Triple Chocolate Baked Donuts

Yesterday in first grade we talked about using body language to show emotions. We talked about how crossing your arms means you’re probably angry or frustrated (Melanie on a sugar cleanse), head down means you’re probably sad or embarrassed (Melanie when she tries to dognap a puppy and the owner catches her), rolling your eyes means you’re probably annoyed (Melanie when she runs out of sprinkles), and eyes + mouth wide open means you’re probably surprised (Melanie when she discovers a new item at Trader Joe’s).

We also agreed that smiling probably means you’re happy (Melanie when she sees donuts).

Unless you have 75 stages of happiness – beginning with a smile and ending with a happy dance – in which case you’re forced to create a body-language-as-related-to-donuts taxonomy…

Smiling THIS BIG (Melanie when she sees chocolate donuts).

Smiling THIS BIG while jumping up and down (Melanie when she sees chocolate donuts dipped in chocolate glaze).

Smiling THIS BIG while jumping up and down and flailing your hands in the air (Melanie when she sees chocolate donuts dipped in chocolate glaze stuffed with chocolate chips).

Smiling THIS BIG while jumping up and down and flailing your hands in the air and occasionally fist pumping (Melanie when she sees chocolate donuts dipped in chocolate glaze stuffed with chocolate chips covered in rainbow sprinkles).

Smiling THIS BIG while jumping up and down and flailing your hands in the air and occasionally fist pumping and twirling (Melanie when she sees chocolate donuts dipped in chocolate glaze stuffed with chocolate chips covered in rainbow sprinkles on the first sunny and warm day in 4 months (!!!!!))

#happydance #happydance #happydance

So…what makes YOU do a happy dance? And is it as *ahem* expressive as mine?

Triple Chocolate Baked Donuts (adapted very slightly from Shutterbean)

yield: about 9

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips or chunks

Note: the original recipe yields 6 donuts, but I ended up with 10, probably due to the addition of chocolate chunks and how I filled my donut pan with batter.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Coat a donut pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate, smaller bowl, stir to combine the buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, melted butter, and vanilla. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and use a rubber spatula to gently fold the ingredients together. Fold in the chocolate chips.
2. Transfer the batter to a large (don’t try to use a small bag! Batter explosion!) ziploc bag; snip off a corner and seal shut. Use the bag to pipe the batter into the donut pan, filling each well about 1/2-2/3 full (I err on the side of 1/2 full). Be careful not to overfill as the donuts expand quite a bit. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the donut tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool completely on a wire rack. Top with chocolate glaze (recipe below).

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In the microwave or in a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips, butter, corn syrup, and vanilla. Stir until completely melted and smooth. Dip the donuts in and twirl slightly to coat; top with sprinkles if you please!

Doughnut Plant, NYC

OH MY GOD THESE DOUGHNUTS I’M GOING TO DIE I DIED I’M DEAD.

*Warning: If you aren’t a fan of the times when I freak out unnecessarily over food, you should totes skip this post.*

Let me tell you how these most amazing doughnuts came into my life.

Mike was in NYC this past weekend, and I sent him a text that said a little something like this:

“Hey there one-that-I-love-oh-so-much, if you happened to be near Doughnut Plant and you wanted to buy some doughnuts for me, I wouldn’t be mad. I’ve heard their doughnuts are MAD GOOD and like, if you chose to spend your 24 hours in NYC buying me food instead of hanging with your bros, that would be okay with me. And if, by chance, you found yourself at said doughnut place, here’s the list of items I want. No pressure.”

He followed up a few hours later with some texts that sounded a little something like this:

“Oh, did you want me to go to Doughnut Plant? Because the broseph that I’m staying with just so happens to live around the corner from it.

And oh, do you love french bulldogs? Because I just so happened to stumble upon a litter of french bulldog puppies on my way to get doughnuts.

*Photo of 14 Frenchie baby puppies piled on top of each other for naptime*

*Frenchie puppy photo*

*Frenchie puppy photo*

And, OH….were you wondering what 30 dollars worth of doughnuts looks like??

*Doughnut box photo*

Now you know.

*Photo of Frenchie puppies waking up*

*Frenchie puppies photo*

*Frenchie puppies photo*”

And then he returned home toting THIS.

