Cardamom and Tea

za’atar chicken and waffles

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There are so many different ways to fry a chicken. Want to make some chicken parmesan? Simply dredge chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and pan-fry. To make Korean fried chicken, you create an aromatic marinade, dredge the marinated chicken in potato or corn starch, and double fry it. Tempura chicken gets its fluffy-crisp shell from a light and airy batter. And for perfect southern fried chicken, simply marinate chicken pieces in buttermilk, dredge them in seasoned flour, and move them straight into the oil. That’s the technique we’ll be using today for these za’atar chicken and waffles.

If you’ve never tried making the original, I highly recommend trying an excellent classic recipe first. In this recipe, I’ve included za’atar in place of more classic seasonings. And instead of buttermilk, we’ll use Greek yogurt, an ingredient you’ll often find paired with za’atar.

  • chicken and waffles on separate trays
  • chicken and waffles with syrup being poured on

a note on za’atar

Za’atar is often misunderstood. So I highly recommend checking out this post when deciding what kind of za’atar to use for these za’atar chicken and waffles.

The bottom line: za’atar is indeed a blend of wild thyme, sumac, sesame, and a few other ingredients. But “wild thyme” is absolutely not the same thing as French thyme, which is what you’ll usually find in US supermarket spice aisles. So unless you have some za’atar growing in your back yard, I don’t recommend trying to mix your own. If you mix your own za’atar with French thyme and then use it in this recipe, it will have an overpowering flavor and will taste almost perfumey.

A blend of real za’atar should be very mellow and herby, with a lot of zesty flavor and toastiness. You can use it in pretty vast quantities, and not worry about overpowering a dish. For instance, manakish za’atar is coated in a thick slurry of za’atar, and I still find myself licking my finger to pick up any bits that escape onto the plate. It’s hard to have too much of it.

  • a tray of waffles
  • chicken and waffles
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za’atar chicken and waffles

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Ingredients

For the za’atar chicken:

  • 3 to 4 lb [1.4 to 1.8 kg] whole chicken, cut into pieces
  • 1 to 1½ tsp [5.5 to 8 g] salt
  • ½ cup [120 g] Greek yogurt
  • 1 large egg [50 g]
  • ½ cup [45 g] za’atar*
  • 1¼ cups [165 g] flour, for dredging
  • 10 waffles (see recipe below)
  • Maple syrup, for serving

For the waffles:

  • 2 cups [260 g] all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp [9 g] baking powder
  • 1 tsp [5.5 g] salt
  • ⅛ tsp [0.5 g] baking soda
  • 1 cup [240 g] milk
  • ½ cup [120 g] Greek yogurt
  • 2 large eggs [100 g]
  • 7 tablespoons [100 g] butter, melted
  • ¼ cup [50 g] granulated sugar
  • Cooking spray (optional)

Instructions

Make the chicken:

Make the waffles:

Notes

* For this recipe, absolutely make sure you use real za’atar, and do not make your own blend with French time.

** If you’re a really good multitasker, you can make the waffles at the same time as frying the chicken. Get all your wet and dry ingredients ready, and heat up your waffle iron, and then mix the batter together at the last moment once the chicken goes in the fryer. If you’re not such a great multitasker, just make the waffles before you fry, and it’ll be just fine. They get super crispy in the toaster, and it all works out.

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Lebanese warak enab

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These Lebanese Warak enab are absolutely for meat lovers. Lamb chops line the bottom of the pot, shielding the grape leaves from scorching, while also becoming super tender. The stuffing is flavored subtly with a little bit of seven-spice blend. But most of the flavor comes from the tangy grape leaves and lamb. They’re so simple, yet so incredibly flavorful.

  • raw lamb chops on butcher paper
  • warak enab in process

A world of grape leaves

There are lots of different kinds of stuffed grape leaves out there. Even within one country, you’ll find a ton of variation from region to region and family to family. Here are a few others to keep an eye out for:

  • I grew up with Assyrian stuffed grape leaves (prakhe), which my family makes with a ton of parsley, dill, and cilantro. We often made ours vegetarian with mushrooms and walnuts.
  • Syrian grape leaves (yabraq) are a little sweet and sour, like my friend Tony’s recipe, which has a ton of meltingly-tender whole garlic cloves.
  • There’s a lot of regional variation within Palestinian grape leaves (warak dawali), and my friend Abeer’s recipe is flavored with lots of different vegetables on the bottom of the pot. Her recipe’s stuffing is also super flavorful, with seven spice and parsley.
  • Persian grape leaves (dolmeh barg) are super fragrantly flavored and often folded into perfect pentagons.

