This has been one horrible, no good, very bad week so far.

I know this isn’t why you came here. You came here for doughnuts, not to hear about how my car’s windshield wipers stopped working in the middle of a snowstorm, or how I broke my new necklace the first day I wore it and then subsequently spilled coffee all over my pants at work, or how I tried to make simple things like poached eggs and grilled cheese (grilled cheese!) for dinner and failed miserably, or how, lately, some of my life’s circumstances getting the better of me.

But I’m keeping it real, here, people. Sometimes, we just have a really crummy week.

Thankfully, we also have doughnuts.

These doughnuts were the perfect things to wake up with on a bright, sunny Saturday morning. Thanks to the fancy schmancy doughnut pan the ‘rents bought me for Christmas, I could make these delicious, fluffy, citrus-kissed doughnuts and douse them in a gooey dark chocolate glaze. And now that I have this fancy schmancy pan, I plan to make homemade doughnuts a fairly regular part of my life. Especially on horrible, no good, very bad days.

If you don’t have a doughnut pan, fortunately or unfortunately, for this recipe you’ll need to get one. The good news is they’re super easy to find and super not expensive. All you need is a little bit of room in your kitchen cabinet and an undying wish for doughnuts. Trust me, it’s worth every penny.

Orange-Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts with Chocolate-Orange Glaze
Adapted from Not So Humble Pie

Yields: 6 doughnuts

Ingredients:
For the doughnuts –
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup cake flour, sifted (or make your own, like I did, with this here pro tip)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
zest of 1 small or 1/2 large orange
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the glaze –
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 tablespoon butter, cut into tiny cubes
1 teaspoon orange juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Spray doughnut pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter, buttermilk and egg. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, orange zest and salt. Pour dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
Spoon batter into doughnut pan wells so they’re about two-thirds of the way full. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the tops of the doughnuts spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in pan for a minute or two, then turn out onto a cooling rack with wax paper underneath and cool completely.
To make the glaze: Microwave all glaze ingredients in a shallow bowl for 10 seconds at a time, stirring between, until melted. Dip cooled doughnuts into the glaze (or spoon it over the doughnuts) and return to cooling rack to dry.
Doughnuts are best served the day they are made.

Let it be said that this time of year, the most wonderful time of the year, is meant for caroling and baking cookies and decorating trees and putting up lights and skating on lakes and wrapping our hands around mugs of hot cocoa.

Let it be said that this time of year is meant for celebrating good tidings, family and friends, blessings and a humble birth in a manger.

Let it be said this time of year is not for worrying about the silly little things, risking your bank account or life for that “perfect” gift, opening old wounds and harboring resentment.

I know it’s a tough truth to grasp, and I am the first to admit that I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of this month worrying instead of celebrating. Though there still were cookies involved.

But now, three days before Christmas, I’m done. I’m done worrying and I’m forging ahead, focusing on the things that really matter this season and really, at any time of the year. And this cornbread? Well, I’ll be sure to eat a slice the moment I feel like my skates are losing ground again.

I don’t know what it is about the flavor combination of cranberries and oranges — Its tartness? Its sweetness? Its prettiness? — that makes me love it so. But I just knew that, when met with my other love, buttery cornbread, this pair would be magical. And it was. And now I’m off, this cornbread in tow, to share that magic and the holiday with loved ones. I wish you — cornbread or no cornbread — a little bit of that Christmas magic, too.

Cranberry-Orange Cornbread
A Girl Versus Dough original

Yields: 9 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cornmeal, preferably finely stoneground
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
zest of 1 orange
1 cup fresh or frozen (and thawed) cranberries, washed and chopped
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F if using a dark or non-stick pan). Grease an 8-by-8-inch baking pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, baking powder and sugar. Stir in orange zest and cranberries. Stir in egg, milk, oil and butter until all ingredients are just combined (the batter might still be a little lumpy; this is OK).
Pour batter into prepared baking pan and bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool slightly before slicing and serving.

There are so many cookies in my life right now.

Seriously — I’ve got pepperminty candy cane cookies, fudgy chocolate crinkles, peanut butter balls and snickerdoodles coming out of my ears. You’d think — and normally, I would think, too — that this is a Christmas miracle, but I’ve come to learn that my sweet tooth can handle only so many sweets. It’s a diva like that.

So after stuffing my face with cookies this weekend (OK, and a few days after that, too), I decided enough was enough. I needed something salty! Something savory! Something that didn’t have a Santa face on it or look like an old man cane with red and white stripes. Orthopedics. It’s science.

