Apple Cider Donuts

There are few things that would make me abandon my nutritional diet plan after fifteen months of careful planning. ONE of those things arrived via UPS yesterday. Anyone who has lived withing fifty miles of Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck, NJ will understand my weakness is the face of Apple Cider Donuts.

OK, New York has Zabar's and Chapel Hill has A Southern Season but Delicious Orchards has a cult following all it's own and the reason is their own brand of apple cider and the baked goods that use the nectar of the harvest season. Hubby's son and daughter-in-law sent us a double batch of donuts and the minute the box was opened we put on the coffee pot to enjoy a cup with the long-missed tastes of the donuts.

I wonder if Lynne Rosotto Kasper knows about this. Nothing at all like those southern, greasy fried donuts - these are made with a cake batter but instead of the powered sugar coating the donuts receive a dusting of very fine cinnamon. The very taste reminds me of shopping in the vegetable market years ago when you could get a small cup of cider and a donut at the door to enjoy as you shop. How's that for customer service?

My days of late have been spent searching cupboards and sideboards looking for glasses, silver and the 'good' dishes for our Christmas dinner. Yesterday morning the double batch of fresh (uncooked), cranberry relish with orange, apple and Cointreau was finished and put in the fridge to cure over the next several days. The non-green salad items are accounted for, the wine glasses counted. AND the Danish aperitif glasses that hubby found in Copenhagen fifteen years ago, the ones we have never used, are all ready to serve a pomegranate martini before the meal.

The house decorations have been pared down this year but the attention to table and service has been increased. Our guest is bringing a chestnut cheesecake for dessert. You cannot serve chestnut cheesecake on a toast plate. No, the cheesecake won't ruin my diet - the apple cider donuts will have already done that job.

Three more days 'til Christmas and only one more day until the longest night of the year.....and the countdown to spring. bbf