Sasha's Kitchen: Superbowl Special - Turkey Chili

I really haven't eaten a lot of chili over the years - I guess I generally assumed I wouldn't like it with all those beans. But, last weekend we went over to a friends' house to watch the Jets-Patriots game and they made a delicious turkey chili. I did eventually get the recipe, but not before I attempted to replicate it with my own recipe. Remarkably, the two recipes were quite similar, and I have come up with this fusion that I will share as the perfect Super Bowl recipe. I really love the use of turkey in chili, as it is much healthier and more to my liking than the traditional meats used in chili. In addition, the toppings here are key - I used nonfat sour cream, grated cheddar cheese and sliced avocado as the toppings here, along with some tortilla chips of course. The tomatoes and beans are all from the delicious shipment of canned goods that I got from ShopRite. So this is the perfect recipe to watch the big game!

Sasha's Turkey Chili
1 T olive oil
2 medium onions, diced
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 lbs lean, ground turkey
1/4 cup ancho chili powder
2 bay leaves
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 28 oz can of while tomatoes
2 1/2 cups of low sodium chicken stock
15 oz can of white beans
15 oz can of black beans
handfull of chopped cilantro
top with grated cheddar, diced avocado and fat free sour cream

To make the chili, first heat the oil and saute the onions until light brown and tender, which should take about 10 minutes. I also added a bit of fresh red pepper here, but I think it didn't really need that. Add the oregano and cumin and stir. Increase to medium high heat and add the ground turkey, stirring to cool, and breaking it up into small pieces. Stir in the ancho chile powder, bay leaves, cocoa powder, cinnamon and a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Puree the can of tomatoes and mix in the chicken stock and the tomatoes. 

Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Towards the end of the simmering (it will reduce, like risotto), discard the bay leaves, and add the two cans of beans and simmer until the flavors are mixed together. You will want to be sure to drain and wash the beans before adding them. Serve warm, with fat free sour cream, chips, sliced avocados and grated Vermont cheddar.

Sasha's Kitchen: Superbowl Special - Turkey Chili

Sasha's Kitchen: Tri-Colored Classic Rainbow Cookies

Ahhh, rainbow cookies. These tri-colored, almond flavored cookies in the traditional pink, green and yellow colors have long been my favorite baked goods. I have been eating these since I was a kid. In my experience, Jewish bakeries and Italian bakeries will make the very best rainbow cookies. I always thought they were a Jewish tradition, but they are really Italian, and are supposed to represent the Italian flag. You can find some delicious rainbow cookies in either Brooklyn or in Manhattan's Little Italy. They're addictive and delicious, and a long-held favorite of mine. In fact, I have loved these cookies for so long, I have even received a couple of rainbow cookie birthday cakes over the years. A couple years ago, I found a great recipe for making my own rainbow cookies. I have pretty much perfected it at this point, where my cookies are bakery quality gems. This is a great and impressive dessert to bring to a party, so I wanted to share these cookies and the process to make them here. For me, these bring back memories of my childhood, since they have long been my favorite dessert.

My recipe for these cookies is derived from a 2007 edition of Gothamist article. It is a very well written piece that details a bit of the history of these cookies. I love the part where they quote the Princess Bride (one of my favorite movies)  in describing how Little Italy is mixed with Chinatown ("Never get involved in a land war in Asia") in New York. Also, I have not yet tried the rainbow cookies at Isaac's Bake Shop in Midwood (pretty far out in Brooklyn) but I do plan to make the trek out there to try them.

Rainbow Cookies
12 ounces almond paste (careful, this is not the same thing as marzipan)
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 C granulated sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
Green and red food coloring
1/4 C seedless raspberry preserves
1/2 C apricot preserves
15 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped


The first step in making these delicious and colorful cookies is making the three layers.  It is easier than you probably think it would be. Use three 12 x 8 baking pans and spray with PAM or line with parchment paper (I've always used the PAM to be honest, and it works). Grate the almond paste in your food processor. In the basin of a KitchenAid Mixer, mix the butter on medium-low speed until smooth using the paddle attachment. Increase to medium-high and add the almond paste. Beat until lighter in color, for about two minutes. Pour in the sugar and beat for another minute. Next, add the four egg yolks and vanilla and beat well to combine. Reserve the egg yolks in a bowl for the next step.  Combine the salt and flour, and slowly add to the dough in thirds, before setting aside.


