Wow, has it really been twenty-seven days already!?  This month has flown by, and although I was worried about running out of things to write about for 31 days straight, I guess it won’t be problem!  (Although, when has coming up with something to say ever been a problem for me?{wink})

Being in a crazy-busy season, it has been easy for food to become stressful again.  With food allergies, there is just plain more planning necessary when it comes to eating.  I make a lot of things from scratch, both out of necessity, and a desire to eat more healthfully, and more cheaply.  Some weeks I feel like I spend all my time in the kitchen. (And this would be a mostly true feeling).  So sometimes, I just have to make something special or fun, for ME.  (And everyone else gets to benefit as well). 🙂

This week, I decided to make donuts.

I mean, you go to the orchard, and the smell of those fresh homemade donuts comes wafting out into the orchard… who isn’t going to feel deprived of that special fall treat?!  I have had some success with making donuts before (I bake them, not fry them). But when I saw the Mixing Bowl Diary’s post on cider donuts, I knew what my fall treat would be!

You can read the how-to the Mixing Bowl Diary… but these beauties here are mine!

I reduced the nutmeg, as it is a strong spice, and I thought my kids might not like it.  It was still strong, and I will reduce it a little further next time.  I did go through the process of boiling down my own cider.  It took 3/12+ hours.  Haven’t tried making it without that, but I am assuming it was worth it. 🙂

I was very worried the batter was going to be too wet, as the other GF donuts I have made had a much stiffer batter, more like dough.  I decided to try the first batch as wet as the recipe called for, and then figured I could thicken it up more if needed.  But they were great as they were!  Lastly, the recipe didnt’ mention when to put the xantham gum in (I use guar gum) so I nearly forgot it… don’t forget to put the guar gum in!

I rolled them in some powdered cinnamon sugar.  I make the powdered sugar by grinding sugar, and adding in little bits of tapioca starch.   (Powdered sugar contains corn starch).

Tried any new recipes lately?