Baked Lemon Donuts

Posted by: Annie

This is a first for A Bitchin' Kitchen - Donuts!!!

I have always been a huge donut fan - munchkins, creme-filled, frosted - if it's a donut I'm there.

Recently, I purchased a Donut Pan and have been excited ever since to bake one of my favorite breakfast treats. These donuts are light and fluffy and "dressed" with a lemon glaze. Also, because these donuts are baked, and are also packed with lemon zest and Greek yogurt, they are a nice alternative to the dense, chocolate-focused, store-bought donuts I am accustomed to!

What you will need:

For the donuts:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 6-oz container Lemon Greek Yogurt (I used Chobani brand)

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup milk

Zest of one lemon

For the glaze:

Juice of one lemon

1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Prepare Donut Panby spraying with non-stick baking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together egg, yogurt, oil, milk and lemon zest. Gradually add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, while mixing, until just combined. Using a pastry bag, pipe batter into prepared donut pan. Bake 10-15 minutes until a tester inserted into the center of the donut comes out clean. Cool donuts on wire baking rack. 

While donuts are cooling, prepare glaze. Combine lemon juice and powdered sugar, and whisk together. Drizzle glaze over cooled donuts, or dip each donut into the glaze for complete coverage. 

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Source: Barbara Bakes

This post contains affiliate link(s). 

Bourbon Banana Bread with Pecans and Dark Chocolate

Posted by: Maggie

Happy belated Easter! Lent is over! As you may remember, I gave up dessert for Lent, which kind of morphed into me giving up baking in general, including non-dessert items like banana bread.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did slip up once during Lent.

Alright, twice.

OKAY. Four times.

I had really good excuses though. I co-hosted a bridal shower, and couldn't resist a slice of cake. Look at it, could you resist? For those in the DC/Northern Virginia area - it came from Pastries by Randolph, which I highly recommend.

I also had cake on Jeff's birthday and my mom's birthday. I also completely forgot about Lent once halfway through, and had a bag of peanut M&Ms when I was deliriously hungry at a comedy show with Jeff. 

Long story short, I suck, but I made a valiant effort. I really missed baking though, particularly since I bought a copy of Joy the Baker's debut cookbook shortly into Lent. Helloooo, 208 pages of torture. I read the cookbook straight through like a novel, and bookmarked about 75% of the recipes. This recipe particularly stood out to me because I love banana bread, and love bourbon, but never thought to smoosh them together. Unsurprisingly, the results were amahhhzing. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to taste the bourbon in the final product, but it's definitely there. It's not overpowering enough to bother someone who doesn't like bourbon, but the flavor is strong enough for those of us who do enjoy it. 

By the way, like the new look of A Bitchin' Kitchen?! I was getting really annoyed with the standard template we were using before, because our pictures had to be small and/or square to fit properly on the page. I'm super excited that we can post larger, properly-cropped photos now. Thanks, Delicious Design Studio! If you're reading this in an RSS reader, click over to check out our new look! Hope you guys like it!

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3 tablespoons bourbon

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan, or spray it with a cooking spray that contains flour (I tried it for the first time with this recipe and I'm in love. Sooo easy.) Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 3 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, and beat between each addition for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and beat in mashed bananas, lemon juice, and bourbon until fully incorporated. 

Add in the flour mixture all at once, and slowly mix in until just combined. Fold in pecans and chocolate with a rubber spatula. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45-65 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean (don't mistake a banana chunk for raw batter and over-bake it!) 

Cool bread in pan for 25 minutes before inverting on a wire rack to cool completely. 

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Source: adapted from Joy the Baker Cookbook: 100 Simple and Comforting Recipes

Blackened Tilapia

Posted by: Maggie

When I made this recipe Tuesday night, I wasn't entirely sure that I was going to post it. I snapped a quick photo before digging in, and almost immediately regretted that I didn't try harder to get a great picture. It's hard to believe that something so simple could taste so incredibly delicious. 

Tilapia has never been my first choice when it comes to seafood - give me salmon, cod, or shrimp any day. This has made a tilapia lover out of me, and it certainly doesn't hurt that it's far less expensive than salmon!

This is a great weeknight recipe, since it literally takes minutes to prepare. I actually measured out all the seasonings and stuck them in a sandwich bag Monday night, so they were all ready to go when I fixed dinner on Tuesday. Easy-peasy.

Here's what you'll need:

For the blackening seasoning:

3 tablespoons smoked paprika (don't sub regular paprika)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried ground thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

For the fish:

1 pound tilapia fillets
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or another oil with a high smoke point if you can't find it)
Lemon slices

Mix together ingredients for blackening seasoning in a sandwich bag, and shake to thoroughly combine.

Rinse and thoroughly pat dry tilapia. Press a heaping tablespoon of the seasoning over both sides of the fillets, until liberally coated (you will probably have some seasoning left over.) Let the fish to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before cooking.

In a large skillet, heat grapeseed oil over medium-high heat. When the oil barely starts to smoke, add the fish. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Squeeze lemon over each piece of fish, and serve immediately with lots of tartar sauce, extra lemon, and coleslaw!

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Source: Adapted from The Food Network