All just to say, there is a ton of variety out there! These were just a few highlights, and there are about two dozen other regional variations I could’ve added to this list.

But in this post I’m focusing on meat-stuffed Lebanese warak enab. And while recipes absolutely vary from family to family, here are a few generalizations that often hold true:

  • warak enab rolled in a pile
  • warak enab in a pot

What sets Lebanese warak enab apart

It’s hard to make generalizations, because recipes really do vary from person to person. There is no one right way to make warak enab. But from conversations with Lebanese friends, and from reading lots of other recipes, here are some things you can probably count on:

1) Delicately thin rolls

In my experience, Lebanese grape leaves are usually rolled into elegantly thin wands. This shape works great with a more meat-heavy filling, since it’s easy to shape the meat into a long line before rolling it up. If you can’t get them quite as thin as you’d like, no worries—they’ll still turn out great. Above all, just make sure you don’t over-stuff them.

2) Very simple, hearty flavors

Vegetarian grape leaves are a whole other story. But meaty warak enab are not usually flavored with a ton of spices or herbs. It’s usually more about the flavor of the lamb/beef, lemon, and grape leaves.

3) A nice amount of olive oil

You’ll usually find a decent amount of olive oil in most recipes, both in the filling and in the simmering liquid. It makes them super rich, but not heavy. I learned this particular secret from chef Maria Bizri.

  • warak enab in a pot
  • warak enab on a tray

A few important recipe notes

Here are a few extra-helpful tips, which will be especially useful if you’re making grape leaves for the first time. They’re all woven into the following recipe, but I thought I’d give a little more context here.

1) Make sure you blanch your grape leaves if they’re from a jar or vacuum-sealed bag.

I’ve included blanching instructions in the recipe below, so just make sure you don’t skip that step. It is 100% mandatory if you want to end up with edible grape leaves.

Reasons why you need to submerge them in hot water: 1) You need to rinse off the excess brine from the leaves. But just rinsing them under running water is not enough to get in between each leaf. You actually need to submerge them and swish them around. 2) The brine is sometimes a bit oily, so the hot water keeps the brine from clinging to the leaves.

2) Use your own judgment about how much salt to add.

Even after rinsing your brined leaves, they’re still going to be quite acidic and salty. Taste them to get a sense of what you’re working with. Then decide how much salt to add to the simmering liquid and meat.

3) The dull, veiny side of the leaf should face the stuffing (the shiny, smooth side should face out).

You can achieve this by placing the dull, veiny side face-up before placing the stuffing on the leaf.

There’s no real practical reason to go shiny-side-out, so feel free to interpret this step as optional. But if you want your grape leaves to look authentic, you’ll want to follow this instruction. They just don’t look quite as appetizing with their dull, veiny sides showing. I also have a suspicion that they hold together better this way, but haven’t actually tested this hypothesis.

One caveat: If you plan to bring a pot over to an auntie’s house, this step becomes 100% mandatory.

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warak enab

warak enab on a tray
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  • Yield: serves 8 to 10

Ingredients

  • About 125–150 grape leaves, jarred or vacuum sealed (about 600g after draining)
  • ½ tsp neutral oil
  • 7 to 10 small lamb chops (450-650g)
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 pounds ground lamb (905g)
  • 1 1/2 cups uncooked medium grain rice, rinsed (300g)
  • 2 teaspoons Lebanese baharat (3g)
  • 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (80g), divided in half
  • 2 cups stock or water (480g)
  • 2/3 cup lemon juice (160g)

Instructions

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Chicago deep dish pizza with spinach

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I grew up in Chicago, so I consider myself a deep dish pizza expert. And as far as I’m concerned, Chicago deep dish pizza is all about the crust. Giordano’s has a super flaky biscuity crust. Pequod’s has extra-caramelized bits of frico around the edges. And Lou Malnati’s (my favorite!) has a buttery, deeply flavorful cornmeal crust.

