Donut Snowmen

These Donut Snowmen are a fun and festive (not to mention, delicious!) winter treat!

Pumpkin Donut Muffins

The days are getting shorter and the temperatures are dropping.  The leaves are changing and the wind is picking up.  Pumpkins and apples are dominating the market and blog-land.  Fall is here in full force!

I love to use fresh seasonal products, so I'm really enjoying pumpkins and apples right now.  I made some homemade pumpkin puree and decided to use that in this recipe.  The texture and color is slightly different from canned pumpkin puree.  Mine was a light yellow color and I strained a lot of water out of it before adding it into the recipe.  The muffins cooked up perfectly and have a subtle pumpkin flavor.  The cinnamon sugar coating gives these muffins a slight crunch and they really do taste like donuts!

Pumpkin Donut Muffins

Makes 12-16 muffins

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup buttermilk
1-1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.  Set aside.

2.  In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk and pumpkin puree.  Set aside.

3.  Place the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

4.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. 

5.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add flour mixture and pumpkin mixture alternating between the two.  Beat until just combined. 

6.  Scoop the batter evenly into greased muffin tins.  (A 1/3 cup measuring cup is perfect for this!)

7.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

8.  Let the muffins cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

9.  While the muffins are cooling, melt the butter in a small bowl.

10.  In another small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

11.  Working one a time, dip each muffin into the melted butter.  Then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture until completely coated.  Return muffins to the wire rack and cool completely.

Store leftovers in an airtight container.

Source:  Brown Eyed Baker

Banana Bread Donuts

Do you have baking moods?  I do!  Since I have Fridays off from work, I usually spend a portion of the day baking.  Sometimes I wake up knowing exactly what I'm going to bake that day and other days I have no idea what sounds fun.  On the days I don't know what to make, I'll often narrow down my choices by the ingredients I have in the house or how much time and effort I feel like putting into a recipe.

These banana bread donuts came about because I had quite a few over ripe bananas and I wanted something easy to bake.  My added incentive was using my Baby Cakes donut maker for the first time!  I also wondered how it would work to take a banana bread recipe and make it in donut form.  It turns out that it works out pretty well!  I made the batter for my Healthier Banana Bread and just poured it into the donut pans.  The taste and texture was different than the banana bread, which I found interesting!  I topped some of the mini donuts with cream cheese frosting, and it added the perfect amount of sweetness.

Healthier Banana Bread Donuts

Makes 12 donuts

You will need:
1-1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1-1/2 cups mashed bananas (approximately 3 large bananas)
4 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
cream cheese frosting

1. Whisk flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, butter, eggs, yogurt and vanilla.

3. Gently fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined.

4.  Pour batter into greased donut pans.

5. Bake at 325 for 15-17 minutes, until golden brown and a donut springs back after being touched lightly.

6.  Cool donuts slightly before transferring to a wire rack and frosting.

Source: America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Two donut recipes in the same week?  What can I say?  I told you I like donuts :) 

The original recipe made these baked donuts as donut holes.  Since I'm having so much fun with my new mini donut pan, I decided to make some mini donuts as well. 

These were a huge hit in our house!  Mike wanted to eat them all before I had a chance to even snap a picture of them.  I think they lasted about a day and a half and then they were all gone.  I can't wait to make these again!

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Makes about 24 donuts

For donuts:
1-3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup milk

For coating:
1 stick (1/2 cup) margarine
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon

1.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin, and milk.

3.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just combined.

4.  Scoop batter into greased tins. I used both mini muffin tins and my mini donut pan.

5.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6.  While donuts are baking, melt margarine in a small bowl. 

7.  Combine sugar and cinnamon in another small bowl.

8.  Allow donuts to cool for 2 minutes.  Then dip each donut first in the margarine and then roll in the cinnamon sugar.

Source: The Craving Chronicles

Baked Buttermilk Donuts

A few weeks ago I volunteered to pick up donuts and bring them to work for Mike and his co-workers.  I couldn't resist picking up a donut for myself while I was at the bakery.  That one donut struck a craving that I just couldn't kick! 

Luckily for me, I had just won a gift certificate to Michael's so one of the things I picked up was a donut pan.  As soon as I got home I pulled out the ingredients and got to work making some baked donuts.

Of course, you just can't compare baked donuts with a fried donut.  Sure, they're both delicous in their own way, but each really does have it's own flavor and texture.  And, if you're anything like me, you can justify eating a baked donut for both breakfast and a mid-morning snack because it's practically a muffin...right?

I made both "regular" sized donuts (the size from the Wilton pan) and "mini" donuts (from my Avon pan).  1 regular sized donut was equivalent to about 3 or 4 mini donuts (really, they are mini!), so of course I could justify eating 3 or 4 mini donuts at a time because it's basically like eating 1 regular one...right?

