Sugar-Crusted Turmeric Chili Stoneground Cornmeal Donuts

never not donuting.
Sugar-Crusted Turmeric Chili

Stoneground Cornmeal Donuts.

oh, the things you can donut (verb).

This may be hard to believe, but up until fairly recently, donuts didn't interest me much. It was an ill-conceived donut birthday cake project that first stirred something deep inside. The cake was an unmitigated disaster, but it's construction did require the purchase of a certain specialty kitchen item. I expected to use it only once, maybe twice, and then leave it to collect dust on a high shelf somewhere.

Best laid plans...

Not to get all swept up in pastry-based hyperbole, but owning a donut pan has 

CHANGED MY LIFE. 

It was a seismic shift with a hole smack dab in the center.

A new mission, clear as day-- everything in donut form, 

whenever and wherever possible.

seismic.

baking weather.

Sugar-Crusted Turmeric Chili

Stoneground Cornmeal Donuts

(makes one dozen)

Adapted from my Turmeric-Chili Stoneground Corn Muffins recipe. 

Because DONUTS.

dry:

1c all purpose flour

1c stoneground cornmeal

1/3c unrefined sugar

1Tbsp baking powder

1tsp finely ground sea salt

2tsp chili powder

1tsp turmeric

wet:

2Tbsp ground flax seeds

6Tbsp boiling water

1c non dairy milk

1/4c melted unrefined coconut oil + a little extra for greasing the donut pan

1tsp apple cider vinegar

topping:

3-4Tbsp extra sugar

1Tbsp crushed red pepper

Turmeric-Chili Cornmeal Muffins

yellow is a food group.

Turmeric-Chili Cornmeal Muffins

the realest of deals.

Turmeric is hot right now but not in that obnoxious paleo diet, food-trendy, "kale is the new everything" way. It's every inch the real deal. Let's tick off the positives, shall we? It is insanely good for you, a key component in an endless variety of awesome foodstuffs and as a bonus, it's PRETTY, like really, intensely, fully-saturated color-bomb pretty.  And as we all know, pretty food is the very best food. Long story short, turmeric deserves every bit of the praise that's being showered upon it (there's totally a dirty joke in there somewhere...). I've been on the turmeric train for years, but for some completely inexplicable reason, it did not occur to me until this very
moment to add it to baked goods.

This has been what one might refer to as a "eureka moment."
Turmeric-chili cornbread muffins are...EVERYTHING.
Like a heretofore undiscovered level of everything.
Get on it, kids.
 

turmeric-spiked potato, leek and carrot soup

harvest fantasies and a heart of gold.
Turmeric-Spiked
Potato, Leek and Carrot Soup.

body warming/ soul warming.

I've been listening to a lot of Neil Young lately, and eating a lot of soup.

I'm not saying that the two are necessarily intertwined, but...

When the world is frozen and dark, Harvest is one of those albums that transports me.  Suddenly I'm outside on a warm night, a beer in hand, bare toes curled into dewey grass.  It seems counterintuitive, but the right kind of soup can have a similar effect. Sometimes the things that grow in winter can seem a little... sparse.  All the same old roots and scraggly greens.  But rounded up together in a bright, soup-y showcase, they can make summer and all of it's abundant growing things 

feel a little bit less out of reach.  

Music and soup to warm the (tired winter) soul.

Potato-Leek and 
Carrot Soup
(serves 4)

2 medium leeks
4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
4 large carrots,
peeled and diced
about 1lb of fingerling, or other similarly waxy potatoes, scrubbed and diced
2Tbsp olive oil
2tsp sea salt
1tsp ground black pepper
2tsp turmeric
1Tbsp fresh lemon juice
6c unsalted vegetable stock or water

extra salt/pepper for seasoning