Until recently, I was only an expert in eating deep dish pizza, but I tried recreating that iconic Lou Malnati crust, and I finally cracked the code. It took me a long time to get there, but last week I had a major revelation that I probably could’ve gleaned from a cheesy corporate motivational poster: Many paths lead to the same destination.

(Oh! And: adding beer makes most things taste even better.)

How I cracked the code:

What I tried first:

I watched every video of cooks making pizza at Lou’s. I read every interview with their owner. I read every article speculating about how they make their iconic cornmeal crust. Over the years, I tried one or two copy-cat recipes. I tried tinkering with my own recipe, closely following what I had learned. But nothing tasted like the Lou’s I knew.

Then I decided to go a completely different route:

I took everything I knew about the final product, and backwards engineered it, paying less attention to the way it’s supposed to be made.

My ingredients and method weren’t in line with the real deal, but the results were weirdly even more Lou-ish than recipes that stick closely to the original.

So, no—this is not exactly how Lou Malnati’s actually makes their pizza. But here are the main things you can do to end up with a crust (and pizza!) that’s uncannily similar:

How to make very good deep dish pizza:

  1. Add beer! Lou Malnati’s does not actually add beer to their crust (as far as I can tell). But their crust has always reminded me of beer bread. Adding beer gives it that characteristic flavor that’s simultaneously a little bitter and a little tart (sort of like sourdough bread). Lou Malnati’s achieves that flavor with some combination of good quality yeast and a very long rise time. However, I have not been able to achieve the same results that way. But I have discovered that beer gets you to something very similar!
  2. Use olive oil. Ok, now this one’s a hot take. The Lou Malnati crust is known as Buttercrust™, so the idea of using something else is a little out there. But I’ve noticed that olive oil dough sometimes tastes even more buttery than dough made with butter, if that makes any sense. So I use a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil in mine.
  3. Go parmesan crazy! While a Chicago deep dish pizza without a heap of parmesan or romano on top is wonderfully bright red, it’s so much tastier with a generous amount of sharp cheese on top. Lou Malnati’s goes this route, and I do too.
  4. Bake it on the floor of the oven. Here, I’m following tradition. By cooking it on the floor of the oven, the bottom of the crust will cook up super crisp.
  5. Use some cornmeal in the dough, but make it a wet dough. Cornmeal does not absorb water as readily as flour, so your raw dough should be a little on the soft side. As it bakes, the cornmeal will absorb some of that liquid and it will firm up without becoming dry. Follow the gram measurements in the following recipe for maximum accuracy and you won’t even have to think about it, but if you’re eyeballing it with volume, keep in mind that it should not be a very firm dough, and that it will firm up as it bakes.
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Chicago deep dish pizza with spinach

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 175g beer* (¾ cup, or half a bottle), at room temperature
  • 5g instant yeast (1½ teaspoons)
  • 5g sugar (1 teaspoon)
  • 260g all purpose flour (2 cups)
  • 30g polenta or cornmeal (3 tablespoons)
  • 25g extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons), plus more for greasing the pan
  • 5.5g salt (1 teaspoon)

For the pizza:

  • 8 oz shredded or sliced mozzarella (225g)
  • 8 oz container frozen spinach (225g)
  • 3 medium cloves garlic (10g)
  • 1 small bunch basil (25g leaves)**
  • Salt
  • 1 cup tomato sauce (240g)
  • ½ cup finely grated Parmesan or pecorino (25g)

Instructions

Notes

To make the dough overnight, just let it rise at room temperature for 2 hours, and then refrigerate for up to 24 hours. After dough has risen (either at room temperature or in the refrigerator), you can tightly wrap it and freeze it for a few months. Thaw in the refrigerator to use.

* In place of the beer: Measure 10g (2 tsp) apple cider vinegar. Top off with 165g water (to end up with ¾ cup liquid total).

** Can substitute 1 tablespoon (3g) dried basil.

*** If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, use another similar sized ovenproof skillet or pan. Depending on your pan, pizza might get more or less crispy on the bottom, and it might take more or less time to cook.

