everyday food made simple

I’m not sure why I’m so into key limes this summer. Before this June, I’ve never had anything involving key limes in my life. And all of a sudden, I’m making key lime pie bars, and now key lime donuts…

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A few days ago, I went to Bed Bath & Beyond and bought myself a donut pan. Does anyone else besides me love that store?? I can probably shop there for hours and come out with hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of kitchen stuff. That store is seriously bad for our bank account.

Okay, back to donuts…

If I can have something sweet for breakfast for the rest of my life, it would probably be donuts.

Or blueberry muffins.

Probably donuts. I looove donuts to a fault, and I’m glad I don’t eat them for breakfast all that often (my favorite is the ones with chocolate glaze and sprinkles on top!) There are a few donut shops around the metro that I’ve been wanting to try for a while. When we were in Seattle last month, we were so busy checking things off of my to-do list that we didn’t have a chance to try out their famous Top Pot Donut Shop. Also, a few years ago, there was a huge donut craze back in Taiwan when Mister Donut opened. There would always be a line of people out their doors and around the corner, just to buy half a dozen of their donuts.

I guess what I’m sayin’ is that people love donuts regardless of where they’re from and how old they are.

Now that I have a donut pan, I can make homemade donuts in the oven that is healthier compared to their fried counterparts. And I can eat half a dozen of them for breakfast without feeling guilty….

baked key lime donuts
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For the donuts
  1. 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  2. 1/2 cup sugar
  3. 1 teaspoon baking powder
  4. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  5. 1/4 teaspoon salt
  6. 1 egg
  7. 6 ounces plain Greek yogurt
  8. 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  9. 1/4 cup milk
  10. 1 tablespoon key lime juice
  11. 1 tablespoon lime zest
For the glaze
  1. 1 cup powdered sugar
  2. 1/4 cup key lime juice
  3. 1 cup crushed graham crackers
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a donut pan and set aside.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, beat the egg, then add in the yogurt, oil, milk, key lime juice and lime zest. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix.
  3. Transfer the batter to a large Ziploc bag. Cut off the corner and pipe the batter into the donut pan, filling each well about 1/2-2/3 full.
  4. Bake for 10, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the pan and allow to cool completely on a wired cooling rack.
  5. Meanwhile, make the glaze: mix together the powdered sugar and key lime juice. After the donuts have completely cooled, dip the tops of the donuts into the glaze, then dip the donut into the graham cracker crumbs.
  6. Makes 14 donuts
Adapted from Taste and Tell Blog
Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/
Watch these…

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Go from this…

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…to this!

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These donuts use vegetable oil instead of butter, only has 1/2 cup of sugar, uses Greek yogurt, and has key lime juice in it. All in all, I consider it as a healthy donut. It’s soft and airy, and the Greek yogurt gives it a slightly chewy texture. The crushed graham crackers on top almost reminds you of the graham cracker crust of a key lime pie – it’s like an up-side-down key lime pie in donut form! It’s also super easy to make – I didn’t even use my KitchenAid stand mixer for this – everything is mixable by hand!

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Now, what kind of donuts should I make next……

Enjoy!

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Making pies can be such a daunting task. First you have to make the crust, then you have to make the filling.. then depending on what kind of pie you’re making, you have to either make some sort of a meringue or a pie crust lattice and make sure that looks nice and pretty. Every step requires much diligence to make sure the entire pie turns out nice and presentable in the end.

Talk about pressure – if the whole pie doesn’t turn out to be as photogenic as you imagined it to be, you’re either left with nothing to show for, or you’ll just have to try to capture the best angle of your pie.

For those reasons, I haven’t been brave enough to tackle a pie yet – maybe I can try to check that off of my to-do list this summer during my break from school.

On the other hand, cookies, bars, cupcakes, truffles are much easier to make. If some don’t turn out as pretty as you hoped, at least you still got a bunch more to choose from to be part of your picture.

That being said, I opted for some easy key lime pie bars instead of making a whole pie. When you think of summer, you think of key lime pies – they’re light, tart, tangy, and sweet all at the same time.

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Waiting for these babies to cool in the fridge was probably the most difficult part, but the end result was totally worth the wait!

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key lime pie bars
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Ingredients
  1. 2 cups finely crushed gingersnap crumbs
  2. 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  3. 4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  4. 4 large egg yolks
  5. 1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
  6. 1/2 cup key lime juice
  7. 2 teaspoons lime zest, plus more for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x9" cake pan with foil, leaving some overhanging on the sides and spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
For the crust
  1. Using a food processor, pulverize the gingersnap cookies into fine crumbs.
  2. Pour crumbs into a medium bowl, combine with melted butter.
  3. Press firming into cake pan. Make sure the crumbs are evenly distributed throughout. Bake for 10 minutes.
While the crust is in the oven, make the filling
  1. Using a handheld mixer (I was lazy and used an electric stand mixer), beat cream cheese on high until smooth. Slowly incorporate the egg yolks. Beat in the sweetened condensed milk, key lime juice, and lime zest. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Pour into pan with warm crust.
  2. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until the edges just begin to brown slightly.
  3. Remove from oven, garnish with additional lime zest if desired. Let the bars cool in the pan on a wired rack, then transfer them to the refrigerator for 3-4 hours or until completely chilled.
  4. Once chilled, remove the bars from pan with the overhanging foil and cut into squares.
Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/
This recipe is really easy – if making a key lime pie is this easy, I think it just might be the first ever pie I attempt to make. I’m not a fan of cheesecakes, but the little bit of cream cheese added in here gives it a creamy texture. The gingersnap cookie crust is also recommended over the traditional graham cracker crust, as the sweet/spiciness of crust goes very (very) well with the creamy tartness of the filling.

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I brought this to work last weekend for a pot luck and received plenty of rave reviews. Everyone loved it, except for the hubs, who is a wimp when it comes to anything tart… he had an expression as if I made him eat a whole bag of Sour Patch Kids at once (I would’ve taken a picture of his facial expression if he would’ve let me). Trust me, these bars are delicious and are just perfect for summer! Plus it only requires a few ingredients and little baking time!

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

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