Enter these cheesy pizza puffs. I first made this with my dear friend Emily last weekend and thought I might die of happiness. They are salty, pizza-y, yummy and insanely easy to make. This version omits the pepperoni (hello, flexitarian), which makes them a little less salty, but an added pinch of salt restores the delicate balance. And after eating one (or two, or the whole batch), you just might want a cookie. You know. To even things out.

Cheesy Pizza Puffs
Adapted from Lick the Bowl Good

Yields: 12 muffins or “puffs”

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pizza sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees (325 for a dark or non-stick muffin pan). Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning and salt; add milk and egg and whisk to combine.
Stir in cheeses; let stand for 10 minutes.
Stir batter and divide evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until puffy and golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Heat pizza sauce and serve with warm pizza puffs for dipping. Then eat a cookie.

Look at my wit! Look at my skill! Look at how I took two different types of food and made them into one!

OK. Enough on that. I cannot tell a lie: I made a blunder. A culinary blunder. And yet one that turned out to be just as delicious, albeit not what I had intended.

If you’re not catching my drift here, these here churro “fries” were not meant to be fries at all. Sure, they were meant to be made into warm, deep-fried pillows of deliciousness, but as churros — actual churros — not as crispy, cinnamon-sugary strings.

But here’s the rub.

These are still insanely amazing. I’d even daresay they’re better than regular churros, but perhaps only because they’re unique and eating an entire churro gives me a stomachache (perhaps that’s also because I tend to devour them before riding a bazillion carny rides at the county fair, but that’s beside the point). They’re like the bite-size, cuter and more fun cousin of churros that churros get jealous of when they steal all the attention. They’re crispy and deep-fried and sweet and yummy and I don’t care who knows it!

Sorry. Watching too much “Elf” (or is it ever too much?).

Anyway, my point here is that sometimes you’ve got to roll with the punches. Even when the star tip on your pastry bag is the size of an eraser instead of a penny and you want churros, you can make it happen. Sure, they might not be what you’d expect, but hey, aren’t most things? And in the end, what was considered a mistake might, in fact, be a stroke of accidental genius. Or, perhaps, just a tasty mistake. Either way, my tummy is happy. And whether you make these the right way or the “wrong” way, yours will be, too.

Churro Fries
Adapted from Hy-Vee Seasons Magazine

Yields: About 40 pieces

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
vegetable or canola oil (for frying)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix together water, butter, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt and bring to a boil.
Add flour and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Remove from heat and allow to cool 10 minutes.
Add egg and vanilla, stirring well with a wooden spoon. Scoop mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a small (fries) or large (regular churros) star tip.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside. Line a large plate with paper towels and set aside.
Heat 3 inches of oil in a large saucepan to about 375 degrees F.
Pipe 4-inch logs directly into the oil and fry for about 2 minutes on each side until a deep golden brown. With a slotted spoon, scoop out churros and drain on paper towel-lined plate, then transfer to baking sheet and place in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining mixture.
In a small bowl, combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Roll churros in cinnamon-sugar mixture and serve warm.

Holy snowfall, Batman!

That’s right, we had our first snow here today (well, more like a rain/snow snot — yes, snot — but snow was involved). We also had the most insane wind gusts — so insane, that my poor umbrella became a casualty. I’d show you the remains, but I maintain respect for my beloved umbrella. Just imagine a tangled mess of wires and me, once dry, now soaking wet, my bangs in a bird’s nest-like shape. It was a lovely sight, I’m sure.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to coming home tonight and cozying up with my cat, my husband, a pair of warm socks and a tasty Indian dinner I had planned, complete with chapati.

What’s chapati, you ask? Well, that was the very question I asked the husband upon his return from India when he told me it was one of the recipes he’d learned how to make abroad. But seeing as I’m the most amazing wife ever and I just happened to have a copy of the new Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day book lying around, I decided to surprise him by making it myself.

I have to say, once I opened this book and took a peek at all the delicious recipes tucked within, I wondered if chapati — a non-yeasted, whole wheat dough — was really the way to go. I mean, I knew it would be delicious and healthy (and also happens to be the fastest recipe in the entire book, bonus!), but when mine eyes came across words like “curried sweet potato, lentil and arugula pizza,” “rainbow beet pizza,” “chicken potpie pizza,” “fougasse,” “stuffed naan” and “skillet peach pie,” I wondered if I was going in the right direction. Turns out, even the simplest of recipes in this book are out of this world.

Not that I’m surprised. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is one of my go-to books for bread recipes. Having a signature no-knead bread in your recipe arsenal is a necessity, in my opinion. You know what else is a necessity? Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. True story.