In a separate bowl, with an egg mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed for about four minutes until nice and fluffy, like if you were making a souffle. You can add a bit of cream of tartar. If you remove the other stuff from before from the mixer, you can do this in your KitchenAid using the whisk attachment.


Using a spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the mixture. This is a bit tough and may take some work and time. The dough is pretty thick and dense so it is difficult to fold in the egg whites, but it can be done with a bit of effort. 

Next, divide the batter into thirds. Leave one bowl plain and dye the other two with red and green food coloring respectively. Grocery store quality food colors work perfectly for this recipe to get the colors right, rather than the fancy gel ones that I usually use with cupcakes.

Spread the layers into each of the three pans, evenly. This takes a bit of time to spread each perfectly evenly and they will seem like they are very thin, which is just fine. My husband has a lot of patience for this, so he does this part.


Bake the layers for 10-15 minutes until the layers are firm to the touch and are just the slightest bit brown. Obviously, you do not want to let the layers brown, and they are done when they are firm, and only the slightest bit brown around the edges.


Flip each layer gently out of the pan (after you allow it to cool) onto a piece of plastic wrap. This takes a bit of practice so as to keep the layers in tact. Take the green layer and spread with the raspberry jam and add the yellow layer on top of that. Then spread that layer with the apricot jam and add the pink layer on top of that. Press the layers for 15 minutes with a really heavy book, like the Beatles Anthology. Then seal the surface with a layer of apricot jam that you bring to a boil with 2 T of water. Allow to set for a half an hour.

To make the tempered chocolate, melt the chocolate using a double boiler. If you do not have one, you can use a metal bowl inside a large pot of boiling water. You will want to finely chop the chocolate before doing this, or use chocolate chips like I do. As the chocolate warms, stir until the chocolate is fully melted. But don't allow it to cook further, boil or otherwise change in chemical composition. Spread on the top and sides of the rainbow cookie layers. Allow to cool for an hour in the refrigerator and then slice into cookies. 

Sasha's Kitchen: Tri-Colored Classic Rainbow Cookies

Sasha's Kitchen: NFL Football Playoff Cupcakes

I am a much bigger baseball fan than I am a football fan. My husband and I are generally fans of the NY Giants, but we will cheer for the Jets too. Anyhow, we were invited over for dinner at some Patriots fans to watch the game tonight, and we were in charge of bringing desert. We decided to have some fun and make Jets/football themed playoff cupcakes. There's really three types here - first I made the little footballs out of fondant and added them to grass green cupcakes. Then, I made some classic Jets cupcakes, to cheer on the New York team. Finally, the last group is the football field, with all the yardlines and the field goals. They are red velvet cupcakes, and you can find my recipe on the prior link. These are the perfect treat for the big game, win or lose!

Sasha's Kitchen: NFL Football Playoff Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: Alice's Lapsang Souchong Tea Infused Chicken Sandwich & Cucumber Sandwiches

Another great recipe from Alice's Tea Cup from the new Alice's Tea Cup Cookbook - for lapsang souching tea sandwiches. These sandwiches were always my favorite for lunch or brunch in the restaurant, and the ones I made using their recipe came out just perfectly. You actually steam the chicken breasts in Chinese lapsang souchong tea, which you can buy from the Alice's website, or elsewhere.  It is a tea from the lapsang souching province in China. You have to plan ahead with this recipe, because the breasts need to marinate for two days, so just keep that in mind when you are planning your meals for the week. This is a pretty cool way to incorporate tea into a recipe that you normally wouldn't think of making with tea.

And for those of you who are longing for more of my cupcake posts, never fear, I am making Jets-Patriots football themed cupcakes for the big game tomorrow and will be posting those very soon!

