Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 4

Stamped as one of the recipes served at the Magnolia Table restaurant in Waco, the Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese strips was almost certain to be a crowd pleaser. And, after being put to the test, most certainly was. With Charlie out of town, my brother, sister-in-law, and a host of their college friends joined my table for a Sunday dinner of soup and grilled cheese, which got many raving reviews. While this soup can be edited to be more or less blended, it boasts of a rich, yet gentle texture bursting with basil flavor. By far one of the easiest recipes that I have made from this cookbook so far, the Tomato Soup is quick to whip up and very easy to serve for a large crowd. I ended up doubling the recipe to ensure that it thoroughly fed hungry college students and we had plenty, even for seconds.

Crowd Average Rating:

With many opinions and a variety of scores ranging from a 10 to a 7, this Tomato Basil Soup With Grilled Cheese Strips got an average score of 8.5! I was very impressed with this soup and believe that it really does deserve the 8.5 rating. While I would not necessarily change anything for next time, we had a couple of comments that said it could include more or less basil, be more or less savory or that it could be more or less blended. I think it truly depends on your personal preference, but definitely could be tailored to most appropriately fit your tastes.

Similarly, after a few meals of leftovers (since I had doubled the recipe), Charlie and I used the final remaining soup as a base for pasta sauce, and it was delicious! With just a few additions of fresh cut tomatoes, it makes a delicious sauce that we certainly will have again.

Regarding the Vanilla Cake Donuts With Maple Glaze, I a little unsure of how they would go. I have never made donuts before, and without a picture in the cookbook to shoot for, I was excitedly, yet somewhat unsurely, jumping into this recipe. In the end however, they turned out to be wonderful! Soft, fluffy, perfectly sweet, and so fun to make, these donuts are wonderful for a chilly Saturday morning with a hot cup of tea or coffee. While the recipe says that it makes about 1 dozen donuts, we ended up with closer to 18 donuts, which was the perfect amount for the delicious maple icing quantity. Since they are best within the first day or two, we made a couple of donut deliveries to our neighbors as well.

Crowd Average Rating:

Just 1 point behind the Tomato Soup, these Vanilla Cake Donuts came in with an average score of 7.5. Again, much like the soup, there were a variety of opinions that could affect how you might want to make these in the future. Charlie’s and my favorite part was the maple glaze that ribboned down over the donuts, however it was the least favorite part of one of our neighbors, so you certainly could tailor them to fit your crowd. One edit I might make for the future would be to include a little bit more vanilla. While the vanilla bean paste is a bit of an investment, in the future I might include 2 teaspoons of the paste to give a stronger vanilla flavor. Either way however, we really enjoyed these donuts and certainly would add them to special Saturday breakfasts.

• Buttermilk
• Garlic powder
• Chicken
• Vegetable oil
• Eggs
• All purpose flour
• Honey

• Poppy seeds
• Lemon
• Orange
• Brown sugar
• Ground black pepper
• Kosher salt

• Butter
• Russet potatoes
• Garlic
• Heavy cream
• Whole milk
• Gruyere cheese
• Chives