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creamy rice pudding

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Rice pudding is too often a stodgy blob. Typically, it bubbles away until it’s the consistency of peanut butter, then you plonk it into a bowl, and it immediately sets up like concrete. But lucky for us, it’s super easy to make perfectly silky, creamy rice pudding instead.

This particular recipe has the consistency of a lovely custard or pastry cream. Pour it into cute little bowls, top it with all your favorites, and enjoy hot or chilled.

There are two secrets to this recipe’s deliciousness:

1) make it creamy by using enough liquid, and

2) make it al dente by adding the rice in two stages.

how to make your rice pudding creamy

The secret to perfectly creamy rice pudding? Use enough liquid!

My recipe uses almost twice as much liquid as your average rice pudding recipe. It might seem like way too much when you first throw it together. But after a long simmer, the rice absorbs a ton of liquid, and also gives off a ton of starch. That starch thickens the liquid it’s cooking in, and it all ends up being the perfect amount.

how to make it al dente

Creaminess is all well and good, but to keep it from turning out mushy (or worse, totally runny!), I add the rice in two stages.

Here’s why that works:

The first addition of rice cooks for-absolute-ever, until it starts to break down and thicken the liquid. You’ll notice slightly bigger bubbles in the milk, and the whole thing will take on an almost creme-anglaise-like consistency. *

You add the second addition of rice once the first addition has done its job. The first batch thickened the liquid, but the second batch only needs to cook until it’s al dente. That way you’ll have some chewier grains in the mix. As these rice grains cook, they give off even more starch, and the liquid thickens further.

And voilà! You’re left with a perfect pot of pudding!

* Note: You could actually stop adding rice after the first addition, let it simmer for a while longer, and serve it as a more Middle Eastern style rice pudding (extremely silky smooth, and not super set).

rice pudding toppings

The recipe below includes 5 ideas of toppings for your rice pudding. But feel free to get creative, or even enjoy it plain on its own. You can’t really go wrong!

The 5 described at the end of the recipe below are:

  • Rose pistachio
  • Cinnamon walnut
  • Strawberry sumac
  • Thai mango sticky rice
  • Vanilla biscoff

Enjoy the recipe, and don’t miss my post on creamy oatmeal. Because apparently it’s my mission in life to get people to add more liquid to their puddings and porridges.

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creamy rice pudding

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Author: Kathryn Pauline
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 cup [200g] medium grain rice, split into ¾ cup [150g] and ¼ cup [50g]
  • 8 cups [1920g] milk of choice
  • ⅓ cup [65 g] sugar*
  • 1 pinch salt
  • Flavorings and/or toppings (see note)

Instructions

  1. Combine ¾ cup rice, milk, sugar, and salt in a large dutch oven or small stock pot.** Bring to a low boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes, until the rice is starting to fall apart. Stir occasionally as it simmers.
  2. Add the remaining ¼ cup of rice, and simmer for another 20 minutes, unti that rice is cooked through but still holding its shape, and the liquid has thickened significantly. Stir a little more frequently for these last 20 minutes, scraping the bottom often. If/when it develops a skin, feel free to lift it away with a fork, or just stir it back in.
  3. It should be a pourable consistency, but not runny. It will set a little more once you pour it into bowls. Stir in any flavorings off the heat (if using), pour into individual servings, and sprinkle on toppings (if using).

Notes

* A quick note on sugar: I don’t like my rice pudding to be super sweet, so I only add 1/3 cup of sugar. It has a lot of natural sweetness from the milk and rice starches. But if you prefer a sweeter pudding (especially if you won’t be topping it with something sweet), feel free to increase this amount, to taste.

** If you use a very wide pot, you may need to top it off with a little more water as the second rice addition cooks (because more water will evaporate). Keep an eye on it, and if it starts to look too dry, feel free to add a few tablespoons of water at a time. On the other hand if it is too thin (perhaps because your pot is very narrow), feel free to cook it a bit longer to reduce down further.

