doughnuts

December 8, 2015

RBE // Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake Doughnuts.

I’m very fortunate and grateful to be able to say that I had a good childhood. In fact, one of my fondest childhood memories involves doughnuts. [Then again, any memory that involves doughnuts should be classified as a good one!]

chocdonescover — {Yes, we made a “D” doughnut. D is for Dani, Darcie, and Doughnuts!}

When I was a kid, nearly every Sunday before or after church, my parents would take us to this little local doughnut shop called Royal Donut. And every time we went there, I always consumed three doughnuts in one sitting (RIP Darcie’s childhood metabolism). Out of the three doughnuts I snarfed down, one of them had to be a double chocolate fried cake doughnut. Yes, every time I visited this doughnut shop (which was frequently), a double chocolate was a requirement.

clearglazedchocdone — {Doughnut with clear glaze.}

These fried chocolate cake doughnuts are reminiscent of my childhood. My favorite recipes are those that tend to have some kind of sentimental value. Whether the recipe is one that I actually did grow up making, or if the recipe reminds me of something I ate as a kid, there’s just something extra special about these kinds of recipes.

My roommate, her boyfriend, and I whipped up these doughnuts as an “RBE” (roommate baking endeavor) one Sunday a few months back. While I didn’t like them quite as much as I enjoy the old-fashioned sour cream doughnuts, this chocolate version is still pretty fantastic. They’re rich and cakey, and they fry up beautifully. The glaze is probably what makes them, as it seals in the moisture. We made a clear glaze to dip the entire doughnut in, plus I had to make a slightly thicker chocolate glaze to go on top of some doughnuts. The end result reminded me of my childhood, and I think that’s my favorite part about these doughnuts. I wish I could still inhale three doughnuts and not gain ten pounds, but alas. It’s still super neat that you can fry up a relatively small batch of doughnuts in your own kitchen – and let it take you back to your childhood.

doneholetrio — {Cute little doughnut holes!}

chocdonesaerialview — {An aerial view of our dones.}

Isn’t it just beautiful how recipes and food can evoke so many pleasant memories? <3

doublechocsprinkles — {This is the doughnut that basically symbolizes my childhood: A fried chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate glaze + sprinkles.}

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Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake Doughnuts.

Yield: About fourteen doughnuts, plus doughnut holes.

Ingredients:
For the doughnuts:
– 2 cups (226 grams) cake flour [We used a cake flour substitute.]
– 1/2 cup (40 grams) cocoa powder
– 1 1/2 tsp.baking powder
– 1 tsp. fine salt
– 3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
– 1/2 cup granulated sugar
– 3 TSBP. unsalted butter, at room temperature
– 2 large egg yolks
– 1 cup (full fat) sour cream
– Canola oil, for frying
– Equipment needed: deep-fry thermometer
For the clear glaze:
– 3 1/2 cups (350 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
– 1 1/2 tsp. light corn syrup
– 1/4 tsp. salt
– 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
– 1/3 cup hot water

For the chocolate glaze:
– 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
– 4 TBSP. unsweetened cocoa powder
– 3 TBSP. milk or water
– 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

Make the doughnuts:
1. In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until a sandy consistency is achieved. Add the egg yolks, and mix until light and thick.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl in three editions, alternating with the sour cream, and ending with the dry mix. The dough will be pretty sticky.
4. Once the cohesive dough has formed, remove the dough from the mixer bowl and form a disc of dough on a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap up the dough tightly, and chill for at least one hour, or until it’s a bit more firmed up.
5. When ready to make the doughnuts, roll out the chilled dough to about a 1/2 inch thickness. Use a doughnut cutter (or two different sized biscuit cutters) to cut out as many doughnuts as possible. Dip the cutters into the flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking. {Note: Don’t worry about imperfections; these things are not meant to look perfect.}
6. Pour two inches of canola (or vegetable) oil into a heavy-bottomed pot, and attach the thermometer to the pot. Heat the oil to 325 degrees F.
7. Fry the doughnuts a few at a time; be careful to not overcrowd the pot. You’ll need to fry each doughnut on each side for about two minutes. Allow the doughnuts drain on a paper bag to soak up the excess grease.

