Baked Donuts

I like to wander up and down the Wilton aisle whenever I am in a store that carries their baking items.  You never know, I might find something I have to have.  Hey, look at this?

 

Pans for baking donuts.  I guess you can't exactly have a healthy donut, but a less unhealthy one sounds good to me!

I had company and that is always a good time to experiment with a recipe.  They can give a candid opinion and I don't get stuck eating too many treats all by myself.

 

Baked Donuts

2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons butter

Optional
blueberries
powdered sugar
cinnamon sugar
chopped peanuts
chocolate glaze, recipe below

 

Preheat oven to 425°.  Spray the donut pans with Pam.  Set aside.

Melt the butter and let it cool a bit.   I didn't have buttermilk, so I had to make a substitution.  I placed a teaspoon of vinegar in 3/4 cup of regular milk and let it sit while I got the rest of the ingredients together.

 

Place a sifter in a large mixing bowl and fill it with the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.  Sift.  I found a few grains of sugar that would not sift and I just dumped them in with the rest of the dry ingredients.

 

Whip up two eggs with a fork.  Add the buttermilk and pour it into the flour mixture.  Add the cooled, but melted butter and beat until just combined.

Fill each donut cup until 2/3 full and bake for 7 to 9 minutes.  The tops should spring back when gently touched. 

Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes until removing.

Glaze with chocolate or powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.

Here's what I did.

 

I made half with the plain batter and then I added 1/2 cup of blueberries to the remaining batter and filed the second donut pan. 

 

Here's what I also did.  I got the bottoms browner than the tops. 

 

I sprinkled powdered sugar on top of the blueberry donuts and I dipped the plain donuts in melted butter and then pressed them into a bowl of cinnamon sugar. 

 

Both were pretty good.

 


On another day, I turned the heat down and baked longer to eliminate the disparity between the tops and the bottoms..  They were done before they got brown.  Guess the 425° was right after all.  I didn't like the paleness of them, but they tasted OK.  I guess I'll stick with the higher temperature! 

For the topping for the pale donut,s used the Wilton recipe for chocolate glaze

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
1-2 teaspoons hot water

 

Place the chocolate chips, corn syrup and butter in a microwaveable bowl and heat on 50% power for 30 seconds.  Stir.  You may have to put it in for longer to get everything melted.  Do not over heat.

Add 1 teaspoon hot water and stir until glossy.  You may want to add another teaspoon of water if it is too thick.

 

Dip the donuts in the glaze and if you are lucky, someone will have chopped you up a 1/2 cup of peanuts.  Dip the chocolate covered donuts in the peanuts and let set for a few minutes.  You won't even notice how pale they are!

 

I don't have a particular favorite.  Just don't put in too many blueberries as it is hard for the donut to hold together when you are removing the warm ones from the pan.  And really, it is hard to beat chocolate and peanuts.  However,  the pop of warm, sweet blueberries was particularly nice.  But then, who doesn't like cinnamon sugar??