Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

Okay, so we really like cinnamony-sugary-sweet things. And by we, we mean Erica. So when we (actually we, not Erica-we) stumbled across an easy recipe to make homemade cinnamon sugar donuts (or doughnuts if you prefer), we knew we had to try them out! And when better than for our first Easter brunch together?

These came together so quickly and it’s actually pretty likely that you already have everything on hand that you need. And if not, you can buy a can of biscuits seriously anywhere (I’m positive the Rite Aid on our campus would have them). They would be great if you’re having friends over or if your parents are visiting for the weekend and you want to cook up something for the morning!  If you want icing instead of the sugar, here is a yummy, but simple one!

Oh, and if anyone is in Pittsburgh this Saturday, stop by Pitt Ballet Club’s variety production featuring Alice in Wonderland at 1pm and 5pm in Bellefield Hall! (Sorry, had to pitch it! :))

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You’ll never buy them again!

• Servings – However many biscuits your can makes
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Cook time – 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 can biscuits
• 1 cup sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons cinnamon
• 3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons), melted
• Vegetable oil for frying

Protocol

1. Pour enough oil into your pan to make it just less than 1/2 inch deep. Turn on the heat to medium-high heat to let the oil heat up.

2. Take your biscuits out of the can and separate them. Does opening these cans scare anyone else, too?? Put your melted butter in one bowl and mix your cinnamon and sugar in another.

3. Using a small round cookie cutter or plastic bottle cap (don’t judge us for using a wine bottle cap), cut out the center of each biscuit. Keep the holes though – of course you’re going to fry those up, too!

4.  To test if the oil is hot enough, add a single hole to the pan and it should sizzle and bubble around the edges. The hole should turn nice and golden-brown within a minute or so if the oil is hot enough.

5. Carefully add the donuts to the hot oil (ours fit in one pan). They fry up fast so the first one should be close to flipping by the time you add the last donut. You want to flip them once they turn pretty and golden-brown.

6. Once all the donuts are flipped, the first should be about done. Remove them all to a plate as they finish browning. Fry up the holes now!

7. Once everything is fried, dip one at a time in the melted butter, then in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

8. Serve and enjoy!

-D&E

Gnocchi in a Browned Butter Sage Sauce

Need dinner in fifteen minutes? Need to impress someone? Just want something different than the pasta and marinara you make all the time? This recipe is awesomely yummy and can be finished in no time at all! Browned butter is nutty and complements the gnocchi well.

We love sage, but any dried herb would do well here – whatever you have on hand. If you don’t have dried sage but aren’t sure if it’s worth buying, it is delicious on any kind of chicken or pork! If you’re like us and love gnocchi too, try our other recipe – Sweet Creamy Gnocchi.

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How can something this tasty take 15 minutes to make?

• Servings – 2 large
• Prep time – None
• Cook time – 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb gnocchi (tri-colored look extra pretty!)
• 6 tablespoons butter (3/4 stick)
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• Sprinkle of salt and pepper

Protocol

1. Place a large pot of water over high heat to boil.

2. Melt the butter (it goes faster if it’s sliced) over medium heat.  Keep stirring the butter over the heat as it goes through three stages – melted and kind of foamy, no more foam, and finally turning golden brown in color. It’s important that you keep an eye on it so it doesn’t overcook! It goes from brown to black quickly.

3. As soon as you see the golden brown color, remove from heat and pour into a bowl to stop the cooking process. Stir in your teaspoon of sage.

4. By now the the water should be boiling, so add your gnocchi to the pot. Cook according to the instructions on the packaging; most gnocchi take 2-3 minutes to cook.

5. Drain the gnocchi and return to the pot.  Add your butter and sage sauce and taste.  Add any salt and pepper (if you used salted butter you most likely won’t need any additional salt).

6. Serve and enjoy!

-D&E

Mini Ham and Cheese Quinoa Cups

Well the election is finally over, at least we do not have to listen to any more political ads! But Tuesday had even better news for us – Declan was offered a full time position at the company he has been interning with for the past two years! He will be starting in January once we return from our honeymoon. We aren’t sure yet if we are allowed to disclose where he will be working but we will give you three hints:

• They are headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA
• They make really good ketchup
• 57

Good luck solving that! We celebrated Tuesday evening by going out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, the Union Grill here in Oakland. Overall, we are just so grateful to know that we will have a steady income  soon.

So we made this recipe awhile back when we had dinner at a friend’s house.  They were really simple to make and turned out very well!  They’re a great appetizer and easy to travel with because they can be served warm or cold!  But we definitely have to credit where we got the recipe – thank you Kristin from Iowa Girl Eats!

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Don’t be intimidated by this recipe; it’s super easy! We also made some without ham for our vegetarian friends!

• Servings – about 30 mini cups
• Prep time – 10 minutes
• Bake time – 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked quinoa (3/4 cup uncooked – we cooked ours in the microwave while we were prepping everything else!)
• 2 eggs PLUS 2 egg whites
• 1 small zucchini, shredded
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup diced ham
• 1/4 fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• pinch of salt and pepper (I think we used seasoned salt and a dash of garlic powder, too!)

Protocol

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. To separate your egg whites, carefully crack your egg in two pieces.  Over a bowl, gently pour the yolk between the two pieces of shell, letting the white fall into the bowl and keeping the yolk intact. (Use this website for recipes to use up the extra two yolks!)

3. Shred your zucchini using a grater.

4. Combine all your ingredients into a large bowl and mix to combine.

5. Spoon the mixture into a well-greased mini muffin pan so each cup is full.

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.  Let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from the pan.