Toppings and flavorings:

  • Levantine rice pudding: Stir into the pot rosewater or orange blossom water (to taste—add it 1 teaspoon at a time, and taste as you go). Sprinkle bowls with some bright green ground pistachios and/or edible dried rose petals.
  • Cinnamon walnut: Sprinkle bowls with a mixture of chopped walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon
  • Strawberry sumac: See this oatmeal post and top bowls with macerated strawberries (sumac optional)
  • Thai mango sticky rice: Optionally make your rice pudding with “coconut beverage” (not the kind of coconut milk from a can, but the kind from a carton), top bowls with sliced mango and sesame seeds.
  • Vanilla biscoff: Stir in a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, top bowls with biscoff crumbles.

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tomato basil soup with butter corn

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My favorite ramen is hands-down butter corn miso ramen. I love it so much that even when I order something else, I’ll often order extra butter corn as an add-on. We lived across the street from an Ippudo when we lived in Hong Kong, and I think I’ve tried (some might say ruined) everything on their menu by tacking on butter corn from their menu’s extras. And I don’t stop at ramen—I now add butter corn to pretty much any soup I make at home. It’s got a sweet crunch and silky beads of butter, and it’s just the best topping ever. And in late summer, butter corn is very at home atop a bowl of tomato basil soup.

tomato basil soup ingredient substitutions

I developed this recipe using canned tomatoes, but you can absolutely make it with a similar amount of fresh, especially if you’ve got a ton growing in your garden. Use about 6 or 7 medium tomatoes [1kg]. First halve your tomatoes, coat in a thin layer of olive oil, sprinkle with a little salt, and roast your fresh tomatoes cut-side-up at 350°F [180°C] for about 45 minutes, just until they soften and caramelize very slightly. Don’t let them fully dehydrate—you just want a little flavor concentration. Roasting adds a caramelized quality that you wouldn’t get with fresh or sautéed. If your fresh tomatoes are a little on the sad side, you can add 2 to 3 tablespoons [30 to 45g] tomato paste to liven them up.

You can also get away with using dried basil, though the flavor will be different. Substitute 1 tablespoon [3g] dried basil in place of fresh, and add it along with the stock so it hydrates and melds with the other flavors.

Also feel free to use frozen corn instead of fresh. It’ll just take an extra minute or two to sauté if you go straight from frozen. But whether frozen or fresh, tomato corn soup is better than just tomato soup.

Also feel free to cut back on the cream if you’d like, but keep in mind that a little cream goes a very long way in making tomato basil soup delicious. It comes out to slightly more than 1 tablespoon per serving, and makes all the difference. So feel cut back if you must. But don’t forget to live a little! It’s August—time to enjoy that glorious combination of butter fat and late summer veggies.

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tomato basil soup with butter corn

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Ingredients

For the tomato basil soup:

  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium onion [180g], sliced
  • Salt
  • 28 oz [800g] can whole tomatoes with their juices (see note above recipe to use fresh)
  • 1 quart [940g] vegetable stock
  • 3 medium garlic cloves, crushed through a press [10 g]
  • ½ tsp [1.5g] freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ cup [120g] heavy cream
  • Leaves from 1 medium bunch basil [40g leaves] (see note above recipe to use dried)

For the butter corn topping:

  • 4 Tbsp [55g] butter
  • 1 cup [50 g] thinly sliced green onion
  • 1½ cup [210g] corn kernels
  • Salt
  • More basil, for topping (optional)

Instructions

  1. Place a stock pot or dutch oven over medium heat and let it heat for a few minutes. Once hot, add the olive oil, onion, and a pinch of salt. Cook stirring occasionally until the onions soften a little (about 5 minutes).
  2. Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, and pepper, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium or medium-low to maintain a simmer. Simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes, just until the flavors meld a bit.
  3. Add the cream and basil, then blend with a high-power or immersion blender until completely smooth. If you use a blender, learn to do it properly so the top doesn’t pop off. 
  4. Make the butter corn topping: place the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the green onion and cook for about 1 minute, just until they soften a little. Once the butter melts, add the corn and a pinch of salt and continue cooking until everything is warmed through and slightly more golden, about 2 more minutes.
  5. Serve each bowl with a little spoonful of butter corn and a few basil leaves (if using).

