Breakfast (if you're bad like me) or Dessert - Baked Doughnuts

My mom did a bad, bad (read: awesome) thing. She has created the monster in our house that will now be known as doughnut-itis.

She got me this wonderful doughnut baking pan I have been wanting oh so bad. It is made by Wilton (I am sure there are other makers of it too), and allows you to bake 6 doughnuts at a time! Very fabulous.

Matt is headed outta town tonight to visit his brother, so I decided what better occasion to try out the doughnut pan?? Sent him away with a solid dozen for snacking on the road.

I used the recipe from the pan's package and decided to try out two styles of topping: chocolate icing, and cinnamon-powdered sugar. The doughnut batter is incredibly easy to make, and also bakes up really nicely. I had to make some minor substitutions to the batter recipe (who keeps buttermilk on hand?? Or cake flour?? Really?), but they baked up really fluffy and they taste pretty good too.

Filling the doughnut pan is kind of a pain, but could have been way worse. Perhaps next time I will put the batter in a bag or something to squeeze it into the pan. Overall, making the doughnuts was a pretty quick process, it took me maybe an hour and a half to make 2 batches. Not bad for a baked item using only one pan!

I have a couple baked doughnut recipes stashed away here, just waiting for the day when I got a doughnut pan! So please look forward to seeing those soon.

(*Side note: How does everyone else spell "doughnut"? I always spelled it "donut", but the blog spell check doesn't like it spelled "donut". Am I alone here?! "Doughnut" looks weird...but I used it anyways.)

Baked Cake Doughnuts

Ingredients:
-2 cups cake flour (sub: 2 cups minus 4 tablespoons)
-3/4 cup sugar
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-1 teaspoon salt
-3/4 cup buttermilk (sub: 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice mixed with milk to total 1 cup--only use 3/4 cup, reserve remaining for another purpose, or toss out.)
-2 eggs, lightly beaten
-2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Spray doughnut pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt in large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fill each doughnut cup about 2/3 full.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until tops of doughnuts are springy. Let cool in pan 4-5 minutes before removing.

Coat doughnuts as desired:

Chocolate Glaze
-1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
-1 tablespoon butter
-1 tablespoon corn syrup
-1 teaspoon hot water

Microwave chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup 30 seconds or so, until slightly melted. Remove from microwave and stir until completely melted. Stir in the hot water until glaze is thick and smooth. Glaze doughnuts as desired (I just dipped the tops Krispy Kreme style).

Cinnamon-Powdered Sugar
-1-2 cups powdered sugar
-1-2 teaspoons cinnamon (adjust to taste)

Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Dunk the cooled donuts in the mixture and coat with the sugar.