Alice's Chicken Marinade
2 T lapsang souchong tea leaves
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup plus 2 T balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 small cloves of garlic, diced
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Combine the tea in 1/2 cup of boiling or hot water and allow to soak for three minutes before discarding the tea leaves by straining. Combine all the remaining marinade ingredients above, plus the tea-water and two cups of cold water. Place the chicken breasts in the marinade, and marinate for two days. The book says you can even let it go for three.

To prepare the chicken, season with 2 T of Chinese five-spice powder, salt and pepper. Using your steamer, add 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 cup plus two tablespoons of the tea leaves, and steam the chicken to cook it over the tea leaves. This will infuse the chicken with the flavor of the tea as it cooks, and it is also quite healthy. Flip the chicken breasts over about halfway through. It should take about ten minutes to cook, and you can use a meat thermometer to check the chicken, which should reach but not exceed 160. When the chicken is fully cooked, allow it to cool for about 20 minutes, before slicing thinly using a sharp knife

Alice's Herbed Goat Cheese Spread
1 small clove garlic
8 oz goat cheese
2 T cream cheese
3/4 tsp dried tarragon
3/4 tsp dried chevril (I left this out)
3/4 tsp minced fresh chives
3/4 tsp fresh thyme
pinch of salt
pink of black pepper

Roast the garlic and puree all of the ingredients for the goat cheese spread in a food processor.

Alice's Chicken Sandwich
Sliced chicken
sliced green apple
toasted bread
goat cheese spread
1 cup mesculin greens

Spread the goat cheese spread on the toasted bread and combine the other ingredients into a sandwich. the steamed tea flavored chicken is the perfect combo with the herbed goat cheese and tart green apple. My husband loved these sandwiches too!

You can also make these delicious cucumber sandwiches which are quite heathy and easy too! I dreived the simple recipe from the Alice's book.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Sliced cucmber

toasted bread

1/2 stick of butter pureed with 2 T of chives to make the chive butter spread (you will have some leftover)

Sasha's Kitchen: Alice's Lapsang Souchong Tea Infused Chicken Sandwich & Cucumber Sandwiches

Sasha's Kitchen: Chicken Pineapple Stir Fry

Here's another quick and easy recipe for a chicken dinner with a bit of tropical pineapple goodness. This is a recipe that I pretty much made up at the time, and worked out quite well. It is also easy to make, so it is perfect for a weeknight dinner. There's nothing especially breathtaking or spectacular about this dish, but it does the trick to feed your family and tastes delicious when you are juggling other responsibilities on a busy night.

Sasha's Pineapple Chicken Stir Fry
Package of chicken breasts (I used Empire)
1/3 of a cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 of worcestershire sauce
1 T lime juice
2 T dried lemongrass
1 can of diced pineapple
several handfuls of sugar snap peas
salt and pepper to season

To prepare the dish, cut of the chicken breasts in small pieces. Add to a small amount of olive oil in a non-stick stir fry pan. In addition, add the soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper, lime juice, lemongrass and worcestershire sauce to the pan and stir fry the chicken over medium heat until it is cooked through. About two thirds of the way through this process, add the pineapple and the sugar snap peas, and continue cooking until they are both cooked, but not overdone to the point where they lose their color.  Serve with coconut rice.

Sasha's Kitchen: Chicken Pineapple Stir Fry

Sasha's Kitchen: Alice's Banana Butterscotch Scones

Alice's Tea Cup is my favorite place in NYC for tea & scones. I used to go there all the time when I loved near the one in the Upper East Side. They have different scones all the time, and a huge selection of fabulous teas, as well as great salads, sandwiches and desserts. Its one of my all-time favorite brunch places, if not for the crowds and long wait at brunch time on the weekends. Their roobois coconut vanilla, chocolate mint and entire range of teas are always a delight, and I've bought many of them for use at home. Plus, the place is absolutely adorable - all decked out in the cutest Alice In Wonderland stuff.  The place is like a little girl's dreamland. I really miss living close by to Alice's (although I miss little else about living in the Upper East Side), so I was thrilled when my husband brought home a copy of the new Alice's Tea Cup cookbook. All of my favorite recipes are in there, and I couldn't wait to get started.

