Zeppole are an Italian style ball doughnut with more variations than one could count. They can be both sweet and savory, light and fluffy or dense and cakelike.

It seems that there is little zeppole can't be - including delicious. The dinner at Tenh Penh has proved to be particularly inspirational for recipes, for it is there that I had the most delicious doughtnut I've ever had in my life.

I should add right now that I have never liked doughnuts. I'm not typically a fan of much anything that's sweet, instead favoring savory preparations or a dessert with a strong sourness or bitterness - like this Meyer lemon tart. However, at Tenh Penh I ordered a doughnut dessert just because I wanted to see how they made them.

When they arrived they were piping hot, fresh from the fryer and coated in a cinnamon sugar mixture. I have never enjoyed a doughnut quite so much as I enjoyed those little beauties.

After returning home I was still itching to have another so I set out to find just the right type of recipe. I chose, instead of a yeast recipe, a doughnut leavened with baking powder. The addition of sour cream adds not sourness, but a creamy, underlying richness and a complexity of flavor that strays far from the flat sweetness of your typical maple bar.

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What not to love about snickerdoodles? Starting with the name it's all uphill from there. How much better can you get than putting 'snicker' and 'doodle' right next to each other?

I've loved snickerdoodles for as long as I can remember. It probably started with the name, after all, this appreciation started when I was a little kid. And I know I'm repeating myself, but honestly - snickerdoodle! A person could never get tired of saying it, let alone a precocious little kid like I was.

I still think there's few cookies that beat it, although this is from a person who's really not too keen on sweets. I would most definitely pick a humble little snickerdoodle over a triple-chocolate-fudge-peanut-butter-caramel-crunch cookie, or whatever crap they're coming up with in cookie kingdom these days.

I think next time I whip up a batch of these tasty morsels I'll add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough. I really enjoy the cinnamon-sugar coating and think it could only get better with a hint if cinnamon in the dough too.

Also, though it's not something I've found a lot of, I used unbleached white whole wheat flour in the dough. It worked perfectly and I'd much rather use King Arthur's than some bleached-to-hell supermarket brand flour. Just remember when you're measuring flour, to not pack it in, use another cup to pour it into your measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. If you're still not sure what I mean by that, watch this movie from Gourmet. It's really quite shocking the difference in weights.

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I spotted this delightful cup of frozen booziness on Apple Pie, Patis, & Pâté. I had some tasty Cabernet left over from making Goat Cheese Stuffed Pork Loin and couldn't think of a better time to experiment with it.

It turned out pretty fabulous, all things considered. Some how my whole cloves mysteriously disappeared, so I was left using ground. I definitely added way too much, that's for sure. The cloves overpower nearly all the other flavors. Thankfully, I really like cloves (not quite this much, but enough) so it doesn't bother me too much. This is most definitely a recipe that's going to be made regularly throughout the summer.

I will warn you though, if you're a lightweight like me this stuff'll knock you right on your booty. I had only what you see in the glass and I was already starting to feel it. Of course, it is pretty much all booze...

Husband was having fun taking pictures while I held ice on my hand for the awesome burn I gave myself while cooking dinner.

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