New Year's Day Doughnuts

I think I will start a New Year's Day tradition, homemade baked doughnuts for breakfast.

I purchased a Wilton doughnut pan at Thanksgiving and have just gotten around to trying it out. It worked out really well! The doughnuts were soft, warm and delicious! The pan comes with a simple recipe for both the batter and the glaze. I recommend using a piping bag to fill the tray.

Don't they look yummy? The recipe makes one dozen. They didn't last the day.

So this is why I haven't been posting much.

Frankly, the smell of baked goods made me feel pretty nauseous for a while and I was exhausted most of the time. Now that I'm in the second trimester, I'm feeling better. Still not in the mood for sweets at all.

Happy Holidays!

Cinnamon Crown Cake

A few years ago, my mother-in-law and father-in-law gave me a great recipe book (linked in my last post) and a Nordic Ware bundt pan. For some reason, I use it mostly in autumn. Autumn makes me think of cinnamon and coffee cakes, I guess.

I just started a new job in October and decided to bring a treat in for my training group. I made the Cinnamon Crown cake.

Apple Streusel Cake

I told you that I had a few posts up my sleeve! Here is the first, apple streusel cake. In September, if you recall, I went apple picking with my friend Mary. I picked a half bushel of apples. I made 4 pans of apple crisp, crock pot apple sauce (which I used in my next blog post) and then when we were sick of the apple crisp, I made this cake. 

My apologies!

I'm sorry for my absence as of late. I started a new job a month ago and we found out 6 week ago that we're pregnant. I've had all the normal experiences of pregnancy except morning sickness, thankfully. So, with that said, I've been exhausted after 8 hours of training, walking our dog Dougal and making dinner.

I have two recipes to write for you and I will try to do that this week as I have some time off!

Apple crisp.

One of my favorite things about being back home is the season of Autumn. It is another beautiful rainy autumn day here. I know, I know, it sounds odd, but after living in the desert for almost eight years, I'm happy to see the rain. This morning I woke up to the sound of it pouring. What a wonderful sound!

A couple of weeks ago I went apple picking with my dear friend, Mary. It was a rainy day but that didn't stop us from grabbing a red wagon and heading out in to the orchard. I picked a half bushel and arrived home trying to decide what to do with all these baking apples (Cortland). I made slow cooker applesauce (only to find out my husband doesn't like applesauce). I made several apple crisp (because I found out my husband is crazy about apple crisp). Lastly, I made a cake (which will be the next blog post).

Pavlova!

I was watching Barefoot Contessa on Food Network the other day. She was making a mixed berry pavlova and it looked incredible and light. I made it yesterday. One word: divine.