doughnuts

I recently bought a doughnut pan and it is so awesome! And fun! These doughnuts are baked, not fried, which is great because who wants to deal with a big pot of hot oil for frying doughnuts at home? Not me.

I made one batch of batter and ended up with three variations of doughnuts: chocolate glazed, powdered sugar, and cranberry pecan. The chocolate glazed doughnuts were most popular by far.

Baked Doughnuts (basic recipe)

2 cups cake flour
3/4 sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp melted butter


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.With a wire whisk, add the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Don't overmix the batter; beat only until combined. Fill the cavities in the doughnut pan about 2/3 full. Bake about 8 minutes until they rise and turn light golden. Let the doughnuts cool in the pan for a few minutes, then flip them out onto a rack to cool completely.


Chocolate Glaze:
In a glass bowl, melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp corn syrup in the microwave. Stir often to prevent the chocolate from burning, until it's melted and smooth. Add a tsp of hot water if the glaze is too thick. Immediately glaze the doughnuts by dipping them in the warm glaze. 


Other ideas:
- Melt 2 tbsp butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix 2 tbsp sugar with 1 tbsp cinnamon. Dip doughnuts in the melted butter, then roll in sugar until completely coated.
- Put some icing sugar into a Ziploc bag; add doughnut, shake to coat. Repeat with remaining doughnuts (works best if you do them one at a time).