For dinner tonight, I made a simple cucumber tea sandwich with lemon chive butter, one of my favorite sandwiches, and banana butterscotch scones. Tomorrow night, I plan on making the Lapsang Souchong tea infused chicken sandwiches. I will share the sandwich recipe in a future post, but for this post, I will share the great recipe for scones, which is one of the things that Alice's is famous for. There are so many amazing sounding scones recipes in the book, but I decided to start with this banana butterscotch recipe. My husband wanted me to make it with chocolate chips, which I am sure would also be good - but the butterscotch chips are just perfect, and much more subtle with the banana. The recipe made a total of 16, so we will be sharing some with friends. They are perfect when served traditionally with raspberry preserves and clotted cream.

Alice's Banana Butterscotch Scones
3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp Kosher salt
1 1/2 sticks of butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used the huge bottle of Vanilla that I bought in Mexico)
1/4 cup heavy  cream (for brushing)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (for sprinkling)

Preheat the oven to 425. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Work the butter into the flour mixture with clean hands until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the banana slices and butterscotch chips and combine well. Make a well in the center of the bowl, and add the buttermilk and vanilla into the center of the well. Combine until the mixture is wet but do not knead.

Gather the dough together and pat and cut into discs about 1 1/2 inch thick. Cut apart the scones and lay them on a non-stick baking sheet. Before you bake, brush the top of each scone with heavy cream, and then sprinkle with sugar. Bake each sheet separately for about 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Sasha's Kitchen: Alice's Banana Butterscotch Scones

Sasha's Kitchen: Key Lime Raspberry Tart

I love raspberries, and pretty much any summer fruit - from strawberries to peaches. I know that raspberries aren't even remotely close to being in season on January, the dead of winter here in Brooklyn. Still, since I was able to find some pretty good sweet raspberries from FreshDirect that were available this time of year, I decided to go ahead and use them in a raspberry tart. I looked up a number of different recipes for raspberry tarts online before settling on my own variation that incorporated elements from each. I decided to go with a key lime flavor for the tart, using some key limes and key lime juice that I had. The key lime juice was great, by the way and so much easier than squeezing the juice out of those tiny little key limes (a nightmare, if I recall). I plan to use it in making key lime creme brulee next! To make a tart, you need to use a tart dish of course. I used the kind where the sides separate from the bottom of the tart dish after the tart is baked and prepared, which was the perfect tool to make a lovely berry tart.

Sasha's Raspberry Key Lime Tart
Tart
1 stick cold butter
1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup almond flour
2 tsp water

Filling
1 large egg, beaten until it is almost meringue like
2/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
3 tbsp flour
3 large eggs'1 1/4 cup buttermilk
3 T butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt
1 T key lime zest
2 T key lime juice
fresh raspberries

To prepare the tart shell, beat the butter and sugar. The add the flour and salt and beat until just combined. Then add the almond flour. Add two tsp of water and beat for about three minutes until it finally comes together into a dough. Form into a disk and refrigerate for about 45 minutes.

Roll the dough out and fit into a 10-11 inch round tart pan with a removable bottom. Refrigerate until firm, for another 20 minutes or so. Preheat oven to 325 and bake for about 30 minutes, occasionally pressing the bottom to flatten. Allow to cool when it comes out.

To prepare the filling, beat the egg while until fluffy, like if you were making a souffle. Combine the flour and sugar, and add the eggs. Fold in the egg white, until just blended. Stir in the key lime juice and key lime zest. Pour the filling into the crust and bake at 325 for another 25 minutes until the filling is set and jiggles just slightly. Allow to cool, and arrange the raspberries on the surface to top. Remove the sizes of the tart dish before serving.