Make the glazes:
1. For both of the glazes, the process is basically the same: Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a whisk until smooth. Feel free to add a bit of corn syrup to the chocolate glaze for extra smoothness/shine.
2. As your doughnut are fried, immerse each doughnut into the glaze of choice.
3. Place the glazed doughnuts on a wire rack above a sheet pan to catch any excess glaze. Allow them sit for 20 minutes until glaze is set.
4. Doughnuts are best served the day they are made, but may be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for a few days. Enjoy!

+ Old-fashioned chocolate doughnuts recipe from Handle the Heat.
+ Chocolate glaze recipe from Joy the Baker.

April 2, 2015

Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts.

Oh man. These doughnuts. I just love them. I was fortunate enough to try them several months ago when my roommate made them for two other girls and myself. I think I exclaimed, “Holy crap, that’s GOOD!” when I first tried them. So I asked my roommate if we could make them together as a Roommate Baking Endeavor [RBE] sometime, and that’s what we did last weekend.

heartdonuts — {I found a heart-shaped doughnut (?) cutter that my aunt shipped me from an antique store in Colorado, so of course I knew I needed heart-shaped doughnuts!}

These doughnuts are just like what you’d get at a doughnut shop if you were to order an old-fashioned, fried cake doughnut. Except they’re better. They are also incredibly easy to make [Minus the frying part – that still scares me a bit, but my roomie is responsible for most of the frying duty, and she’s got it down pat.]… Plus it’s just plain cool to know that you can make doughnuts at home! I would not advise eating these on a regular basis, as they’re not remotely healthy. But hey, everything in moderation, amirite?

donutholes — {Doughnut holes on a scale!}

These are seriously an amazing treat! They are light, cakey, and the nutmeg flavor just adds a lovely oomph to them, if you know what I mean. The glaze is also what makes these; it seals in the moisture and they just melt in your mouth. If you’ve got some spare time on the weekend, just TREAT YOSELF. That’s all I’ve gotta say.

donecloseup — {Mmm. Those beautiful innards.}

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Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts.

Yield: It really depends on how small/large you cut your doughnuts; it can vary.

Ingredients:
For the doughnuts:
– 2 1/4 cups (255 grams) cake flour [Note: You can also substitute all-purpose flour sifted with cornstarch; Google a substitution method for more details.]
– 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
– 1 tsp. salt
– 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
– 1/2 cup granulated sugar
– 2 TBS. unsalted butter, at room temperature
– 2 large egg yolks
– 1/2 cup sour cream [full fat]
– Canola oil, for frying

For the glaze:
– 3 1/2 cup (350 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
– 1 1/2 tsp. corn syrup
– 1/4 tsp. salt
– 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
– 1/3 cup hot water

Instructions:
For the doughnuts:
1. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg into a bowl. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until they form a sandy consistency. Add the egg yolks, and beat until the mixture is light but thick.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, alternating with the sour cream. You should have about three additions total; be sure to end with the flour. The dough will be sticky; this is normal. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and chill for at least an hour.
4. Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness on a floured surface. Use a doughnut cutter [or two different sized biscuit cutters] to cut out all of your doughnuts. Dip your cutters in flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking. You should get approximately twelve doughnuts and holes, but again, we found that this varies.
5. Pour two inches of canola oil into a pot with a thermometer attached. Heat the oil until it’s reached about 325 degrees F. You may need to monitor the temperature of the oil, depending on your stove. Just use caution, as the oil temperature can change very quickly.
6. Fry several of the doughnuts at a time, but be careful to not overcrowd the pot. Each doughnut should take about two minutes on each side to fry; be careful to not let them burn. Allow the cooked doughnuts to sit on a paper bag to soak up the excess grease.

For the glaze:
1. Whisk all of the ingredients in a bowl until a smooth glaze forms.
2. Immerse each doughnut into the glaze, and place them on a wire rack above a sheet pan to catch excess glaze. Allow the doughnuts to sit for about twenty minutes until the glaze is set. Note: Doughnuts are the best served the day they’re made, but these doughnuts keep well for several days in an air tight container at room temperature.

