Sunday Brunch

       

This week we decided to start out our day of football fun with a brunch!

Just something a little different from our typical football menu!

Menu

Bagels & cream cheese

Sausage  Casserole

Fruit

Cake Doughnuts

Mimosas

Screwdrivers

Chocolate milk

Orange Juice

There were 14 of us, 8 kids and 6 adults. We ate all the casserole and doughnuts, so I think it was a perfect amount. I've been wanting to make these doughnuts for a while now. I had two different recipes. A Wilton recipe from the donut pan itself and one from Family Circle magazine. I tried the vanilla Wilton recipe and the Chocolate FC recipe. I preferred the FC recipe for reasons of taste &  ingredients. I felt the Wilton doughnuts were too dry and I didn't like that they called for cake flour as opposed to all-purpose flour. Here, I will include the recipe of the winner of this Good Things Simple doughnut war. Drumroll please....



  The winner is....

Family Circle's Chocolate Cake Doughnuts!

Here's the recipe:

1 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teas. baking soda

1/4 teas. salt

1/2 c. low-fat buttermilk

1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar

1 egg

4 teas. unsalted butter, melted

1 teas. vanilla extract

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Coat doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl whisk buttermilk, sugar, egg, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; whisk until blended and smooth. Spoon batter into a large resealable plastic bag. Cut off the corner and squeeze batter into prepared indents, about 2/3 the way full.  Smooth tops. Bake for 13 minutes, until doughnuts spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan on rack for 3 minutes, then carefully turn out directly onto rack to cool.

Chocolate Glaze:

In a bowl combine 1 c. powdered sugar, 1 tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 tbls. milk. Stir until smooth. Dip cooled doughnuts into bowl and allow excess frosting to drip back into the bowl. Add toppings or sprinkles at this point. Allow to chocolate glaze to set.

Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole

2 pkgs. Farmer John (breakfast) Sausage Links (found near the bacon)

3 c. Ore-Ida frozen shredded potatoes

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1/4 c. butter, melted

12 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 c. onion, finely chopped

1 (16 oz.) tub small curd cottage cheese

8 lg. eggs

1 tsp. sage (optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 13x9 inch baking dish. Place the sausage, onion, and bell pepper in a medium skillet and cook (while crumbling the sausage) over medium heat. Drain, set aside.

In the baking dish, add the potatoes and melted butter, stir to combine as best as you can. Press the potatoes evenly to line the baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes. This is your "crust."

Meanwhile, mix the sausage, onions, peppers, cheese, cottage cheese, spices, and eggs in a large bowl. Pour it over the baked potato mixture.

Return to oven and bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes before cutting.

Total cooking time is 1 hour 10 minutes. Serves 12.

We eat this often, but always on Christmas morning, hence the name!