Sunday, September 9, 2012

Labbits Like: Fluffy Buttermilk Mini Donuts

It's a gorgeous, late summer Sunday in Vermont, and Masher McBuns is off for a 6 mile run, followed by a 25 mile bike ride later today. He likes to treat himself to something hot and fresh from the oven, so it's a good thing he lives with labbits who like to bake.

Ted DeCoste took over in the kitchen today and baked up some delicious, fluffy-as-a-bunny mini donuts (well, mini to humans, but perfectly labbit sized). These are super simple and super quick to bake, and if you've got friends over, you may want to set out a few different glazes, sprinkles and cinnamon and brown sugar so they can make their own toppings.

Ted made three kinds today: chocolate glazed, (Dutch labbits have a thing for things two-toned), chocolate glazed with chocolate sprinkles, and good old fashioned cinnamon sugar. These are also tasty plain, if you're into plain donuts. Since they're mini sized, you could float one in your coffee mug! Print the recipe here.

Here's how to make them:


Fluffy Buttermilk Mini Donuts

Ingredients
For the donuts:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp melted butter


For the glaze:
1/2 cup your favorite chocolate chips (Ted used semi-sweet)
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
This is enough glaze for all three dozen mini donuts.

For cinnamon sugar topping:
1 Tbsp or so of melted butter
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp granulated white sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon (or more...Ted likes MORE!)
This is enough cinnamon sugar for at least a dozen mini donuts. Depending on how crazy you get with coating the donuts, this can coat more mini donuts. 

Other fun things: 
Sprinkles!
Mini Chocolate chips!
Shaved almonds!
Chopped peanuts!
Shaved coconut!
Exclamation points!

Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Lightly grease a mini donut baking pan.


In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. 


In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then add the buttermilk, vanilla, and melted butter. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix until the ingredients are well blended. The batter will seem sticky!


If you have a pastry piping bag thing, pour the batter in - it makes it easier to pipe the batter into the mini donut pan. Ted doesn't have a fancy pastry piping bag thing (probably because he doesn't know what they're called) but a quart sized ziploc bag works in a pinch. Pour the batter in (it'll fit!), zip closed, then snip a small corner off the bottom of the bag. Voila! DIY pastry piping bag thing.


Squeeze the batter into the prepared mini donut baking pan so each recess is about 1/2 to 2/3 full. 


Pop in the oven for 7ish minutes (oven temps vary, so yours may take more or less time), or until the donuts spring back when pressed gently with a paw.

Mmmm, springy and fluffy!
Allow to cool in the donut pan for a few minutes before popping them out onto a wire rack to cool. Ted's only got one mini donut pan, so he repeated this two more times. This recipe yields about 3 dozen mini donuts. YUM.

For the glaze:
For a plain glaze, slowly add the confectioner's sugar into a small bowl with the hot water and almond extract. Mix until smooth, then dip one side of the mini donuts in, and set aside to cool. How does Snoop Dogg glaze his mini donuts? He drizzles, fo' shizzle.


For chocolate glaze, set a bowl inside a pot with an inch of water and turn the heat to low. Add the chocolate chips, and stir continuously as the chips melt.


Once they've melted, stir in the confectioner's sugar, hot water and almond extract. Dip in the mini donuts to coat (watch your paws, the glaze will be hot!) and set aside to cool. You may also drizzle the glaze, and make fun patterns and the like.


For glaze and sprinkles, dip the donut (or drizzle) in the glaze, and immediately dip them again into a plate with sprinkles, then set them aside to cool. Easy! Fun!

Other fun stuff - you could dip them into chopped nuts or coconut shavings, use all sorts of sprinkles or do a half plain/half chocolate glaze or half glaze/half sprinkles! They will be oh so pretty, and oh so tasty!

For cinnamon sugar donuts:
For the timid and restrained, brush a little melted butter onto the top of a mini donut, then dip into a small bowl with the cinnamon and sugars combined. Done!

For the bold and brazen and super fit triathletes who dare to eat what they want, toss the donuts in the melted butter. Then, in a separate container, toss the donuts in with the cinnamon sugar and shake, shake, shake!

Cinnamon sugar donuts are best consumed fresh. The glazed donuts will keep for a couple days in an airtight container. They might last longer, but who doesn't finish them the first day?

Yields: Three dozen mini donuts.

Crazy for donuts!

2 comments:

  1. Mmmmm...I might have to try these the next time I'm invited to a party! Now all I need to do is buy a mini donut pan.

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    1. Three dozen mini donuts is certainly dangerous to have around the warren. Ted sent them off with Nick for the frisbee group at Carpenter Field. :)

      Mine is a Wilton mini donut pan. I've seen them online for $10 and under. Overstock.com has them for a reasonable price, but hopefully there's some place local to pick yours up. (I got mine from Nick's mom.) I suggest getting more than one, if you can. It would be nice to make more than one batch at a time.

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