About The Doughty Doughnut
My name is Rebecca, and I am the baker behind The Doughty Doughnut. I live in an old house in New England with my husband John who has a Mexican cooking blog called Carne and Papas. I must admit that my love for baking didn’t develop until a couple of years ago when he showed me how to use a Kitchen Aid mixer. When I first began baking, I remember being frustrated by recipes that didn’t explain each step in detail. In this blog, I strive to make each recipe as easy as possible to follow so that you can enjoy making each delicious treat whether you are a beginner or a seasoned baker!
A love for literature, Gilmore Girls, and all things autumnal
Living in New England, I particularly love baking in the fall—pumpkin, apple, and maple recipes are most cherished in my heart. Autumn is, hands down, my favorite time of the year. In my opinion, the best holiday is Halloween and the best TV show ever is Gilmore Girls. In fact, I was a recipe taster for the second Eat Like A Gilmore cookbook, which was released in November of 2018. My favorite GG episode is “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving,” in which we watch the girls go from house-to-house on Thanksgiving day trying to consume four dinners.
Having studied American Gothic Literature in grad school at Iowa State University, it only seemed right that I named my blog after Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It’s my favorite story to read every October. When Ichabod Crane walks into Katrina Van Tassel’s home for a harvest party, he marvels at the mounds of food laid out on the dinner table. The feast is unlike anything he’s ever seen. The narrator tells us that the display is “of the ample charms of a genuine Dutch country tea-table, in the sumptuous time of Autumn” and the first sweet that the narrator describes is “the doughty doughnut.”
The Butler’s Pantry: My Baking Oasis
I do all of my baking in my butler’s pantry. Living in a circa 1910 house in New Hampshire, I’m lucky enough to have this historical feature in my home. If you haven’t heard of a butler’s pantry before, Realtor.com describes it as:
“Historically…a dedicated space in a large home used to store (as well as count and polish) the family silver, numerous sets of china, and large serving dishes like platters, tureens, and coffee urns…Today, butler’s pantries are located just off the kitchen or dining room and are used as staging areas for serving meals, as well as a storage space.”
Lifestyle magazines like Elle and Better Homes and Gardens have photo galleries of what most modern butler’s pantries look like—but I’ve taken a spin on the traditional usage of the space. My butler’s pantry is where all of my baking supplies are housed—ingredients, measuring cups, Kitchen Aid mixer, Gilmore Girls memorabilia. The pantry also has its own sink and dishwasher, so most of the time I only have to go to the kitchen to put my finished product in the oven. Below are some photos of the space.
I hope that my recipes bring some deliciousness into your home. Please send along any questions, comments, and reviews and feel free to share my recipes on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere else you communicate with your friends and family. You can also subscribe to get email updates whenever a new recipe is posted. Happy baking!