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sabzi khordan chopped salad

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This sabzi khordan chopped salad could probably just be called “sabzi khordan,” full stop. I mean, sabzi khordan is simply a platter with lots of herbs, sometimes with cheese. But whenever I make it for guests who aren’t super familiar with Middle Eastern food, I tend to do an awkward amount of arm-twisting to convince them that they absolutely must pile their flatbread high with a mountain of cilantro and basil. So I decided that this salad might be a more gracious way of letting guests know that there’s no such thing as too many herbs.

My favorite salads always pile on the herbs with reckless abandon, and this one is no exception. Indeed, it is pretty much just a big mountain of herbs, dressed with a perfectly tangy and rich dressing. You can absolutely feel free to include some of your other favorites—throw in whatever you’ve got on hand. Dill, mint, and tarragon all work wonderfully here in smaller quantities. If you can’t stand cilantro, you can also just add more parsley and basil to compensate. It’s super adaptable, but the idea is always the same: 1/3 herbs, 2/3 lettuce, and lots of good stuff on top.

A few quick notes: The only herbs to stay away from here are the woody/perfumey kinds like thyme, rosemary, oregano, and sage. While you can get away with using as much basil as you’d like, their more intensely fragrant flavors work better in small doses. And don’t miss the note below the recipe on making this ahead. It includes a link to learn to properly store herbs so they’ll last in the fridge.

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sabzi khordan chopped salad

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  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

For the salad:

  • Outer leaves from 1 medium head romaine [225g leaves], coarsely chopped
  • 1 small bunch watercress [40g], torn
  • Leaves and tender stems from 1 small bunch cilantro [40g leaves]
  • Leaves from 1 very small bunch parsley [20g leaves]
  • Leaves from 1 very small bunch basil [20g leaves]
  • 1 very small bunch chives [20g], coarsely chopped
  • 1 large green onion [20g], thinly sliced
  • 4 or 5 radishes, thinly sliced [60g]
  • 6 small tomatoes [175g]
  • ⅔ cup crumbled feta [90g] (omit or replace with vegan feta to make vegan)
  • ½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts [50g]

For the dressing:

  • ¼ cup [55g] extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons [15g] honey
  • 1 tablespoon [15g] red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon [15g] water
  • 1 teaspoon [5g] dijon mustard
  • 1 medium clove garlic, crushed through a press
  • ½ teaspoon [3g] salt

Instructions

Notes

Tips for storage: Store your herbs properly for a long shelf life—basil and chives will last for a few days, parsley and cilantro will last for more like a week or two. You can also store greens this way, which will last for about 3 to 7 days. Whole romaine leaves will last longer—if their stems oxidize a little, just trim the brown bit away.

If you want to make this salad ahead of guests, store the lettuce and herbs in one container, the toppings in another, and the dressing in another. Dress the lettuce at herbs at the last moment, then top with the rest of the toppings, and drizzle with more dressing.

If you don’t want to eat the whole salad at once, store the lettuce/herbs in one container, toppings in another, and dressing in another, and assemble smaller portions as needed.

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donuts 6 ways (+ a recipe to create your own donut)

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Donut week is coming to a close! But today I’m leaving you with a guide to creating a custom old fashioned cake donut. Get creative with your favorite flavors and mix-ins, and don’t forget to decorate them so that it’s clear what’s inside. The 6 I posted this week are a few of my favorites, but there are so many possibilities:

Try substituting raspberries in my blueberry icing, then make the recipe below with a handful of chocolate chips added to the dry ingredients, and a little bit of almond extract added to the wet ingredients. Or make my cinnamon sugar donuts, but add some lemon and orange zest to the wet ingredients and even more to the cinnamon sugar. The sky’s the limit—get creative, and have fun!