– Recipe from Handle the Heat.

January 7, 2015

Baked Maple Bacon Doughnuts.

Have you ever tasted something that was kinda ridiculous? And by ridiculous, I mean rich, simultaneously savory and sweet, and just plain awesome all at once?

If you haven’t experienced that kind of intense taste, then I feel bad for you, son. But there’s good news: you can make these baked maple bacon doughnuts, and then you too can experience that culinary ridiculousness/awesomeness.

maplebacondones_cover

The moment I spotted these doughnuts on Tracy’s blog, I started drooling [except not really, because that imagery is kinda gross]. Of course, I immediately pinned the recipe. As usual, I forgot about it. Then a week or so ago, I finally got the courage to make the doughnuts. And as soon as I took them out of the oven, I knew they were gonna be amazing.

Some people think that putting bacon on sweets is kinda weird. And perhaps it is, but it is actually quite tasty. It’s that savory and sweet combination. To me, it’s one of those things that you just have to try to believe in. I believe in putting bacon on baked goods. There, I said it. I mean, I used to be apprehensive, but now that I’ve seen the light… I’m okay with it.

And these doughnuts, well, they’re basically browned butter cinnamon doughnuts, so they’re rich and sweet to begin with. Topping them with homemade maple glaze and bacon just takes them to the next level.

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Baked Maple Bacon Doughnuts

Doughnut Ingredients:
– 1 cup all-purpose flour
– 3/4 tsp. baking powder
– 1/4 tsp. baking soda
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
– 1/3 cup granulated sugar
– 2 TBS. unsalted butter
– 1 large egg
– 1/2 cup buttermilk
– 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Maple Glaze Ingredients:
– 1 cup powdered sugar
– 2 TBS. maple syrup [gotta be real, none of that Aunt Jemima garbage!]
– 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
– 1-2 TBS. whole milk [I used 2%, which works just fine]
– 5 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled [I baked mine; see this nifty method on The Kitchn for more details on baking your bacon!]

Instructions:

Make the Doughnuts:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and grease your doughnut pan. Set pan aside.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Set the dry mixture aside.
3. Over medium-low heat, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Continue cooking it until it starts to brown. It will begin to smell nutty; remove it from the heat and allow it to cool. Watch it closely; it can burn very easily.
4. Mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl: the egg, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Add the browned butter once it’s cooled, and whisk the wet ingredients altogether.
5. Next, add the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients. Stir together until well-combined; there should be no bits of flour remaining [but be careful to not overmix the batter].
6. Transfer the batter to a piping bag or a plastic ziplock bag. Snip the tip of the bag with scissors and pipe the batter into each doughnut cavity.
7. Bake doughnuts for about 8-10 minutes; do not allow them to over-bake. Remove them from the oven, and let them cool briefly in the pan before removing to put on a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Glaze:
1. While the doughnuts are cooling, make the glaze: mix the powdered sugar with the maple syrup and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Add milk to thin out the glaze as necessary. [I had mine too thin for my liking; next time I will allow it to be a bit thicker.]

2. Next, dip doughnuts in glaze to coat, or spoon glaze over each doughnut. Sprinkle bacon crumbles on top of each doughnut while the glaze is still wet. Store doughnuts in an airtight container for up to two days [they’re best the day they’re made, though]. Enjoy!

Recipe from Tracy of Shutterbean.

finaldone
Yes.

October 6, 2014

Baked Cookies ‘N Cream Chocolate Donuts.

[Cookie graphic designed by José Manuel de Laá, from The Noun Project. Graphic colored/edited by me.]

Real talk of the day: I’m not a big fan of Oreos. And oddly enough, I don’t recall ever eating them all that often when I was a kid.

Now, before you write me off as crazy, let me be specific: I don’t hate Oreos or anything. I mean, they never did anything to me [except they kind of leave a stain on my teeth/around my mouth after I eat them]. But I’ve just never understood what all the fuss is about.