YO Mike! Even though you somehow experienced my BEST DAY EVER without me, you da bessstt.

Here’s what we got…

I took one bite of the pumpkin and I fell into some sort of doughnut trance where I could only rock myself back and forth and murmur things like “Fluuuuffy. Cozy. Pumpkiiiin. Warmth. So cooozzzyyy. Fluffyyy.”

Listen, I am ACTUALLY. DROOLING. just thinking about it.

And then.

I was putting off eating this crumbly one because I thought it was coated in cinnamon sugar and was like, whatevs, I have chocolate and glaze and cream filling to focus on. But obv I needed to make the rounds, so I took a bite and had the best realization of all realizations that one could ever realize [surrounding doughnuts].

THE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGHNUT IS DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE GLAZE

AND THEN IT IS COATED IN COOKIE CRUMBS.

Go to Doughnut Plant. And take me with you.

The end.

We Have a Winner!

Congrats to Elin, the randomly chosen winner of a copy of A Baker’s Field Guide to Doughnuts! I’ll be getting in touch about mailing it your way soon 🙂

Thank you to everyone who entered!!

Apple Cider Doughnuts + a Giveaway!

Let’s talk doughnuts.

Let’s talk about how cider doughnuts are my most favorite doughnuts in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, and how a perfectly simple and delicious recipe for cider doughnuts just happened to fall into my lap (more on that later).

Let’s talk about how I made these doughnuts three days after moving into our new apartment (love!) with its teeny-tiny kitchen (hate!), a mere 30 minutes before Mike and I decided to host our very first dinner guests (poor! planning! Melanie!).

Let’s talk about how I frantically snapped 850 photos of said doughnuts in the rapidly setting sun while our dinner guests waited downstairs.

Then, we should probably talk about how we ate cider doughnuts for dinner instead of….well, dinner. Worth it.

If you know me, like, at all, you’ll know I freak out over fall. Fall is my jam. Some people like summer, others prefer spring, but, personally… I lose it over pumpkin and crunchy leaves and apple picking and cinnamon and cool temps and CIDER.

So when the super cool people over at Harvard Common Press contacted me to see if I wanted to host a stop on Dede Wilson‘s blog tour for her new book, A Baker’s Field Guide to Doughnuts, and included  a recipe for cider doughnuts, you better believe I f-r-e-a-k-e-d o-u-t. I’ve been dying to make fried cake doughnuts for at least 100 years but figured it was too complicated and instead spent the last month buying (and eating) dozens of doughnuts at a time.

The good news is, making fried doughnuts isn’t so hard! These cider doughnuts came out fluffy and cinnamony and perfectly cider-spiked even in my teensy tinsy kitchen.

The even better news is, you can make doughnuts too! Because I get to give away a copy of Dede’s new book to one very lucky reader 🙂

The bad news is you’re going to have to quit your job because after one look at the recipes in this guide you’re going to be a doughnut-making-ma-CHINE.

First, the recipe! Then, the giveaway deets. Priorities, people 😉

Apple Cider Doughnuts (Recipe ©2012 by Dede Wilson and used by permission of The Harvard Common Press)

yield: about twenty-four 3-inch doughnuts

Ingredients:

• 21⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 ⁄3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup apple cider, at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• Flavorless vegetable oil for deep-frying, such as canola
• 1 recipe Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

Directions
1. Whisk together both flours, the baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and allspice in a medium-size bowl to aerate and combine.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until pale and creamy, or whisk well by hand. Beat in the cider and melted butter until combined. add the dry mixture in two batches and stir with a wooden spoon just until the dough comes together. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

3. Line a rimmed baking sheet pan with a triple layer of paper towels. heat 3 inches of oil in a deep pot or deep-fat fryer to 350° to 355°F.

4. While the oil is heating, dust the work surface with flour. scrape the dough onto the surface, dust the top of the dough lightly with flour, and roll out to 1⁄2-inch thickness. Cut out doughnuts with a lightly floured 3-inch round cutter. Gently gather the scraps, press them together, roll out the dough, and cut out as many additional doughnuts as possible. Place the cinnamon sugar, if using, in a shallow bowl.