  • 6 colorful donuts photographed from above
  • 6 colorful donuts photographed from the side

Here’s a quick list of the 6 recipes I posted this week, in case you want to borrow a glaze or some inspiration for your own creation:

  1. Lemon poppy seed donuts
  2. Funfetti cake donuts
  3. Persian love cake donuts
  4. Cinnamon sugar donuts
  5. Blueberry cake donuts
  6. Old fashioned donuts (plain or with powdered sugar)
  • 6 colorful donuts photographed from above
  • 6 colorful donuts photographed from above
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create your own cake donut

6 colorful donuts photographed from above
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  • Yield: about 8 to 10 donuts

Ingredients

  • Neutral high smoke point oil, for deep frying (e.g., canola)
  • 250g all purpose flour (2 cups), plus more for dusting
  • Dry ingredient flavorings*, to taste (e.g., spices like cinnamon, cardamom, etc.)
  • 4g salt (¾ teaspoon)
  • 9g baking powder (2 teaspoons)
  • Dry mix-ins, to taste (optional, e.g. chocolate chips, chopped nuts, etc.)
  • 45g melted butter (3 tablespoons), cooled slightly
  • 100g sugar (½ cup)
  • 50g egg (1 large) at room temperature
  • 120g plain unstrained yogurt (½ cup) at room temperature
  • Wet ingredient flavorings*, to taste (e.g., extracts like vanilla or almond, flower waters, or citrus zest)
  • Optional: glazes and/or decorations (see the 6 examples linked to above this recipe for recipes and inspiration)

Instructions

Notes

* You don’t need to use both dry and wet ingredient flavorings, but you should at least use one or the other.

** Do not knead the dough or incorporate the flour into it, or it will turn out dry—just pat it into shape.

*** To get a really good re-roll out of the scraps, try not to let any flour touch the freshly stamped edges, and compress them together so the bare edges mush together with other bare edges. Try not to introduce a lot of new flour. Feel free to fry the donut holes, or re-roll them with the scraps (if you fry them, they will take about 30 seconds less per side).

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old fashioned donuts

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Australia really knows how to do donuts… or I should say doughnuts, as they’re spelled here. While I haven’t yet been to my first footy match, I did walk by the roaring stadium late one night, and passed by all the food stands outside. I waited in line to get a jam-filled sugar-rolled doughnut, and it was so good. Those light and chewy yeast-risen donuts were wonderful, but they made me miss one of my favorite things: plain old fashioned donuts.

While cakey donuts totally exist here, I’ve had a hard time tracking down the nutmeg variety. But that hasn’t stopped me from making them! So I developed a recipe for my ideal plain old fashioned donuts, and have been enjoying them with many cups of coffee.

reasons I love these old fashioned donuts

1. They’re not too sweet.

These donuts are just sweet enough, but not so sweet that your coffee will taste like you added a spoonful of sugar after dunking. If you’ve got a bit more of a sweet-coffee tooth, you can absolutely sprinkle on some powdered sugar if you’d like to. I, however, will go for one of the un-sprinkled ones at the bottom of the pile. But it’s entirely a matter of preference, and they’re truly wonderful either way.

2. You can make them without a donut pan!

Deep fried donuts are wonderful for a couple reasons. First, it means you don’t need to own a donut pan! I can’t stand having specialty equipment around, so that makes me very happy. Anyone with a container of canola oil and a heavy pan can deep fry, and I love that minimalist spirit.

3. They have a very authentic donut shop flavor.

But deep frying isn’t just great because of its ease. Fried donuts also taste absolutely incredible (and it’s not like any donut is going to win an award for healthiest snack—even the baked variety). Nothing else gets you that authentic donut shop flavor.

4. They feature ingredients you probably already have at home.

Old fashioned donuts are traditionally made with sour cream or buttermilk. But this recipe uses plain yogurt. Buttermilk is one of my all-time favorite ingredients, but nothing beats yogurt’s convenience. And these still turn out deliciously.

By the way, this is my last donut post in my donut series! Tomorrow, I’ll be posting a roundup of all 6, with a few ideas of making your own variation. In the meantime, put the kettle on, and enjoy this recipe + the other 5.

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old fashioned donuts

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Yield: about 8 to 10 donuts

Ingredients

  • Neutral high smoke point oil, for deep frying (e.g., canola)
  • 250g all purpose flour (2 cups), plus more for dusting
  • 1g (½ teaspoon) ground nutmeg
  • 4g salt (¾ teaspoon)
  • 9g baking powder (2 teaspoons)
  • 45g melted butter (3 tablespoons), cooled slightly
  • 100g sugar (½ cup)
  • 50g egg (1 large) at room temperature
  • 120g plain unstrained yogurt (½ cup) at room temperature
  • Powdered sugar (100% optional)

Instructions

Notes

* Do not knead the dough or incorporate the flour into it, or it will turn out dry—just pat it into shape.