Despite the fact that I’m not exactly wowed by Oreos, I get the occasional strangely fierce craving for anything related to that “cookies ‘n cream” combination. I don’t know why; I guess I’m just a weirdo. But honestly, what’s not to like about the quintessential cookies ‘n cream combination? It’s a pretty glorious combo, even if you – like me – don’t necessarily love Oreos.

I guess one of my random cookies ‘n cream cravings must have kicked in recently. Because when I saw these baked cookies ‘n cream chocolate donuts on Tessa’s blog, I instantly added it to my Pinterest board. And I added them to my “to bake” queue, then I made them top priority. That was definitely one of my more wise decisions. 😉

Baked donuts are just so fun to begin with, and these donuts are rich and chocolatey, so that makes them exponentially more awesome. The icing is thick and sweet, and it pairs well with the donuts for that awesome cookies ‘n cream taste combination. The crushed cookies on top just take these donuts to the next level of awesomeness. So if you’ve got a donut pan, you need to make these as soon as humanly possible. And if you don’t have a donut pan, get yourself one so you can make baked donuts!

One other note of importance, then we’ll get to the recipe: back in August, the roomie’s sister got her a mini donut pan for her birthday. I had the honor of using it first for these donuts. Now we’ve got awesome miniature donuts plus regular-sized donuts! Awesome? Awesome. [Side note: I’ve used the word “awesome” a lot in this post… I think I need to work on expanding my vocabulary a bit. Haha.]

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Baked Cookies ‘N Cream Chocolate Donuts
Yield: The original recipe says twelve donuts, but I got more than that. I did regular-sized donuts and miniature donuts. Maybe my regular donut pans have smaller cavities? I’m not sure if the pans are universally sized.

Ingredients:

Donuts:
– 2/3 cup cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
– 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
– 1 cup packed light brown sugar
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 3/4 teaspoon salt
– 2 large eggs
– 3/4 cup milk
– 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
– 2 teaspoons white vinegar
– 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Glaze + Topping:
– 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
– 4 tablespoons milk
– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 8 Oreo cookies, crushed

Instructions:

Make the Donuts!
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, and grease two standard (six cavities per pan) donut pans. [Note: I find that it’s important to grease the pans well, or you will have issues getting the donuts out once they’re baked.]

2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl (cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt). Mix together the wet ingredients (eggs, milk, vanilla, vinegar, and butter) in a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir until combined.

3. Put the batter into a piping bag [or a Ziplock bag with the corner cut off] and pipe it into the donut cavities, filling them about 3/4ths of the way full. Gently tap the pan on the counter to get the batter to settle a bit.

4. Bake the donuts for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the donuts to cool for several minutes, then pop them out of the pan to cool on a rack.

Make the Icing!
1. Add the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a medium bowl and whisk until combined. The icing will be very thick – this is okay. Dip the tops of the donuts into the icing, or spread a thick layer on them.

2. Sprinkle the donuts with the crushed Oreos. Stand back and admire these glorious donuts. [Note: these donuts will keep in an airtight container for up to two days. You can also nuke them in the microwave for about fifteen seconds to refresh them.]

Recipe from Tessa at Handle the Heat.

Yaaaaasss.

September 22, 2014

The Great Fried Doughnut Experiment.

Oh man, I totally meant to get this post cranked out a lot sooner than now. The Great Fried Doughnut Experiment – as I have lovingly dubbed it – occurred all the way back on Labor Day [where the heck did September go, anyway?]. But then time got away from me, and then WordPress {what powers this blog} kept having technical issues, and I was too lazy to troubleshoot said issues. Yeah, I know I’m a punk.

Yay for pretty doughnut graphics.
{Original doughnut graphic from The Noun Project; designed by Jacob Halton, and edited by me.}

No more excuses. The time to talk about these amazing doughnuts is right meow. Before I begin, I want to mention that this is going to be a slightly atypical post. And by atypical, I mean that I’m not going to post the entire recipe and instructions. Instead, I’m going to share photos, our experience with making the doughnuts, and some lessons learned/tips. Okay, disclaimer is over. Let’s do this.