5. Fry a few doughnuts at a time; do not crowd. Fry until light golden brown, about 1 minute and 15 seconds, flip them over, and fry for about 1 minute and 15 seconds more, until light golden brown on the other side as well. Using a slotted spoon, remove each doughnut from the oil and drain thoroughly on paper towels.

6. If desired, immediately transfer the doughnuts to the bowl of cinnamon sugar and roll and toss them to coat completely. repeat with the remaining dough.

Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

Yield: enough to coat the tops of about sixteen 3-inch doughnuts or about 24 doughnut holes or small fritters

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar or superfine sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions: Stir the sugar and cinnamon together in a shallow bowl large enough to hold a doughnut. Place a still-warm doughnut on top of the mixture and toss around to coat thoroughly.

*A Baker’s Field Guide to Doughnuts Giveaway!*

How to enter (you can enter up to three times!):

1. Leave a comment telling me your favorite kind of doughnut and/or favorite thing about fall (you better believe those comments will warm my heart);

2. Follow @dedewilsonbakes on Twitter and leave a comment saying you did;

and/or

3. Follow @melssweetlife on Twitter and leave a comment saying you did.

**Make sure to leave some sort of contact info in your comment so I can contact you if you win! The giveaway will close on Sunday, September 9th, at 9PM. (9/9 at 9 – got it?!)**

PS: There’s a copycat recipe for Krispy Kremes in there. As IF you needed another reason to enter. Good luck!

Baked Confetti Donuts

WHY hasn’t anyone called me out on the fact that it’s been MONTHS since I’ve posted anything involving sprinkles????

For a self-proclaimed sprinkle queen, this is nothing short of TRAGIC. So I’ve created a baked good that will allow me to shove maximum rainbow-sprinkle-goodness into your face. You. are. welcome.

As an aside, can someone help me figure out a better way to express my excitement than to type in ALL CAPS, ALL THE TIME? I really don’t know how else to show my enthusiasm. For example: “rainbow sprinkles” in no way highlights their awesomeness in the same way “RAINBOW SPRINKLES”, or better yet, “RAINBOW.SPRINKLES.” does. Amiright??

Exhibit B: french bulldog vs. FRENCH BULLDOG!

Exhibit C: ohmygod vs. OH.EM.GEE.

I am the most annoying person ever.

Let’s get back to baking donuts.

These donuts would be really great for a celebration, like, say for instance if your boyfriend happened to graduate from law school and become employed (praise Jesus) all in the same week. Or if it’s nearly the end of the school year and you get to have a small break from small children (or a large break from large children, or no break at all but at least it’s summertime!). Or if your roommate went on vaca to Costa Rica and found a Costa Rican boyfriend and then saw him on the Real Housewives of OC this week.

All celebration-worthy, all appropriate confetti donut occasions. Bake donuts and put rainbow sprinkles in {on, around} them and let’s call it a party!

PS: This donut batter tastes 97% like Funfetti cake batter and NO I did not eat 4 spoonfuls of it! With extra sprinkles! Stop asking!

Baked Confetti Donuts (slightly adapted from Iowa Girl Eats)

yield: 6 donuts

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons buttermilk*
• 1 egg
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup rainbow jimmies plus more for decorating

*I only had soy milk on hand so that’s what I used and the donuts came out fine, but I think they would have been fluffier if I had used buttermilk.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Coat a donut pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Pour in the buttermilk, egg, vanilla, melted butter, and sprinkles. Stir until combined but do not overmix!
3. Divide the batter evenly among the donut wells. It’s easier to pipe the batter using a ziploc bag, but I got lazy and just dolloped it in with a spoon. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the donuts spring back to the touch. Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes before turning them onto a wire rack to cool completely. Top with vanilla glaze (below) and rainbow sprinkles.

Vanilla Glaze

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1-2 tablespoons milk. Stir until smooth and then dip the cooled donuts in!

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Hi friends!  I survived the totally non-dramatic drama of last week, and I’m happy to say that things are looking up! Computer is fixed, brand-spanking-new camera is in my possession, and Peanut Butter Cheerios are on sale at CVS.  Oh, and we’re leaving for Paris in 2 days.

