The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

One of the recipes we could choose from was a recipe called Bomboloni, which is a doughnut like dough but the shape is a circle.  This reminded me of sonhos.  A delicious Brasilian dessert. I remember coming out of classes and smelling sonhos being made at the school cafeteria.  This is exactly how my house smelled like when I make this recipe. It made me home sick.

Ingredients
1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon Lukewarm water
3 ¼ teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
1.5 Tablespoon Honey
3 cup All Purpose Flour
3 Tablespoon Milk
6 Egg Yolk
1/3 cup White Granulated Sugar + more for rolling
2 teaspoon Salt
Tablespoon Butter, Unsalted
3 cup Canola Oil (for frying)
Jam, preserves, or jelly (I used doce de leite, goiabada and cream)

In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, mix the water, yeast, honey and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (160 gm) of the flour. (Alternatively, whisk the ingredients by hand.) Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.

Return the bowl to the mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons (260 gm) of flour, along with the milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and the salt. Mix at low speed until blended, then add the butter and knead at medium speed until silky but sticky, about 5 minutes; the dough will not pull away from the side of the bowl.

Using an oiled spatula, scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

In a large saucepan, heat the canola oil to 360°F/180°C. Line a rack with paper towels. Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 inch of granulated sugar. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a scant 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick. Using a 2-inch (50 mm) round biscuit cutter, stamp out rounds. The original recipe said to not re-roll the dough, but I did and found it to be fine.

Fry the rounds, 4 to 5 at a time, until they are browned, about 4 minutes (mine only took about a minute each – try to go more by sight). Be sure to keep the oil between 360°F and 375°F (180°C and 190°C). Drain the bomboloni on paper towels.

Roll them in the granulated sugar.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain donut tip (or a 1/4-inch (6 mm) tip) and fill with the preserves (you can also use a squeeze bottle). Poke the tip three-fourths of the way into the bomboloni and squeeze in the preserves, pulling the tip out slightly as you squeeze to fill them as much as possible.

Serve warm.

In celebration of World Pasta Day I decided to make homemade pasta.  If you haven’t tried to make pasta from scratch, give it a try. I remember spending the whole afternoon making pasta with my mom in Brasil.  We would make the dough, roll it open, cut it into noodles and dry the pasta for Sunday’s dinner.  At the end of this project, the kitchen would be covered in flour!  However, it was a fun time together. Since I am not cooking for massive amounts of people anymore, I now use a much simpler recipe.  This will give you 1 lb of fresh pasta. Also, it is not too messy to cook in smaller amounts 😀

2 c flour (you can use white or whole wheat)

1/8 t salt

2 eggs

1 T olive oil

1/3 c cold water

You could use  a food processor to mix the dough, or just do it by hand.  Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the eggs and oil in the middle of the bowl and start mixing in with the flour. I like to use a fork.

Add the water slowly until the flour mixture comes together in a ball. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, shape it into a dish and cover with a wet cloth.  Let it rest for about 15 minutes. Divide the dough into 4 pieces.

Work with one piece at a time. Leave the other pieces covered with the wet towel. You can use a pasta machine to open your flat sheets of pasta and then cut them to shape desired.  Alternatively, you could take this opportunity to exercise your upper body 😀  and open the pasta by hand. It really isn’t that hard! I use a rolling pin and start to flatten the dough into a disk until it is very thin.  You want to turn the dough while you are opening it to prevent it from sticking to the counter and also to be able to open it very thin.  You may need to dust it with flour.

Cut the dough into shapes desired.  For this one I rolled it lightly and cut them medium thick.

I then layer them in a cookie sheet dusted with flour while I work on the other disks of dough.

Now you just need to cook it.  Make sure to salt the water and when the water comes to a boil, drop your pasta by hand fulls. It cooks very fast, since it is fresh.  This way you don’t need to cook all 1 lb at once, or it may all glue together.  I cooked them in 3 batches.  It will take may be 3-5 minutes to cook your pasta. You will know it is ready when it floats to the top.

Add the cooked pasta to your favorite pasta sauce and enjoy!

This sauce is a red white shrimp and lobster sauce! Yum

According to holiday insights calendar today is National Dessert Day. When I think of dessert from Brasil, I always think sweetened condensed milk, which then brings memories of Brigadeiro. This dessert was created in the 1940s and is still popular today. This truffle like goodness is served at pretty much every type of party in Brasil: weddings, birthdays, get togethers or just a sweet tooth desire. They are easy to make and delicious!

