Thursday, August 11, 2011

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts


A couple of years ago I saw an article in Family Circle magazine about baking doughnuts in the oven.  I had never even thought of it.  We love doughnuts but I'm not up to deep frying very often so we mostly never make them.  Well this year for our anniversary my husband gave me a set of doughnuts pans.  We have tried a bunch of recipes and I have found a couple of things that are critical when baking doughnuts.

How to make awesome baked doughnuts

1.       Do not overfill the doughnut pan; fill each doughnut mold 2/3rds full.  Even if you have a little extra batter and you are thinking it won’t hurt.  It will. Don’t do it. 
2.      Use a zip lock bag to fill the doughnut molds.  Spoon batter into a gallon Ziploc bag, squeeze the air out and seal.  Using scissors snip one of the bottom corners to create a pastry bag.  Pipe the batter into the prepared doughnut pans.     This is an easy and relatively mess free way to ensure even filling of the doughnut molds.
3.      Batter should be thick.  These are cake doughnuts so in my mind I thought the batter should be like cake batter, I was wrong.  It should be thick almost like sugar cookie dough.
4.      Doughnuts don’t take very long to bake.  The hole in the middle really cuts down on baking time so watch them carefully. 
5.      To add toppings(cinnamon sugar, nuts, coconut, sprinkles) to doughnuts you either need to frost them or butter them.  Then the toppings will stick to the frosting or the butter.  



 Baked Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts

     2 cups flour
     2/3 cup sugar
     2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
     1/2 teaspoon salt
     1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
     1 large egg  (1 tablespoon powder eggs plus 2 tablespoons water)
     1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
     6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
     1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Cinnamon-Sugar Topping
     1/2 cup sugar
     1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
     2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Heat the oven to 375°.  Spry the doughnut pans with cooking spray and set aside. Measure the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl and combine them with a whisk. In a medium-size bowl, whisk the egg until it's frothy. Blend in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid mixture. Using a wooden spoon, mix the batter just until it's evenly blended.  The batter should be thick.  Spoon batter into a gallon Ziploc bag, squeeze the air out and seal.  Using scissors snip one of the bottom corners to create a pastry bag.  Pipe the batter into the prepared doughnut pans.  Do not over fill, fill each about two-thirds full.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes, then remove them from the cups.   Mix the sugar and the cinnamon in a small bowl. Melt the butter and transfer it to a separate small bowl. Set both bowls next to the doughnuts. Working one at a time, quickly dip the tops in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon sugar, rolling each in all directions to cover the entire top. If you'd like more topping, roll them in the cinnamon sugar for a second time while they're still warm. Serve immediately. Makes 6 large doughnuts.

I added this post to Melt in your Mouth Monday.