Baked Donuts

A few months ago I had an overwhelming desire to start making my own donuts. I think it has something to do with the lack of Krispy Kreme's and Dunkin' Donuts in my area. Anyways. It was going to be epic. I had envisioned all types of different flavors and glazes... cute sprinkles during the holiday seasons... but then it took me two months to find a donut pan and my enthusiasm for donuts waned. I finally found one at Michael's and I had everything I needed to start baking except for buttermilk. But I could never be bothered to pick any up during any of my 6,000 grocery store visits each month. So, my highly sought after donut pan stayed in a dark cabinet, destined to never see the light of day.

Until this weekend. For some reason, the desire to make donuts came flooding back to me this weekend. So I made a special trip to the store to pick up a small container of buttermilk and some cake flour (just in case) and I got home and immediately started baking.

And the disappointment with the finished product was overwhelming. I'll attribute my donut making failure to three things:

1. Nutmeg.
2. Not following my instincts.
3. Being in a hurry.

All three of those kind of go together, but the biggest problem I had with the donuts was the nutmeg. And if I had followed my instincts, I would have omitted it. But the pan was a Wilton pan, and the recipe was a Wilton recipe. I figured they knew what they were doing. Wrong! These donuts were SO bland. The only thing you could taste was the nutmeg. And seeing as how that's my least favorite spice, if I had followed my instincts and omitted it, they may have been better. Or, they wouldn't have had any flavor at all. But to me, no flavor is better than an overpowering nutmeg flavor.

Graham and I had an exciting day of raking leaves planned. He was outside raking while I was inside baking, and I felt guilty. So I rushed through the process, so I could join him sooner rather than later. If I hadn't been in a huge hurry, I might have pondered why there was no vanilla or almond extract in the recipe. I added blueberries to some of my donuts, and looking back, the almond extract would have been delicious in the blueberry ones. The blueberry ones were the only tasty ones, but I attribute their flavor more to the fresh blueberries and the quick powdered sugar glaze I whipped up than to the donuts themselves.

They were also really... white. Like, Edward Cullen white. And I know that the golden color of the delicious Krispy Kreme donuts we're used to in the south comes from frying them, but the color turned me off a little.

On a more positive note, the pan is very cool though. It's non-stick, has six regular sized donut cavities, they baked super fast and slid out really easy. I can't wait to use it again... with a much better recipe. Jamie over at My Baking Addiction posted one for mini donuts that I'm going to adapt for my larger pan. Every recipe she posts is amazing, so I can't wait to try this one out!

Baked Cake Donuts
(Recipe from Wilton; You can get the donut pan here.)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cake flour, sifted
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425*F. Spray doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add buttermilk, eggs and butter. Beat until just combined. Fill each doughnut cup approx. 2/3 full.
3. Bake 7-9 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 4-5 minutes before removing. Finish doughnut with sugar topping or glaze of your choice.