Sasha's Kitchen: Key Lime Raspberry Tart

Sasha's Kitchen: Sweet Pea Pesto

Pesto time - one of my favorite pasta dishes, and each time I make a pesto, I like to try something a little bit different. A few months ago, last time I made a pesto dish, I was visiting my parents in Rochester and we made a spicy pesto with caramelized U12 scallops, which was delicious. Yesterday, I received my most recent shipment of food from ShopRite as part of the Potluck Blog Panel. Each of the shipments have a theme, and the theme this month was the 40th anniversary of the ShopRite Can-Can Sale which was a winter sale on canned food that started in the 1970s after the holidays where customers would stock up on canned food for the winter.

This is the perfect time of year for some quality canned products in the dead of winter in the northeast (hello, I think blizzard number two is coming this weekend) since fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce this time of year. I was planning on making a simple fettuccine pesto for dinner, but decided to jazz it up with the delicious can of sweet peas that I found in the box. I had never head peas in my pesto before, but it was a perfect combination and a wholesome and delicious dish. I made my pesto from scratch. I like to experiment with different pestos, including a hazelnut pesto, but this time I did a traditional basil pesto. If you wish, you could add caramelized scallops to this dish, but I kept it vegetarian this time, and mixed in some goat cheese, which adds a light and creamy texture to the pesto and is much healthier than heavy cream.

Sasha's Sweet Pea Pesto
Bunch of fresh basil, stems removed
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
4 oz fresh vermont goat cheese, crumbled
fresh pasta (I bought fresh fettuccine rather than the boxed kind for this recipe)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of ShopRite little gem sweet peas

First prepare the pesto in a food processor by pureeing the olive oil with the basil and pine nuts until smooth. Set aside and cook the pasta and warm up the sweet peas in a pot. Mix in the sweet peas and goat cheese with the pasta, and mix the pesto to coat. That's it - this is a nice and easy dish which is perfect for wintertime and is simple, easy and heathy, too!

Sasha's Kitchen: Sweet Pea Pesto

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Weird but delicious BBQ sauce

Sorry I don't have my own pictures for this one; it was seat-of-the-pants -- but so delicious, I just had to share!

I've been going through the old ingredients in my pantry, seeking things I haven't used in a while to clear out. The new year and all...

I knew I had some dried tamarind pods, but while seeking those (which I was able to revive and clean the pod casings off of by dipping them in hot water -- any suggestions on what to do with them?), I found some rolled guava paste from Trader Joe's.
Which, not incidentally, is probably my favorite chain store ever, but I live no closer than 350 miles from one, which depresses me. Another hit against Idaho, which this year is slightly redeeming itself by having remarkable skiing and increasingly impressive restaurants in Sun Valley. Come visit!

The guava paste was pretty dried out -- I was a little scared to look at the expiration date, so I didn't, but they *were* individually wrapped. I put four of the little rolls (about half an inch by 1.5 inches each) in a small bowl and topped them with boiling water to attempt a rehydration.
They sat in that for several hours as I finished work, then went in a tiny Cuisinart blender with about half a cup of orange juice. It took a lot of chopping and grinding to get the guava rolls to achieve a smooth texture, and more to get the same texture out of the large chipotle pepper (canned in adobo) that I added after realizing the mixture was just too sweet. I also added a few grinds of salt and pepper and about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar somewhere in there for umami.

In a large stainless steel skillet, I heated olive oil and a dash of salt on medium high until a drop of water sizzled, then tossed in some boneless chicken breasts (because of their large size, I cut one into three pieces and the other into two pieces lengthwise). I seared them on both sides, then poured on the guava sauce, reduced the heat to medium, and cooked until the chicken was done.
Then I poured in about 3/4 cup chardonnay to deglaze the pan, and let it boil down for oh, three minutes or so before plating atop the chicken. Thinking back, a light red wine might have been a richer choice, but I liked the clean flavor the white gave the sauce.

Meanwhile, I cooked quinoa in our *amazing* wedding-gift rice cooker. Which I believe is the first time I've cooked quinoa in my adult life -- but it worked out remarkably well, despite smelling odd during the first half of the cooking time. With the Costco-sized bag of dried quinoa I just opened, this IS happening again.