Well, good news friends. I’m giving away a copy! That way, you can make all the yummy chapati — or fougasse, or skillet peach pie — your heart desires.

So here’s the giveaway rundown. To enter, leave a comment below answering the following question: What are you thankful for this year?

Extra entries:
1. Tweet about the giveaway and attach this link: http://tinyurl.com/6qx2fvg Tell me in a separate comment that you did so.
2. Share the link above about the giveaway on your Facebook wall and tell me in a separate comment that you did so (while you’re there, become a fan of Girl Versus Dough’s Facebook page!).

And that’s it! Contest ends on Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. CST. Winner will be announced Monday, November 14.

Happy giveaway!

Update: Valerie B. is our winner. Thanks for playing, everyone.

Chapati (Non-yeasted whole wheat dough)
Courtesy of Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day

Yields: Six 6-inch chapatis

Ingredients:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tbsp oil

Directions:
Mix together the flour, salt, oil and water in a large bowl. The dough can be used right away, but is handled best when refrigerated or sitting for at least half an hour. You can also refrigerate the dough in a lidded container and use over the next 5 days.
When ready to make chapati, preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat until water droplets sizzle and skitter off the surface. Divide dough into 6 equal pieces and roll each into a ball. On a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out each piece into a thin circle about 1/16-inch thick. Cook each piece in cast-iron skillet on each side for about a minute, then lay directly over the flame of a burner on medium-high heat, using a pair of metal tongs to hold in place (I skipped this step because I have an electric stove, leaving me with softer, more supple, but equally delicious flatbreads). Turn the dough with the tongs until the dough is puffy; remove from heat. Repeat with remaining dough.

Full disclosure: I was provided with a complimentary review copy of Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day, but that’s it. Just wanting to share the love!

It’s been a long month.

I feel like I say that a lot. Or maybe, I’ve just been saying it a lot to myself these past few weeks. The truth is, I’m amazed I came out of October without a scratch or a dent on me, without dying my hair orange or learning a new shared language between me and my cat or wearing pajamas to work and forgetting to shower. The worst of it was watching entirely too much TV, but even then, I steered clear of long-winded “Real Housewives” marathons and stuck to the good stuff, like “Mad Men” (and my newest love, “Breaking Bad.” Wowza.)

You see, the husband was in India for all of October, studying up on international medicine, feasting on dal and chapati and taking obligatory awkward pictures in front of the Taj Mahal. It was tough to let him go, but knowing how much I learned and absorbed during my month-long trip to India in college, I knew it was all worth it. Plus, it was a good opportunity for me to spend time with visiting family and friends (for whom I cannot be more grateful. Seriously. If you guys weren’t here, I probably would have dyed my hair orange).

One weekend, when my dad and grandma came to visit, we headed off to the land of the Amish (aka the Amanas, aka not really the land of the Amish, but it sounds more exotic than “the land of old people eating good German food and buying overpriced antiques.”). It was there I happened upon this wonder that is buffalo wing-flavored beer bread — or a mix, that is. It was a tough call, but seeing as I’m not wont to make bread from mixes or in bread machines as much as possible, I decided I’d take the idea with me and develop it myself. And boy oh boy, I’m glad I did.

You’ll have to use your imagination a bit with this recipe. It doesn’t taste exactly, 100 percent just like buffalo wings, but the idea certainly is there. It tastes more like a meal of buffalo wings and beer mixed together than anything, which I know sounds a little gross, but if you think about it long enough, it actually sounds amazing. And with a little bit of creamy ranch dip on the side, well, who even needs actual buffalo wings, amirite? OK maybe that’s a bit too much, but you know, this stuff is good. Good enough to surprise the husband with it after he surprised me by flying home a day early. He — and this bread — are keepers, that’s for sure.

Buffalo Wing Beer Bread
A Girl Versus Dough original

Yields: 1 8-by-4-inch loaf

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups light beer
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbsp buffalo wing sauce or hot sauce
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine and stir all ingredients in a large bowl with a spatula. Pour into a lightly greased 8-by-4-inch loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes in pan, then completely out of the pan on a cooling rack before slicing or serving. Serve with ranch dip or blue cheese dip.

Hi, my name is Stephanie, and I’m a recipe collecting addict.

Hi, Stephanie.

It’s true. The recipe book in my cabinet is a serious mammoth, lurking, just waiting to devour more cut-out magazine articles, online printouts and handwritten recipes collected by word of mouth or out of my brain. The biggest section is, of course, the bread section (with, chello, dessert coming in at a close second). But the funny/sad thing is, I have maybe baked 10 percent of the bread recipes hiding in the recipe book monster. OK, it’s just plain sad.

