Christmas Day 2012

So even though it's not technically 2013 yet, I have a few resolutions I'm planning on making when New Years finally hits.

•  Spend more time on crafts, baking, and creating

•  Have vegetables available at all times, which leads to...

•  Incorporate more vegetables into our dinners

•  Venture into cooking more with coconut oil, coconut flour, and other healthy ingredients

•  Try to get at least one day of exercise in a week.  I know this doesn't sound like much, but when
    you don't exercise at all and are in pain every day, anything but sitting around is difficult


Seems simple enough, right?

Oh yeah - and try to post at least once a week on here!  I've had blogs before, but never managed to keep them up to date.  I'd always forget to take pictures of projects or things I'd made.  Lately, I've been trying to get in the habit of photographing everything.

So... that means I have a recipe to share with you.  This is our family tradition of fried dough.  My grandmother used to make fried dough Christmas morning and we would eat it with butter and syrup. It continued on with my mom and now I make it as well.  I recently looked into the origin of it and it seems to be a German thing - my grandmother was German.  They're really called "German fried scones" and are traditionally eaten Christmas morning with butter and honey.  It's not the kind of scone you're probably used to.  It's a yeast-based dough.

My grandmother and mom always used frozen white bread dough they defrosted overnight, but I like to make my own the day before and stick it in the fridge.  I then take it out Christmas morning and let it come to room temp while we open presents. I make mine with a sweet dough base that has eggs, butter, and sugar and then I add something called "Buttery Sweet Dough Emulsion" by Lorann Oils.  It imparts the traditional flavors of a Danish dough - vanilla, butter, and citrus.




Fried Dough
Adapted from Master Sweet Dough

Ingredients:

2/3 C whole milk (I used 3T whole milk powder plus 2/3 C water)
5 T sugar
1 3/4 t instant yeast (I used yeast specifically made for sweet doughs)
2 eggs
2 3/4 C bread flour
1 t salt
1/2 C unsalted butter, softened and cut into small cubes

For serving:

Salted butter
Maple syrup

Directions:

Warm milk in microwave until just lukewarm (or use lukewarm tap water).  In bread machine bowl, combine milk, sugar, eggs, salt, butter, flour, and yeast, in that order (or whatever your bread machine instructions say).  Set to the dough cycle and make sure you check about 5 minutes in to make sure the dough is coming together properly - I needed to add about 3/4 C more flour to mine.

When dough cycle is done and dough has doubled in bulk, you can either proceed with making the fried dough or refrigerate the dough overnight in a greased plastic bag.

To make fried dough, heat oil to 375°.  Tear off small pieces of dough and flatten to about 1/4" thick. When oil is hot, place a few pieces of flattened dough into the oil, taking care not to crowd the pan.  Fry on one side until deep golden brown, then flip and fry other side.  Remove from oil and place on paper towels or brown paper bags to drain.

Top with salted butter and honey or maple syrup.