Let's face it, doughnuts are just awesome. But everyone has a favorite doughnut and I doubt if there is an entire household on God's green earth where every person in the house loves the same doughnut! So when I make doughnuts, I make several different flavors.
Now, that may sound like I get up at 2 am and make doughnuts for hours! But, no...that is definitely not the case! I do love to bake and I actually relish those rare times when I can spend all day creating in the kitchen but those are very few and far between!
But if you start with the SAME BATTER and just adjust the flavors, you can satisfy everyone with minimal effort! The recipe below is a simple baked cake doughnut. I don't like to fry at all. Not doughnuts or chicken or even potatoes. Nope, all that grease is just not my style. And a baked doughnut may not exactly be healthy but it is less caloric that a fried one.
So whip up a batch or 2 of these beauties and come up with new flavors depending on you and your families preferences! Have fun with it!
Adaptable Doughnuts
One recipe makes about 18 donuts
Ingredients
For the Doughnuts
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tsps baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 8 tablespoon (1 stick) butter, softened
For a Simple Glaze
- 3 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ to 3 cups powdered sugar
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a large bowl whisk or stir together the flour, sugar, ,salt, baking powder, and cinnamon; set aside.
- In a small saucepan bring together the milk, white vinegar, vanilla, egg, and butter, stirring constantly over medium heat (do not let it boil).
- Cook over medium heat until the butter melts and continue stirring. Once butter is melted, cook about one more minute. Remove from heat.
- Add the milk mixture into the flour mixture; mix until combined. (At this point you could choose to split the batter in half to make 2 varieties listed below.)
- Either use a large tablespoon to spoon the doughnut mixture into a lightly greased doughnut pan or spoon mixture into a piping bag with a large tip opening and pipe into the doughnut pan. The mixture will be pretty warm so you may need to hold the bag with a towel.
- Bake at 350° for 12 to 13 minutes, or until the top springs back when gently touched. If you have more batter than you can bake at once, put batter in the frig while the first batch bakes to keep the batter from rising too much.
- Remove and immediately invert the pan onto a cooling rack.
- Make glaze while doughnuts cool.
Glaze
- Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until combined and there are no lumps.
- Working quickly, dip each doughnut into the glaze, swirling when you lift it out. Set doughnuts on a cooling rack or plate until the glaze is mostly dry. I like to dip all the doughnuts twice to get a good coat of icing on top but that is up to you!
Variations:
- Chai Spiced Doughnuts - Make doughnuts as instructed above but instead of just cinnamon, mix together ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ginger, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon allspice and the zest from one lemon. Mix into to batter. You can boost any of these spices to your personal preference. You will not get a lemon flavor with this mixture but the lemon zest will help to brighten the spices.
- Lemon/Ginger Doughnuts - Make doughnuts as instructed above but leave out the cinnamon and vinegar and instead add the zest of 2 lemons, 1 teaspoon ground ginger to the dry mixture and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to the milk mixture.
- Chocolate Doughnuts – Make doughnuts as instructed above but add 3 tablespoon dutch processed cocoa powder and 1 ½ ounces chopped semi-sweet chocolate. The cinnamon is not strong enough to overpower the chocolate but it does add a little warmth. You can add 1 teaspoon espresso powder for a richer chocolate flavor. Make a quick chocolate ganache for the top but putting 8 ounces chocolate chips in a bowl. Heat ½ cup half and half on the stove until hot. Do not let it boil. Pour hot half and half over chocolate chips, cover to trap heat and let sit for 3 or 4 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Dip doughnuts into ganache and let set on plate or cooling rack to firm up.
- Make up your own! You can do Chocolate/Mint, Blueberry, Cranberry/White Chocolate, and on and on!! Use your imagination!
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