I know, my logic might be flawed...but indulge me! :)

Baked Buttermilk Donuts

Makes 24 "regular" sized donuts

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons margarine, melted

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1-2 Tablespoons water (adjust amount as needed to make a thick glaze)

1.  In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

2.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and melted margarine.

3.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

4.  Fill donut pan 3/4 of the way full (or follow the instructions for your donut pan).  These donuts do rise, so don't fill the pan to the top.

5.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, until donuts spring back when touched.

6.  While donuts are baking, mix together ingredients for the glaze.  Allow the donuts to cool before dipping the the glaze and top with sprinkles if desired. 

Slightly adapted from Wilton

Easy Donuts

Easy Donuts

I love donuts.  The other day I went to the post office and in the 10 seconds I was walking to my car, I saw 2 people carrying donut boxes from the local bakery.  Oh, what a craving struck!  I didn't give in and buy any, but when I got home and remember this recipe, I just had to make it!  It it so simple, it really takes only about 10 minutes and you can enjoy a delicious fresh donut!

You will need:
1 can of buttermilk biscuits
oil for frying
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon milk

1.  In your fryer or a 10 inch skillet (I used my skillet) pour enough oil to fry donuts.  My oil came about an inch high in my pan.

2.  Heat oil until hot enough to fry.

3.  Remove biscuits from pan and cut out the center to form a donut.  I didn't have a small enough cutter, so I used the cap to my vanilla.  It was the perfect size!  You'll end up with 10 donuts and 10 donut holes.

4.  Fry 5 donuts at a time, flipping over when donuts are brown.  Then fry donut holes.

5.  After frying, place donuts on a paper towel covered plate to drain.

6.  Allow donuts to cool while you mix together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to form a thin icing.

7.  Dip donuts into icing and place on a cookie sheet until icing hardens.

These are best eaten within a day and can be stored in an airtight container.

Donuts

Donuts (1/1/11)
My sister-in-law and her husband were over the other day and she mentioned that she wanted to make donuts. 30 seconds after she mentioned it, we were in the kitchen searching for a recipe. I wanted to make a good yeasted donuts, nice and airy, think something like Krispy Kreme. The recipe I found was called "Good Raised Doughnuts" and I thought it sounded like what I was looking for. Unfortunately, they didn't quite meet my mark for the yeasty donuts. The dough didn't rise like I thought it would and the doughnuts ended up being quite dense. They still were good, just more of a cake donut than a yeasted donut like I was looking for. Here is the recipe we used.

You will need:

2-1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 cup of milk, scalded and cooled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup sugar
3-1/2 cups flour
3 Tablespoons shortening
Powdered sugar (for covering donuts)
Cinnamon and sugar mix (for covering donuts)

1. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm milk. Set aside about 10 minutes until yeast bubbles up.

2. Add 1-1/2 cups flour and beat until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled.

3. Combine sugar and shortening.

4. Add salt, egg, and nutmeg.

5. Stir into yeast sponge.

6. Add remaining flour and beat wel.

7. Place in greased bowl and let dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled.

8. Roll dough out on floured surface to 1/2" thick.

9. Cut with donut cutter if you have one. If you don't, I used a drinking glass to cut the shape of the donut. Then I used the lid to the oil bottle to cut out the hole in the donut.

10. Let donuts rise for 45 minutes.

11. Fry in 375 degree oil. Each side of the donut only needs 2 minutes. I fry both the donuts and the cut-out centers to make donut holes.

12. After donuts have cooled, coat them with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. I find the easiest way to do this is to put the coating in a large ziploc bag, add in a few donuts, and shake until coated. I usually do 2 coats.

These donuts taste best the day they are made.

Source: Bill and Juke's "Talk of the Town" Cookbook

Donuts

Donuts (1/09/09)










The donuts are so easy to make and they are absolutely delicious!!!

You will need:
1 cup sugar
3-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups flour
2 eggs (I only had 1 egg, so I substituted 2 T applesauce for the other egg...it turned out really good)
1 cup milk
3 T melted margarine (or butter)
Oil for deep frying


1. Mix together sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and flour.
2. Beat eggs (or egg and applesauce) and stir into dry ingredients.
3. Mix in milk and melted margarine.
4. Roll dough about 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface.
5. Cut with a donut cutter. If you don't have a donut cutter, use a glass and a pop bottle cap for the center cut-out.
6. Heat oil to 375. Fry several donuts at a time (I did 4 at a time, it depends on how big your deep fryer is).
7. Drain on cooling rack or paper towels.
8. Decorate as desired...powdered sugar, cinnamon and sugar, or frosting work well.

This recipe made me 31 donuts and 34 donut holes.






Mix ingredients















Roll out dough and cut circles




















I used an old play-dough circle cutter to cut out the donut holes






























Put them in the oil
















They should flip on their own

I let the donuts drain a bit before I put them on the cooling rack