But I’m slowly forcing myself to tackle the bread recipes, one by one, starting with this jalapeno cheddar skillet cornbread. And let me tell you, this was a perfect place to start.

Cornbread is one of those breads that takes minimal effort but has a lot of payoff. Which, methinks, is certainly the best kind. And a cornbread recipe spiced up with zesty jalapenos, sharp cheddar cheese and butter — lots and lots of BUTTAH — is one worth writing home about. Plus, it’s all baked in a cast-iron skillet so the edges get nice and crispy, but the inside is moist and — what was that? BUTTAH-y.

Mmhmm.

Calling me from the dark corners of my recipe book cabinet, this jalapeno cheddar cornbread was just begging to be the inaugural recipe to kick-start my journey through the bread section. It’s going to take some time, to be sure, but after one bite of this delicious — BUTTAH-y (OK, we’re done) — cornbread, I have to say I can’t wait to find out what else I’ve been missing all my life. Or at least since I found it in a magazine.

Jalapeno Cheddar Skillet Cornbread
Adapted from Macheesmo

Yields: About 12 triangles

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups finely stone-ground cornmeal
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 scallions, chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
2 jalapenos, one seeded and finely diced, one seeded and sliced

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and butter the inside of a large cast-iron or ovenproof skillet. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a separate large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, butter and eggs.
Stir wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Add 1 cup cheese, scallions, corn and the diced jalapeno to the batter and stir to combine. Let rest 10 minutes.
Pour batter into skillet and top with remaining cheese and sliced jalapeno. Bake until edges are a golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

I can’t tell you the next time it will rain. I can’t tell you if the way you see orange is the same way I see orange, and I can’t tell you if you’ll get a pony for Christmas.

I can’t tell you if you’re going to get the phone call for that dream job, your dream boy or your dream girl. I can’t even tell you if you’ll dream at all tonight.

What I can tell you is that this bread is delicious.

I’ve been doing a lot of realizing lately. I’ve realized that often, no matter how hard I try and no matter what I do, things don’t go as I’d planned/hoped/wished/dreamed. If they had, I probably wouldn’t even been writing this. I’d be too busy working for The New York Times. And I’d probably hate it.

Sometimes, I wish time would fast forward to that moment I’ve been wanting for so long. Sometimes, I wish time would stand still. Most of the time, though, I’m grateful that I don’t have that kind of control. There’s a plan for me, and though a lot of it is still hidden in the clouds, I know things will end up all right.

Even with baking, I’m not always sure how things will turn out. I put a bunch of tasty ingredients into a bowl, mix them up, put them into the oven and hope they come out just as tasty as they did when they went in. Sometimes, it works like a charm. Sometimes not. But that’s how life goes, doesn’t it? You’ve got to have a few bad eggs along with the good ones.

It reminds me of my favorite quote, by writer Anna Quindlen: “Life is made of moments — small pieces of silver amid long stretches of gravel.” Word. I like to think this quick bread — this jammy, tart, sweet, moist and spicy quick bread — is one delicious piece of silver.

Sorry, my inner monologue got away from me for a second there. The moral of the story is, make this bread. Perhaps it’ll be the only thing you are sure of today, but at least that one thing is mighty good.

Cardamom-Cherry Jam Quick Bread
Adapted from Better Recipes

Yields: 1 8-by-4-inch loaf

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup tart cherry jam

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan. Set aside.
In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. In a separate, medium bowl, whisk together flour, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In yet another small bowl, combine sour cream and jam. Alternately add dry ingredients and sour cream mixture into the large bowl with the butter mixture and combine, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Allow to cool in loaf pan 10 minutes before removing and placing on a cooling rack to cool completely. Serve with mascarpone cream or a hearty spoonful of extra cherry jam.

I’ve had this here blog now for about two years. It’s turned into more of a blessing than I could ever have imagined — not to mention the fact that I’ve made a lot of recipe testers happy. I am grateful for what has happened and even more excited for where my baking adventures will continue to take me. And I’m grateful that you, dear friend, have come along for the ride.

One of my most faithful readers (and avid recipe testers) was my grandfather. Grandpa Jim would always be willing to try whatever I made, even when I was a little girl working my make-believe Meadowside Restaurant (complete with a handwritten menu) at his kitchen table. That man would eat whatever I put in front of him, even if it looked like inedible green slop. I like to think that in more recent years, my recipes were a little more appetizing. But I never had any doubt that my grandfather would be willing to sample something I made. And I beamed at his approval.

