The Language of Flowers and Maple Doughnuts

The Language of Flowers is a book with a heroine that loves to eat, so there were many many options presented for bookcooker.  Perhaps if it was another season I would have selected another type of food that Victoria voraciously ate (roast chicken, homemade ice cream, peanut butter muffin), but since I read the book as autumn sets in, I knew immediately as I read the words that I had to make maple doughnuts Who can resist maple donuts?  While these donuts are fluffy and sweet, The Language of Flowers is a book about serious issues - foster care, homelessness, trust issues.  While these serious issues are the focus of the book, I must admit, in some ways the book reads a bit fluffy - there is a lightness to it that makes it feel a bit like one of those 80's after school specials - tough stuff turned into soap opera.   Despite that criticism, I really enjoyed the book but maybe felt a little guilty reading it.  Just like how I felt after eating one of those doughnuts.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers is a very good first novel.  The book tells the story of Victoria - a girl who was abandoned by her mother at birth and grows up in the foster care system.  The book is split into two time periods and Diffenbaugh interweaves the narratives together - Victoria when she is 9 years old and sent to live with a foster mother, Elizabeth, on a northern California vineyard and Victoria when she is 18, out of the foster care system and trying to make it one her own in San Francisco.  As a child, Victoria is a little bit wild and steadfastly refuses to trust anyone - these traits stay with her as she becomes adult.  While she as at Elizabeth's vineyard,  Victoria starts to learn about the old Victorian art - the language of flowers.  Each flower or plant has a special meaning - honeysuckle means fidelity, thistle means misanthropy.  Victoria catches on to the language of flowers and begins to express herself and her feelings for Elizabeth.  While Victoria settles in with Elizabeth and real bonds form between them, we know things do not turn out well because of where Victoria ends up at 18 - emancipated, homeless without any family or connections to support her.  Diffenbaugh creates suspense in this manner for the story of the 9 year old Victoria - we know something goes wrong and the novel builds up to this.  As an 18 year old, Victoria lives on the street, but eventually finds a job with a spunky Russian florist - Renata - and arranges bouquets according to the language of flowers.  Victoria does not pick what might be pretty but picks flowers that meet the needs of the customer - flowers that will spice up a marriage, bring love to a lonely woman, bring forgiveness to a broken relationship.  While working with Renata Victoria runs into Elizabeth's nephew Grant, who runs a flower farm that was next to Elizabeth's vineyard.  Despite her resistance to it, Victoria falls for Grant, and much drama ensues.  I really enjoyed the book and found it hard to put down.  It seemed a bit manipulative of my emotions and as I said above, a similar to an after-school special - but what elevated it for me was the inclusion of the language of flowers.  I was really intrigued with this old method of using flowers to express your emotions and made the book really unique.


 Maple Glazed Doughnuts, from Saveur Magazine
(prinable recipe)
There are two things Diffenbaugh really excels at describing - flowers and food - two things Victoria really loves.  Since she grew up in foster care, Victoria was never really properly fed until she came to Elizabeth's.  At the vineyard Elizabeth has created a warm and inviting home that is full of homey, nutritious food that Victoria scarfs down any chance she gets.  There were many dishes I was tempted to make from these portions of the book.  As an 18 year old, Victoria eats whatever she can find as she is trying to make it on her own, including what is left on people's plates when they leave restaurants.  At the beginning of their courtship, Grant invites Victoria for a doughnut dinner, and she chooses the maple doughnut first.   In a book filled with food, this is what grabbed me the most, and these are perfect for a slightly chilled fall breakfast.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (for 1 and 1/2 dozen)
2 (2/4 oz.) packages of active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk, scaled and cooled
1 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
6 tbs vegetable shortening, plus (a lot) more for frying
5 cups all purpose flour, sifted
For Glaze:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Combine yeast, 1 tbs sugar and 6 tablespoons very warm water in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  
2. Let sit for 10 minutes until yeast is foamy.
3. Add the rest of the sugar, the milk, the salt, the eggs and the shortening and mix until combined.
4. With the motor running slowly, add the flour a little at a time and mix until a dough forms.
5. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a cool dry place until doubled in size, about 1 and 1/2 hours.
6. After the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured board.  Roll dough out until it is about 1/2 inch thick.  Using a doughnut cutter or biscuit cutter, cut out rounds around 3 and 1/2 inches wide and use a smaller cutter to make whole (I used a large pastry tip to make the donut holes).
7. Place the cut donuts onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise again for about 45 minutes.
8. I like to use good ol Crisco to fry - I find it the best frying medium.  You could also use canola oil.  Fill a dutch oven or large skillet with 2 inches of oil or Crisco and heat until a thermometer reads 325 degrees.
9. Carefully drop the doughnuts into the hot oil - I used a flat slotted spatula to do so.  Cook until lightly browned and puffed up, about 3 to 4 minutes total (flipping in the middle).  Don't crowd the pan - cook 3-4 at a time.
10. Remove the golden brown doughnuts to a wire tray with paper towels underneath and let cool completely.
11. To make glaze simply whisk together the sugar, syrup, milk and salt. 
12. When cool, dip the doughnuts in the glaze and let set about 10 minutes.
13. As Homer Simpson would say... mmmm...doughnuts....