Baking with Carla: mini baked donuts

Last week I was looking around for new kitchen gadgets. I so need to buy a silicon mat. I so need to buy a ice-cream spoon. I so need/wish to buy so many things. But then I saw a mini muffin donut pan and I got the compulsive buyer bug.

How could I resist buying it? And how could I resist making baked mini donuts with Carla? I knew that she was going to love them. Ehm….actually, Wally and I dreamt of mini donuts since the moment I ordered the pan. I spent the weekend baking mini donuts. I have to taste test a recipe before making it with Carla, right? J

I found mainly two types of recipes around, the main difference being in the use or not of yogurt in the dough. I was intrigued by the recipes that use yogurt because they seemed to be a lighter version of donuts, hence more kids-friendly. (But honestly, these donuts are not fried so they are not in essence that heavy and greasy anyway.)

I experimented with both types of recipes. None of the recipes I found truly satisfied me so I modified them all and came out with my version of both the yogurt and non-yogurt mini donuts.

Verdict: despite the initial excitement, the non-yogurt donuts were far superior to the yogurt ones, which to us tasted bland, too dense, and eggy (all in all, an “ewww”).

So I’m leaving you with the recipe for the non-yogurt one. You can easily make them chocolate flavored by substituting a couple of spoons of flour with powdered chocolate. Oh, and don’t forget the glaze and sprinkles…have fun with them!

Final note: I have decided to submit this recipe and post to the Frigidaire fund raising for Save the Children. As Foodbuzz Tastemakers know, we featured publishers of Foodbuzz were encouraged to submit one (or more) posts about children-friendly recipes. Well, as you all know my Mondays with Carla are not just about children-friendly recipes but also and above all about making her discover the joy and accomplishment of baking. Give that we all very much loved this recipe, I decided to submit it. I might submit others. Foodbuzz and Frigidaire will donate $50 to Save the Children for each post submitted so...it's a for a good cause. Don't forget to check out the amazing website of the Cooking Academy!

Mini baked donuts

Ingredients

Yields 18 mini donuts

130 gr (4.5 oz or 1 cup) all purpose flour

75 gr (2.6 oz 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) sugar

5 gr (1 tsp) baking powder

2 gr (1/2 tsp) salt

7 gr (½ tbsp) unsalted butter, melted

1 egg

45 ml (1.5 fl oz) milk

45 ml (1.5 fl oz) whipping cream

5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.

In a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Add the melted butter, the egg, the milk, the whipping cream, and the vanilla extract and whisk until well blended.

Fill each donut hole 2/3 full, or even less. Do not put too much dough into the molds or you will end up with donuts without holes…which are still good but technically not donuts J

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Let them cool in the pan a bit before trying to unmold them.

Decorate the donuts as you most liked. Wally loves icing, so I dipped them into glaze (the usual confectioners’ sugar and milk glaze) and then I put some sprinkles. You can also just dip the donuts into cinnamon and sugar.

Have a sweet day!