Today, and this weekend in general, would have been that much better if it was Autumn, and not summer.Give me October, you can have August.Here, take it.
Today’s grey, raining Sunday was that kind of day if it was in middle of Autumn, and not in the middle of August. Those days are wonderfully great for cooking, baking, and generally just making a mess in the kitchen.

On days like those, I become a whirling dervish of flying flours, baking soda, sugars,all in the name of baking and cooking.

The mess is not much fun to clean up, but the finished products make it worth it.Usually.

Now, I am waxing poetically about Autumn, when I should say that I basically ignored those rules this weekend, and did indeed spend long afternoon hours baking and cooking, and making those messes that had to be cleaned up

Did I tell you that Jarvis Cocker makes some great songs for baking and playing in the kitchen?No? Well, I just did.

Anyways, so I made a lot this weekend, I did.Doughnuts, cookies, baked beans, some scones…I am sure there is more, but perhaps flour has seeped into my cranium and is making my brain work less efficiently? Who knows?

Frankly I do not even feel like posting it all, and was going to just stick to the baked beans, but that would be drastically lazy, even for someone as sloth-like as myself.

Fuck it, let us bake.

First, before I go on, I am from New England, so I fear even posting these baked beans, as they are semi-half-assed.I fear my puritanical dead relatives rising from cozy, ancient grave yards , and coming after me for perhaps degrading what is a staple of New English cooking.

But, I will go ahead and post it , anyways.I probably never make them exactly the same, and often I will toss in some onions, and other things, from time to time.This one is fairly basic.

Baked Beans Ingredients
- 16 ounces of navy beans, soaked, cooked, rinsed.
- 3/4 cup of tomato sauce.
- 2 bay leaves.
- 2 tablespoons of maple syrup.
- 4-5 tablespoons of molasses.
- 1 tablespoon of onion powder.
- 2 tablespoons of yellow mustard.
- 4 tablespoons of brown sugar.

This is simple.Really simple.Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees.Mix all the ingredients minus the beans in a bowl, and place the beans in a casserole dish.Now, stir in the mixed stuff into the beans.Place in oven.

When you see it start to boil, cover with a lid or some tin foil.Let the beans cook two to three hours, and you are all done.I tend to stir them once in a while, not sure if that matters, or I am just nosy and excited about the beans.

I like to eat mine with a baked potato, is that normal? I do not know, but I will suddenly become a pig and clean the plate.A baked potato and baked beans is a win, to me.

Here is another good tune to cook to, if you like the upbeat British stuff, an oldie but goodie.By oldie, I mean from the last decade.That is getting to be an oldie, isn’t it? Then again, that would make me an oldie, so, lets just listen and move on.

I know, I know…You want to talk about the doughnuts, I get it.No, I do, it is fine, really.It is just fine.Forget the tunes, here is the doughnuts.

Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts Ingredients.
- 3 and 3/4 cups of flour.
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
- 2 teaspoons of baking soda.
- 1/4 a teaspoon of cinnamon.
- 1 teaspoon of salt.
- 1 cup of sugar.
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
- 3 tablespoons of Earth Balance.
- 2 “eggs” You know, the egg-replacer stuff, with water it calls for.
- 1 cup of soy milk.
- 4 squares of baker’s chocolate.

Where, oh where, to begin? Alright, first, in a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, the dry parts of the egg-replacer, cinnamon, and the salt.Stir that, mix that, whatever.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and the chocolate, tossing in the vanilla.

Now, this is where we combine the wet ingredients, and the dry ones.This is much like how Livingston met Stanley, I presume.Do not forget to add in the water that is called for with two “eggs”.That would be 4 tablespoons, people.

Once you have your batter, dough, whatever, kneed that for a few minutes, place back in a bowl, and let it sit and chill in the fridge for a half hour, maybe an hour.

Roll the dough the out, maybe 3/4 of an inch ? give , or take.I do not own a doughnut cutter thingy, so I used a biscuit cutter, and then the bottle cap of a soda bottle for the inner circle.This made about a dozen or so doughnuts.

I also do not own a fryer, so I use a big pot, and poured in enough oil so there was about 4 inches of oil.I heated it up at medium heat.i do not know the temp, so do not ask.Medium heat, on the line.

I fried a few at a time, that would be three, I would fry them on one side for a few minutes,and flipped them and fried another couple of minutes, and out they came. doughnuts, lots and lots of chocolate doughnuts.

but wait! You need the sugar glaze!

Sugar Glaze Ingredients.
- 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar.
- 1/3 a cup of soy milk.
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Warm the milk in a sauce pan, or whatever.Add the vanilla, and then stir in the sugar.Pour the mix in a bowl, and dunk your doughnuts, and then let them sit on a rack to cool for a few minutes, or so.

Oh, I should add that I made munchkins with the inner circle that I did not use.Just rolls those into proper balls, and fry them for a few minutes.You can glaze them, too.

I also made cookies, but you do not need to really know about those.or rather, I am too lazy to write about them right now.Oh, well.