Count it: t-w-o.  I might actually die.  But not actually because obv I’m already panicked about my flight and getting hit by a scooter and getting mugged by gypsies and any other bad things that happen to tourists abroad.  I take it back, okay???

So, um, these donuts?

These donuts make me do a happy dance.  They make me say “hoohoo!” like the Pillsbury Doughboy.  They make me do two Jillian Michaels workouts in a row so that I can eat five of them.  They make it okay that in order to fix my computer, my good friends at Apple had to wipe my hard drive.  It’s fine, life is good!  We have donuts.

Tell me you don’t want to nuzzle your face in that cinnamon sugar.  TELL ME.  You can’t.

I know, I know…it’s totally not pumpkin season.  But if you happened to buy 85 cans of pumpkin in October and happen to have 72 of those cans still kicking around in the back of your cabinet…this is the recipe for you.  Because you can really NEVER go wrong with pumpkin and cinnamon sugar and butter, no matter what the time of year.

Baked Pumpkin Donuts (adapted very slightly from Martha Stewart’s Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins)

yield: 18 donuts

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs

Cinnamon-sugar coating

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Coat a donut pan with cooking spray (you could also make these in muffin form, in which case you should coat a muffin tin with cooking spray).  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  In a small bowl, stir to combine buttermilk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar on medium high until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  With the mixer on low, add flour in three batches, alternating with the pumpkin mixture.  Beat for 30 seconds to fully combine.
3. Spoon the batter into the donut pan, filling each well about 2/3 full (~1/4 cup batter).  For a six-donut pan, you will need to bake in three batches.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until the donut springs back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. Allow the donuts to cool in the pan for 7-10 minutes, then remove one donut at a time to brush with melted butter and toss in the cinnamon sugar coating.  Allow to cool fully on a wire rack. Repeat until all donuts are coated.

Chocolate Chip Baked Buttermilk Doughnuts with Maple Glaze

New obsession heeeere we go.

It all started with the doughnut pan that has LITERALLY been calling my name from inside Crate and Barrel for 15 years…or at least since March 2011.

After almost a year of doughnut-pan-lusting (is that weird?) I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy the darn thing.  And now I am head over heels, truly, madly, deeply in love.  Baked doughnuts are where it’s at and I want to quit my job and open a doughnut shop and live happily ever after, amen.

Speaking of amen, I TOTALLY gave up Facebook for Lent.  Now accepting bets for how long that will last.  Hopefully longer than my sugar cleanse.

But seriously, Boston?  For such a coffee-loving city, WHERE ARE ALL YOUR DOUGHNUTS???  Love ya Dunks, but you’re just not cutting it.  Unless there are some hidden gems that have not yet been brought to my attention, there is no place to get some good old-fashioned just-made cake doughnuts, and that is so not okay with me.  I’m about to start a doughnut revolution with my 6-doughnut pan.  Who’s with me??!

These doughnuts were inspired by an unbelievable Chocolate Chip Pancake cupcake I recently tried at Cakeology.  I also happened to stumble upon a Baked Buttermilk doughnut recipe on Health.com, and a star was born.  Made with whole wheat flour and minimal sugar and butter, you can have these doughnuts for breakfast and still feel good about yourself 🙂

A chocolate chip-studded buttermilk-pancake-esque doughnut topped with maple syrup glaze?  Come to mama.

Chocolate Chip Baked Buttermilk Doughnuts (slightly adapted from Health.com)

yield: 12 doughnuts

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup honey (next time I’m going to try & replace the honey with maple syrup)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Coat a doughnut pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar.  In a separate bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat buttermilk, eggs, honey, butter, and vanilla until smooth.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix on low until just combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Spoon the batter into a large ziploc bag and cut the corner off; this is a much easier way to control how much batter goes into the doughnut pan.  Fill each well 2/3 full (if you have a 6-doughnut pan like me, you’ll have to bake in two batches) and bake for 8 minutes.  Doughnuts are done when the top springs back when pressed.
4. Allow the doughnuts to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Top with maple glaze (recipe below).

Maple Glaze

In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, 1 teaspoon milk, and 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar, depending on the consistency you want.  Whisk until smooth.  Dip cooled doughnuts into glaze (top with sprinkles if you want!) and allow to set for 15-20 minutes.