lets just think of this as a fun experiment and a delicious treat and just stop being so judgy about the whole thing. In other words, just put on your elastic waist pants, and get in it to win it. Were makin fair foodRidiculously Easy Funnel Cakes. Adapted from Serious Eats. Makes 6 to 8 6 inch or so cakes. The original recipe amounts which Im posting here call for 2 quarts of oil and frying the cakes in a Dutch oven. I suppose the deeper the oil level and more room in the pot to work with, the better, but I used my beloved, heavy medium sized saucepan thats about 7 12 inches in diameter and poured in oil just to a depth of about 1 inch, which probably amounted to a couple of cups, and things worked out fine. To make this project as easy and fun as it should be, have everything ready before you begin frying. I highly recommend a plastic squeeze bottle for getting the batter into the oilthats the fun part, making all those loopsand a slotted spoon and a thin vented spatula like a fish spatula for flipping and transferring the cakes with ease. And please, please save yourself the headache and use a candy or deep fry thermometer so that you know you oil gets to and stays at the right temperature while youre frying. These are are best eaten hot, so have your funnel cake crowd ready and waiting for their cakes as they come out of the fryer I needed a bit more to get my batter to the consistency of cake batter2 tablespoons sugar. Confectioners sugar, for dusting. Line a large baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels. In a large, heavy bottomed pot, such as a Dutch oven, heat about an inch of the oil to 3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the pancake mix, water, sugar, and vanilla extract until very smoothyoure looking for a batter about the consistency of cake batter, and it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon when you lift the whisk. Transfer the batter to a squeeze bottle with a 14 inch opening or to be really traditional, pour the batter through a small funnel into the oil. When the oil is up to temperature, holding the bottle about 5 to 6 inches above the surface of the oil, squeeze the batter into the pot, quickly working in a circular motion about 4 to 6 inches in diameter to form loops and swirls. Cook the cake for about 1 minute, or until an even golden brown on the bottom, before flipping it and cooking and additional 3. Shiny Patch Of Skin On Leg here. Remove the cake to the paper toweling to drain for a minute before dusting with confectioners sugar. Repeat with the remaining batter. A Perfect Cake For The Holidays NPRMakes 8 servings. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and keep at hand. Working in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until smooth. Q U B E V1 2017 here. Add the egg and beat another 2 minutes or so, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture may look curdled, but thats OK. Add vanilla and mix for about a minute more. Then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in two or three additions, mixing only until theyre fully incorporated into the dough. Place a large sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper on your work surface and put half of the very soft and sticky dough in the center of the sheet. Cover with another piece of plastic or wax paper, then roll the dough into a circle just a little larger than 8 inches in diameter. As youre rolling, turn the dough over and lift the plastic or paper frequently, so that you dont roll it into the dough and form creases. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Put the dough on a cutting board or baking sheet and refrigerate it for about 3 hours or for up to 3 days. When youre ready to assemble and bake the gateau, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 3. Generously butter a 2 inch high, 8 inch round cake pan. Remove the layers from the refrigerator and let them rest on the counter for a couple of minutes before peeling away the plastic or paper. Fit one layer into the pan if it breaks, just press the pieces together. If theres a little extra dough running up the sides of the pan, you can either fold it over the bottom layer or cut it so that its even. Spoon some of the jam or pastry cream onto the dough, starting in the center of the cake and leaving one inch of dough bare around the border. Add more filling if you dont think it will squish out the sides when you press down on it with the top layer of dough. I find that 34 cup is usually just the right amount, but if youre using a very thick jam, you might want a bit more. Moisten the bare ring of dough with a little water and then top with the second piece of dough, pressing down around the edges to seal it. If youd like, you can work your finger between the top dough and the edge of the pan, so that you tuck the dough under a little. Because of the softness of the dough and the baking powder, even if you only press the layers together very lightly, theyll fuse as they bake. And, no matter how well you press them together, it seems inevitable that a little of the filling will escape. Brush the top of the dough with the egg glaze and use the tips of the tines of a fork to etch a cross hatch pattern across the top. Bake the cake for 4. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for 5 minutes before carefully running a blunt knife around the edges of the cake. Turn the cake over onto a cooling rack and then quickly and carefully invert it onto another rack so that it can cool to room temperature right side up. Serving I think both the jam and cream filled cakes are best plain, but a little whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream are always nice on simple sweets. Storing Wrapped well, the jam filled cake will keep for a day or so at room temperature. You can also keep the cream filled cake overnight, but it will need to be refrigerated. However, because refrigeration can dry cakes, I think its best to serve the cream filled cake the day it is made.