** To get a really good re-roll out of the scraps, try not to let any flour touch the freshly stamped edges, and compress them together so the bare edges mush together with other bare edges. Try not to introduce a lot of new flour. Feel free to fry the donut holes, or re-roll them with the scraps (if you fry them, they will take about 30 seconds less per side).

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blueberry cake donuts

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These blueberry cake donuts are studded with berries and topped with a bright purple glaze. While you can whip up this glaze in a food processor, I like to make it by mashing blueberries and powdered sugar with the back of a fork. It’s so much easier, and I love the way the whole blueberry pieces look.

You can usually tell exactly how a donut is flavored by the way it is decorated. As with gelato and cupcakes, donuts like to announce themselves. So I like how completely unambiguously *blueberry* these ones are. There’s no question where the glaze gets its color and flavor. Feel free to add a little lemon zest if you’re looking for something just a little different, or make the recipe as-is. It’s wonderful either way!

  • a blueberry old fashioned donut photographed from above
  • a blueberry old fashioned donut photographed from the side
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blueberry cake donuts

a blueberry old fashioned donut photographed from above
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  • Yield: about 8 to 10 donuts

Ingredients

For the donuts:

  • Neutral high smoke point oil, for deep frying (e.g., canola)
  • 250g all purpose flour (2 cups), plus more for dusting
  • 4g salt (¾ teaspoon)
  • 9g baking powder (2 teaspoons)
  • 75g (½ cup) blueberries (fresh or frozen)
  • 45g melted butter (3 tablespoons), cooled slightly
  • 100g sugar (½ cup)
  • 50g egg (1 large) at room temperature
  • 120g plain unstrained yogurt (½ cup) at room temperature

For the glaze:

  • 35g (¼ cup) blueberries
  • 125g powdered sugar (1 cup)

Instructions

  1. Set up a safe fry station on your stove or a dedicated deep-fryer. Make sure it cannot be knocked over. Set over medium-low heat so it can heat gradually while you prep the donuts, and set up a deep fry thermometer. Keep a close eye on it, and aim for it to reach 350°F [180°C] by the time you’re ready to fry. If it heats too quickly, reduce the heat to low or turn off for a few moments until you’re ready.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Whisk or sift together until completely lump free.
  3. If using fresh blueberries, make sure they’re completely dry. If using frozen, make sure not to thaw them first. Add your blueberries into the dry ingredients and toss around until coated in flour.
  4. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, egg, and yogurt. Whisk together until completely smooth.
  5. Scrape the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then fold together just until combined (do not overmix).
  6. Dust a clean counter with more flour, then scrape the dough onto the dusted counter. Sprinkle on a little more flour, then gently pat it into an oval.* Take care to make sure it’s well dusted both underneath and on top. Roll it out to ½-inch thick, redusting above and below to keep it from sticking as you work.
  7. Stamp out as many donuts as you can using a donut stamp or set of pastry rings. Collect the scraps**, re-roll, and stamp out more donuts.
  8. Once the oil has heated, fry the donuts. They should take about 2 minutes per side at 350°F [180°C], and should be deeply brown (but not burnt) and cooked through. Remove to a paper-towel-lined plate or cooling-rack-lined sheet pan to cool.
  9. Make the glaze: combine the blueberries and powdered sugar in a small mixing bowl. Mash the blueberries on the side of the bowl until they fall apart and form a purple icing. Drizzle over the donuts.

Notes

* Do not knead the dough or incorporate the flour into it, or it will turn out dry—just pat it into shape.

** To get a really good re-roll out of the scraps, try not to let any flour touch the freshly stamped edges, and compress them together so the bare edges mush together with other bare edges. Try not to introduce a lot of new flour. Feel free to fry the donut holes, or re-roll them with the scraps (if you fry them, they will take about 30 seconds less per side).

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