Grandpa Jim died on Friday. I was there to say goodbye to him, to hold his hand and pray for him in the last few hours of his rich, full life. There is no one in my world who can fill the void that my grandfather filled, and I am heartbroken. Even as I type this, my heart crumbles and I am reduced to a fountain of tears at the thought that I can’t give him one more recipe to try. I think he really would have enjoyed these muffins.

I made these muffins at a happier time, before my grandpa was in the hospital, hooked up to cords and monitors and unconscious. I made them when I thought he’d still have a chance to eat something I’d baked, so I didn’t put much thought into deciding to make these. If I had known — if I had just known that an e-mail, a phone call, a visit, a meal I prepared would be my last with him, I would have made it more worthwhile. I would have told him how dang much I loved him, how he meant more to me than I could ever describe, how he was the most loyal, the most selfless, the most loving and caring grandfather than any granddaughter could have asked for. And I would have made him a better recipe.

But I also know that, even if these muffins were made out of anchovies and gummy worms, he’d still eat them with a smile on his face and tell me how delicious they were. Because that’s just the kind of man he was. And I will never forget that kind of love.

I don’t know how to end this. Endings are often messy, especially when they are so abrupt and unexpected — like ugly, jagged edges that pierce the very core of your being. I suppose all I can say is this: Love your loved ones like there is no tomorrow. Because sometimes, there just isn’t one. And find comfort in the knowledge that someone out there, near or far, loves you and what you have to give, whether it’s green slop or a plate of muffins.

To them, all of it is gold.

Cider Doughnut Muffins
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Yields: 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp thawed apple juice concentrate
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
2 2/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 cup milk

Topping –
3 tbsp butter
6 tbsp cinnamon-sugar mixture

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (375 degrees F if using a dark, non-stick tin). Place baking cups in a 12-cup muffin tin and lightly grease the insides. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, thoroughly whisk together butter, oil, sugars and apple juice concentrate. Add eggs, beating to combine, until mixture is smooth. Stir in baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt.
Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Stir to combine well.
Spoon or scoop batter evenly into muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted into one of the center muffins comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes.
Melt butter for topping. Dip the tops of each muffin into the butter, then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

I’ve been feeling a lot lately. Nostalgia, pain, joy, sadness, exhaustion, exasperation, peace, ambition, complacency, anxiety — it’s been quite the week, the month, the summer.

You can imagine that, with all those things floating around in my head in addition to normal day-to-day life, I’ve been doing a lot of staring into space. In short, my brain needs a break.

While I’m sure any sane person would take the opportunity for down time to read, or sleep, or go for a bike ride, or sit in front of the television all day watching a “Mad Men” marathon (which I, too, am wont to do) — when I need to decompress, I go to the kitchen. And when I need to feel comfort, I make pancakes.

These zucchini corn pancakes found themselves being made in my kitchen this last weekend, after a particularly long bout of drooling/daydreaming/wide-eyed space-staring (JOKES. About the drooling, that is. The uncomfortably long period of space-staring, not so much). I wanted to make something slightly different than the old standby, but nothing too difficult. This recipe fit the bill. And it was perfect, with crunchy sweet corn, soft, fresh zucchini and tangy sharp cheddar cheese. I topped mine with salsa and sour cream and I was done for — for the first time in a great while, I could think of nothing else but finishing my plate.

And that, my friends, is why you make pancakes when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Because for one, albeit brief, moment, all you need to — all you can — think about are pancakes. Yummy, fluffy, delicious, simple pancakes. And perhaps that will bring you more joy than anything else you’re feeling in these busy days.

Zucchini Corn Pancakes
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Yields: About 10 pancakes

Ingredients:
4 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
3 cups grated zucchini (about one large zucchini)
1 cup fresh sweet corn off the cob or frozen corn
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or your favorite cheese)
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, salt, pepper and dried herbs. Whisk to combine.
Add the zucchini, corn and cheddar cheese and stir thoroughly with a spatula.
Add the flour and stir until thoroughly combined and there are no pockets of dry flour hiding in the batter.
Heat a large cast-iron skillet or griddle to medium-high heat, adding a very small amount of oil to the skillet/griddle. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop 1/4-cupfuls of batter onto the skillet and flatten, if necessary, with the back of the scoop into a circle about 4 inches in diameter. Cook on each side about 3-4 minutes, or until a deep golden brown. Remove from skillet and transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter.
Serve warm with your favorite toppings (I’m partial to salsa and sour cream).