December Delights

At least once a year I make baked donuts for our dentist.  I have learned to make them small and to plate them on at least two trays since I 'know' one person will down a whole plate himself.  Making them the night before a holiday delivery, a star cookie cutter was handy for shaping the dough.  The source is a fun cooking murder mystery:  Galaxy Doughnuts from Diane Mott Davidson's, Cereal Murders  Note: I use all whole wheat flour instead of the mix in the recipe.  After baking, we always dip ours in melted butter and then dredge in a cinnamon sugar mix.  This time we added read and green sprinkles.  They never last long!

I found myself wanting some home-made apple pie.  But I didn't want to be bothered with a top and bottom crust.  So, I made a single crust and topped the sliced apple mix (combined with lemon juice, cinnamon sugar and dabs of butter) with a single crust.  After cutting slits in it and brushing with milk, I baked the pie, filling the house with that familiar cinna-scent.

Speaking of baking, on a trip to Denver we stopped at Lucille's in Littleton for brunch.  Oh my - here is a picture illustrating why they are famous for their beignets.