We have been a little bit addicted to the PBS show ChefSteps. Fabulous three to five minute clips of recipes cooked by these young hipster chefs in a gorgeous loft space. They use induction cook tops and sous vide techniques. They talk about Tinder dates and sport tattoos and mustaches. Based in Seattle’s Pike Place, this group of 50 plus people make you want to know them. Their philosophy of inspiring creativity through high-quality interactive content is spot on. Read more about them and you will find that their work ethics and philosophies are equally appealing. If I lived in Seattle I might be tempted to stand outside their workspace and cheer them on. They are that incredible. And the clips…you have to see them. It is hard to stop watching them though.
For this recipe we combined two of the clips. Cake Donuts and Glassy Pecans. Oh. My. God. What a combination! It was my first time making donuts. I can hardly believe that since I love them so much. I grew up living for the day we would get to go to the Donut Ranch (that was really what it was called) and get a dozen donuts. Jelly. Sprinkle. Chocolate Glazed. I think I ate them all once. So today as I sat dropping the donuts into our little countertop fryer I could not believe I hadn’t done this before. And as the first one came out I literally said out loud “I just made a donut.” It was that sort of moment.
The donuts were a process. I’m not going to lie. The fabulous chef on the show made it look very easy. It wasn’t that it was difficult- it was just a little time consuming. I think you get a little jaded when you see it from beginning to end in a three minute clip. This took me all morning. And afternoon. But it was so worth it. And it could be easier if you did it in steps and got the dough ready one day and fried them off the next. And…it was my first time.
Have you seen the ChefSteps web site? It is just as incredible as the show. Beautiful. I love that you can convert the recipes by size and units. I did not alter the recipe so I am including the link here and giving them full props for this. These guys are amazing. They taught me how to make a donut! I’m clearly still a bit too excited about this.
We topped ours with a Nutella glaze which was made by combining powdered sugar, milk, a giant spoon of Nutella and a pinch of salt. This was whisked together until it was smooth. It was a little bit thinner than we would have liked and next time we will add more sugar (or less milk) to make it more like a frosting. Once the donuts were fried and cooled they were dipped upside down into this glaze and then dipped again into our topping choice of crushed glassy pecans, sea salt, rosemary and chopped dried cranberries. This was sweet and savory. It is one of those things that you realize after the first bite- you get the dense cake-like donut with the sweet Nutella and the crunchy nut and then right at the end the savory rosemary and hit of salt. All. In. One. Bite. Delicious. So thank you, ChefSteps, we love your show and look forward to learning a lot more from all of you!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.