This doughnut recipe comes from the infamous Pioneer Woman. If you haven’t heard of her, you probably need to reevaluate your life choices. Anyway, I found this recipe on her website back in 2010. I was obviously intrigued – I mean, c’mon, these are homemade doughnuts. But I mentally filed away the recipe because – to be perfectly honest – it intimidated me. Yeast dough. Hot oil. Sounds like the potential for a disaster to me.

We glazed our doughnuts, then rolled some of them in cinnamon sugar and topped others with chocolate glaze. I’d highly recommend experimenting with your glazes/toppings.

Fast forward to summer 2014, and I’m now living with a new roommate in the Lou [Hi, Dani!], and it just so happens that she also likes to bake [best roommate situation ever]. And one fine day awhile back, Dani asked me if I’d be willing to attempt some fried yeast doughnuts with her at some point. I told her I was definitely down for that, but admitted that I’m a wimp and that the doughnuts kinda sorta intimidated me.

Then one day we officially decided that The Great Fried Doughnuts Experiment was going to be our Labor Day project. So we spent the entire morning of our lovely day off making doughnuts [and I gotta give credit where credit is due – Dani’s mom also helped us out a bit].

I’d like to pause for a moment to dedicate this picture to my SIUC lady friends. Because SPRANKLES.

And you know what? It really wasn’t that bad. Maybe working with another person made everything less terrifying, but I was pleasantly surprised. {Yes, I realize that this is coming from someone with a freakin’ KitchenAid mixer tattoo on her arm, but hey, they really are doable. I swear.}

These doughnuts are light, fluffy, delicate, and sweet. They’re certainly not calorie-free, but screw calorie counting anyway. The doughnuts are not bread-y, and they’re not dense; they are perfect. The doughnuts are what I’d expect to find in a spectacular doughnut shop.

Check out the interior of that doughnut. It’s so fluffy!! Also, I need to paint my nailz a pretty color.

I think it goes without saying that The Great Fried Doughnut Experiment was an astounding success.

Coffee and doughnuts were made for each other. I’m also in love with that little ‘d’ mug from Anthro. ‘D’ is for Darcie, and perhaps more importantly, ‘D’ is for DOUGHNUTS!

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Homemade Glazed Doughnuts

I’m not going to attempt to reinvent the wheel when it comes to writing up this recipe; The Pioneer Woman already did a pretty awesome job at making step-by-step directions. If you’d like the recipe, you can get it from Ree, The Pioneer Woman. Instead, I’ll offer our tips/”lessons learned” from our experiment.

[Apologies for the not-so-great iPhone photos. I figured getting my fancy camera and brand new lens that close to hot oil was a bad choice.]

The Process:
[1] We cut out the dough into the doughnut shapes so that they could rise on the cookie sheets. We also put wax paper plus a bit of flour on the sheets to prevent the dough from sticking. You could also use parchment paper.
[2] The doughnuts have risen; you can see how puffy they look. They’re very light. And also fragile, so handle them with care.
[3] Frying one side of the doughnuts.
[4] Almost done frying! Look at that golden brown color!

Tips/Tricks for Doughnut Success:
– Create a system for efficiency: You’re going to need to create an assembly line type of system to work this properly. For example, before you go tossing all of the doughnuts into the hot oil, try frying just one doughnut as a trial run. Also, I’d argue that this project is really a two person job. I think it might be too hard to multitask with the frying/glazing process by myself.

– Monitor the oil temperature very closely: The temperature of your oil and how consistent it stays is really dependent on your stove. Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature, and be very adamant about checking it constantly. Frying oil is a little tricky, and you do need to exercise caution.

– Experiment with different toppings: Various toppings – chocolate, cinnamon sugar, etc. – are really fun. I’d encourage you to experiment with fun toppings [especially sprinkles].

– Doughnuts are best when eaten on the day that they’re made: Unfortunately, these babies don’t really keep well. I mean, I was still eating them the following day, but they really are best when eaten fresh.

If you’ve ever wanted to make fried, yeast doughnuts at home, you need to just bite the bullet and do it. I hope this post helps encourage you – it was a lot of fun, and I’d definitely do it again at some point. But not very often because I’d probably eat ALL of the doughnuts. 🙂