A donut pan is one of those things I’ve been dismissing. You can’t own every specialty pan there is, not in a kitchen like mine, which is already bursting at the seams. There’s no room at the inn. Plus we already have that cute mini donut maker that Jenny gave us, so why would I suddenly need bigger donuts?
Then again, I said to myself when I saw the 6-donut pan at Target on sale, I do have a full size bundt pan, a smaller bundt pan, and a mini bundt tray. And there are all those great recipes out there for baked donuts. And donuts are so round and wonderful, aren’t they?
I bought it.
Then it sat in the kitchen for a long time, and then I meant to make donuts but I got the flu, and then I meant to make donuts but everyone else was sick.
Then last night came, and enough was enough: time to give it a shot. We decided on apple cider donuts and I found a recipe that made just six, to keep us in check. One for each of us, one for our babysitter, and one extra for luck. The other thing I liked about this recipe? The author said she had experimented for a while to find the perfect amount of flour to create the perfect texture, then kept working to adjust the other ingredients to get everything just right. What’s not to admire about that?
The donut journey began with flour — your basic, doesn’t-get-much-use-in-our-house, all purpose flour. I use King Arthur unbleached. It’s nice.
Then, pure cane sugar. 1/4 cup. That’s all.
I added baking soda, baking powder, and salt, then the cinnamon. The recipe said 1/2 teaspoon, so I did a full teaspoon, but leveled it. I do like a lot of cinnamon but the recipe creator DID put a lot of effort into getting everything right. I didn’t want to mess with that too much.
On Saturday when the snow was just starting to come down in dainty little dots, we hopped in the car and went to Stew Leonard’s to load up on food for the long weekend. By the time we came out, it was a full on snowstorm, with inches of snow on the ground and heavy flakes falling everywhere. We picked up a lot of tasty treats to get us to 2013, including some Vietnamese Cinnamon, which I was happy to use.
Is it fancy? I don’t know, but the container was convincing. I added it, then whisked everything together.
I set that aside, then got out another bowl for the wet ingredients. First up, the apple cider, then an egg.
I whisked that together until frothy, then added the milk, canola oil, vanilla, and white vinegar (which is essential to texture, says the recipe). I whisked again.
I added the wet ingredients to the dry, and mixed just until incorporated.
I didn’t think it was nearly enough batter, but it turns out it was just perfect for six donuts.
That part was easier than I thought, I just spooned it right in. I put them in the oven and set the timer for 8 minutes, then mixed up the cinnamon & sugar.
At 8 minutes, my donuts were done.
They fell out of the pan easily enough when inverted, and then I coated both sides of each one in the cinnamon sugar. They looked really good.
So good! I ended up further coating the sides too, just for fun. (And don’t ask me what a fork is for. We certainly didn’t use it to eat the donuts.)
What a great recipe! I think next time I will add more flavor, I have some apple pie spice that might be nice, or I could use apple butter instead of canola oil, or I could just add nutmeg and allspice. But honestly? These are terrific. Nathaniel just asked me to make some more.
(And by the way, they’re only 4 PP+ on Weight Watchers. Full size donuts!)
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