7. Serve and enjoy! These little cups refrigerate and freeze well, but good luck not eating them all!

-D&E

Dad’s Homemade Noodles

Erica here! I’ve been home in Maryland this past week getting together some wedding stuff and I’ve gotten a few chances to cook for my family. This recipe was my favorite meal growing up and I always asked my dad to make it for me. I asked him how to make it and he gave me a rough outline, but I had to figure out the rest on my own!  It turned out really well so I wanted to share it with everyone.  You could also easily make this a meatless meal by using veggie stock and a different “cream of” soup!

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Reminds me of home 🙂

• Servings – 5-6 (you can easily halve this recipe!)
• Prep time – 30 minutes
• Cook time – 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• Salt and pepper
• Water
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 can cream of chicken soup

Protocol

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 cup water with your hands. Slowly add more water (no more than 1/4 more or 1/2 cup total) a teaspoon or so at a time until the dough comes together. It will take some time kneading to make sure the dough is completely combined. If you add too much water, you can always sprinkle a little more flour to even it out.

2. Split the dough in half and roll each half into a log about 2″ thick. Place the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes.

3. While the dough is in the fridge, you can either wait or fix your “extras” to the soup. Cook up a chicken breast or two, some veggies, or whatever else you want to add and place aside. This time I just used two chicken thighs that we had on hand. I cooked them in a large saucepan and removed them before the next step.

4. In a large saucepan (the same one you used in step 3 if you added any extras), add the 4 cups of chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, and the can’s worth of water. Place on medium heat and bring to a simmer.

5. Meanwhile, take the dough out of the fridge and cut each log into quarters. Roll each out on a generously floured surface until about 1/8″ thick. Cut into 1/2″ strips and place aside. Repeat until you have all your noodles.

6. Once the broth is simmering, carefully add the noodles a handful at a time until they are all in the pan. If there is not enough liquid, add some more water or chicken broth so all the noodles stay submerged. Cook the noodles for about 15 minutes or until no longer doughy. Add back in any extras and salt and pepper and heat until everything is warm.

7. Serve and enjoy!

-E

Give-Away Contest – Final Chance to Win

Alright, we know we have been hounding you with this contest this month. But we are doing it out of love because our readers are awesome! Also, we love our immersion blender and know how helpful it is so we want to give one away to someone who really deserves it.

If you want to get caught up to speed on this contest, read last Wednesday’s post which summarizes how you can enter the contest up until this point. But don’t worry there is still time to enter! You have until the end of next Tuesday to do all of the “tasks” from the previous post and the “tasks” for today.

Today’s entry challenge is actually quite easy, it’s a questionaire! We would love to hear more from our readers so we have 5 questions we would like you to answer. Each question you answer enters your name 1 more time into the drawing! So today you can earn up to 5 more chances to win the Cuisinart immersion blender!

Les Questions de Declan et Erica

1. What is your favorite recipe on Cooking in College?
2. What do you want to learn to make?
3. Why do you want to win an immersion blender?
4. What college do you go to, went to, or want to go to?
5. What suggestions do you have to make Cooking in College more awesome?

Write your answers in the comments below. To get you started, here are our answers:

Declan

1. This is a tough one…my favorite recipe is either the Mac n cheese or the cream of chicken soup. I like all of the hearty recipes!
2. Homemade bread! I’ve made it once before but I know I could do better, I need some practice.
3. To make soup…but I already have one so I guess this doesn’t apply.
4. University of Pittsburgh!!! Hail to PITT!
5. Put my face on every page. Just kidding, I think we should add the cost of every recipe we make to show how cheap it really is to make these meals.

Erica

1. Hmm, the turkey enchiladas or fish tacos are probably my favorite.
2. I want to make brownies from scratch! I love chocolate but I have never made homemade brownies.
3. Already got one! 🙂 I use it all the time to make smoothies and milkshakes with way less clean-up than using a blender.
4. Pitt!
5. What Declan said. The cost calculator though, not his face. I see enough of that already.

Thanks and good luck!

-D&E

Give-Away Contest Post 3

***Update: this contest is now closed***

Alright we are a little burnt out from writing our EPIC two recipe post for Valentine’s Day, so today we are taking it easy. Today marks the half-way point for our Cuisinart Immersion Blender Give-Away Contest Spectacular! And yes, it has been spectacular. We already have a lot of hopeful contestants entered and hope to get some more. But before telling you about how to earn more chances to win, we need to summarize…

If you’re like, “Whoa you’re giving away a FREE immersion blender?!?!” We’re going to be like, “Dude, yeah. Here are the rules.”

And if you’re all like, “Well I want to win!” Then we’re going to be all like, “Well read our first and second post explaining how to enter, and if you don’t want to click on the link here is a quick summary:”

For a chance to get your name entered once (per task):

• Like our Facebook page
• Follow us on twitter: @cook_in_college
• Subscribe to our blog (email or RSS feed)

And comment on THAT post saying you did.

For a chance to get your name entered twice (per task):

• Go onto our Facebook page and share the following photo (we have the photo there already, you just need to hit “Share”):

• Go to our twitter page and re-tweet the following photo (we have the photo there already, you just need to hit “Retweet”):

Once you do either of them tell us in THAT post by leaving a comment.

So for today, to get your name entered 5 (that is FIVE) times, all you have to do is send us a recipe that is not on Cooking in College. But it has to be your recipe (not a link to someone else’s) and make sure you email it to us at mail@cooking-in-college.com. Try sending us one you think deserves to make it onto this blog, because if we try it and like it, we’ll post it and credit you!

And the good news is you don’t have to comment on this post saying you did 🙂

Good luck!

-D&E

P.S. – Here is a  behind-the-scenes picture on how we write the blog!