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 T butter
3-4 T Nestlé Nesquik (you could use cocoa powder for a stronger taste, or melted chocolate)

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan. Choose one that has a thick bottom, this way you will be less likely to burn your candy.

Mix it constantly. Don’t stop mixing it.  It will take about 10 minutes on medium high heat.  It will start to thicken, lower the heat to medium low and continue mixing it (in a figure 8 pattern).  Do this until the mixture is thick and comes out of the bottom of the pan, like the picture bellow. I usually twist the pan to one side a little bit and if it looks like the picture it is ready!

Pour the mixture on a plate and let it cool.  When cooled, roll it into little ball shapes and dip them into chocolate sprinkles.

You can also use this to fill or top cakes.  Just make sure to take the brigadeiro off of the heat just before it thickens too much.  Pour this heavenly chocolate gooey deliciousness on top of your cake and voila!

When I was young, my family had a tradition of making pasta for Sunday lunches.  We would get home from church and my mom would start her delicious sauces while my sisters would start cooking the pasta and setting the table. Kids would play around while waiting for lunch. The smells in the kitchen were just amazing!

Here is one of the sauce recipes I really enjoy making it.  I like it because it tastes fresh and light.  It is also very versatile. You can use on top of spaghetti, as a sauce for a meat roast, top chicken cutlets or even to make risotto.

You will need:

2 T Oil

1/4 c diced Onion

3 clothes Garlic

2-3 cups Chopped Tomatoes (if you have the time, remove the skins and seeds)

3 cups Tomatoes blended (sauce)

2 t Salt

1 t Pepper

Pinch Sugar

1 t Chicken bouillon

Dash Red Pepper Flakes

1/4 cup Carbenet Sauvignon (optional)

Oregano (to taste)

Fresh Basil (if you don’t have fresh you can use dried basil as well)

First blend about 5 or 6 medium size tomatoes to create the 3 cups of blended tomato sauce. Set aside.

In a large sauce pan, heat the oil and cook the onions until translucent. Add chopped garlic. Sautee for a couple minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes. (it might take 3-5 tomatoes to make 2-3 cups of chopped tomatoes).  Let it cook for a couple of minutes.

Slowly add about 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce you set aside. Let it cook, when you see the liquid is evaporating, start adding more of the tomato sauce.  Add the salt, pepper, sugar, bouillon, red pepper flakes.  Let it simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Then come back and add a little more of the tomato sauce.  You will want to keep adding the sauce until it is all gone.  Add it slowly.  Taste it for seasoning. Adjust salt as needed. Add the oregano and basil. (Only add it here if you’re using dried basil and oregano. If you use fresh oregano and basil, add it to the sauce pan at the end of the cooking time.) If you choose to use red wine, add it now and then cover the sauce. Turn the heat to medium low. Let it cook for about 1 hour. You want the consistency to be thick. The more you cook it, the thicker it will start to get.  For my preferred consistency, I let it cook for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

This will make about 2 cups of tomato sauce. I love to top this sauce with fresh basil chiffonade. YUM

1 c rice

2 c water

4 c milk

1 1/2 – 2 c sugar

Cinnamon to taste

2-3 T sweetened condensed milk

In a sauce pan, add milk and sugar. (Add the 1 and ½ c sugar to the milk and taste the milk. If it is not sweet add more sugar.) Bring it to boil, turn heat to medium low and let it cook, stirring it occasionally.  This will thicken over time. (I do this then I start cooking the rice, this way this mixture will have been cooking for about 30 minutes or so before you start adding it to the rice.)

In another sauce pan, add rice and water. Let it boil until rice is almost soft. It will take about 20 minutes.  Then start adding the milk mixture, little by little.  The milk mixture will keep cooking in the first sauce pan, making it thicker.  As you add each ladle of the milk mixture to the rice, it will sweeten the rice and it also will become thicker.

Add some sweetened condensed milk to taste.  I also like to add cinnamon.  Sometimes I will add a stick of cinnamon to the milk while it is cooking.  This will flavor the milk and add a gentle cinnamon taste to the pudding.

1 lb red snapper

Marinade:

1/ 4 cup lime juice

1 t salt

1 t pepper

1 T chopped cilantro

Marinade the fish  for about 1 hour

In a Sauce pan, sauté:

½ onion diced

3 garlic minced

1 T olive oil and ½ T oleo de dende

When onions are translucent add 1 can diced tomatoes

½ t cayenne pepper

Add in the marinated fish

Cover in medium low and cook for about 20 minutes

Add 2/3 c coconut milk

Cook for about 10-15 minutes

Serve with rice