In a small saucepan, I melted 1/2 tablespoon of butter and two large pressed cloves of garlic. I added about a cup of organic canned corn, a little salt and pepper, and some fresh thyme from the plant the husband and I were given by the B&B where we spent our short honeymoon, which has survived on the windowsill despite minus temps outside.
Then after a few minutes, a few tablespoons of half and half. I'd have used cream, but this was a spur-of-the-moment dish, and I had to go with what was in the fridge.
The corn mix went on top of the quinoa...

...and the result was -- DELICIOUS.
The barbecue sauce was hot, sweet, umami-esque, perhaps the best non-tomato-based BBQ sauce I've ever had. The corn mix on the quinoa an excellent creamy foil.
I think the only thing that would have made it better would have been a spicy greens salad on the side for a fresh, crispy bite, or perhaps some pickled radishes.

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Weird but delicious BBQ sauce

Sasha's Kitchen: Coconut-Lemongrass Sole with Pineapple-Mint Salsa

A healthy fish recipe to start the new year. I made this recipe using sole, but you could use any whitefish, such as halibut or Chilean Sea bass. This is a simple, tropical inspired fish dish, which was perfect for a busy week night. My favorite way to cook sole is a sole meuniere, which involves a thick butter and white wine sauce. But this is almost as good and much healthier. This was my first meal that I made after returning from vacation in Mexico where the food was nothing special (we stayed at an all-inclusive place, so there was a lot of it, but nothing to brag about). Today was the first day back at work for the new year after a long vacation over the holidays, always a tough day to come back from vacation!

Sasha's Coconut Lemongrass Sole with Pineapple-Mint Salsa


2 filets of sole (or halibut, flounder or chilean sea bass)
1 1/4 cups of light coconut milk
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 T lime juice
1 tsp sesame oil
2 T diced lemongrass
1 cup diced pineapple
2 T diced mint
1 diced green pepper
1 tsp lime juice (for the salsa)

Combine the coconut milk, soy sauce, lime juice, sesame oil and diced lemongrass to make the marinade. Season with salt and pepper.  Add the fish and allow to marinate for 4 hours.

Combine the diced pineapple, mint, lime juice and diced pepper for the salsa. Set aside. Cook the fish - you can add a little but of butter if you like (I didn't this time though).  I cooked the fish at 300, for about 30 minutes. Top with the pineapple-mint salsa.

Sasha's Kitchen: Coconut-Lemongrass Sole with Pineapple-Mint Salsa

Sasha's Kitchen: Spiced Pumpkin Doughnut Holes

Sorry for the lack of recent posts - I had set up a few things to post while we were vacationing with the family in Cancun, and haven't had a chance to cook since I got back, although I plane to resume that this weekend. In the meantime, here's wishing everyone a happy new years. I know we all have our new years wishes and dreams that have eluded us in 2010, so here's hoping that all of our wishes come true in 2011. In the meantime, I will share a recipe for pumpkin spice doughnuts for some new years indulgence. I made these about a month ago, after trying another recipe that didn't work out very well. These were delicious, although I recommend cutting the recipe in half, unless you are making them for a party (it definitely made more than 12!). It's not fall anymore, but pumpkin is still good in the winter and these are a great variation on traditional doughnut holes or beignets. I got the recipe from Daily Candy, and it is a winner.

Spiced Pumpkin Doughnut Holes
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tsp butter, room temperature
2 large egg yolks
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree (unsweetened and unspiced)
Canola oil for frying

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a bowl. With your stand mixer, beat the sugar and butter until smooth, at medium speed. Stream in the buttermilk and beat in the pumpkin puree. Fold in the dry ingredients, blending gently. Chill the dough for three hours. Lightly flour your countertop and cut dough into 1 inch discs - you can knead into doughnut hole shapes, which is what i did. Line two baking sheets with paper towels. Pour the oil into your deep fryer, or tall pot to a depth of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches, or high enough to cover the doughnut holes. Attach a thermometer and heat oil to 365 to 370. Fry the doughnuts until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to the paper towels to drain, using a slotted spoon. Roll in a mixture of confectioner's sugar and cinnamon, and serve warm. Happy New Years!

Sasha's Kitchen: Spiced Pumpkin Doughnut Holes