Well and truly back

In my previous (and first) post, I left sayin that I was gonna make some doughnuts...or donuts depending on where you're coming from.

These delicacies turned out to be a complete disaster!! I had a great recipe from my bible "The cook's book" (Edited by Jill Norman, with the collaboration of the famous Pierre Hermé, Ken Hom and Atul Kochhar, just to name a few) and I had all the nice bits and pieces to decorate the sweet treats... But I soon realised that I did not have enough flour and decide to replace it with Corn flour (Maizena) as it normally can be done in small amounts...

I mixed the dought as per the recipe but the result was not as described. Not to be a defetist (or being plain stupid...the line separating both concepts can be quite thin at times), I carried on regardless and finally ended up with an acceptable dough, which I left rest 20 minutes, once again as per the instructions and the cut into nice rings. I tried to fry them...but it just turned into mush...I then decided to bake them...I thought "lost for lost, I might as well try to cook this dought any possible way". And then, Ô miracle! It worked! The biscuits were nice, soft, not too sweet, and not greasy (for all the dought I only used 25g butter and two table spoons of sugar)...nice result with a homemade strawberry jam...

After this tiny victory (I am easily pleased maybe...) I tackled my addiction by making cupcakes to take to my BF Virginie's the following day. She and her boyfriend just bought a lovely lovenest in the centre of Aix en Provence which is in need of updating and renovation and my husband John and I, along with ten other frineds, volunteered to help getting the place cosy and ready to move in. I made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosty top...and even though it was for "builders" I had to add girly decorations...pink and white hearts, coloured pearls...and it went down really well (even if I say so myself!); I used the new "tools" I had for my birthday...silicone cupcake molds, dish, and I did also look for more cupcake recipes from a cookbook I received, also for my quarter of a century celebration.

We are now back home, in Spain, and we are going back into the work routine, which means that, during the week, it is my lovely husband John who cooks for us...I can only satisfy my passion cravings at the week end, when I have enough time to shop for the perfect ingredients, search frantickly for new cook books, utensils or whatever is related to the cooking (and cupcaking...) world!

Tonight is chicken sweet and sour stir fry, one of his signature dish (and one of my favorite...) I owe to share it with you tomorrow!