Last week, Jenny sent us a box of presents from ThinkGeek. She said there was one gift for each of us and we had to figure out whose was whose. She did say that it wouldn’t be difficult, and she was right.
Juliet: Ice Princess Ice Cube Straws
Nathaniel: Finger Sporks
Dave: Sizzling Bacon Candle
Me: Mini Donut Maker — which seems to have disappeared from the ThinkGeek website along with most of the other stores that carry it.
I do plan to delve into some relatively “healthy” donut recipes for it, but for our first run, Juliet requested plain, normal donuts. (I was suggesting pumpkin or gingerbread.) The recipe that came with the instructions had a lot of butter in it, so I went looking on the web and found something that looked a little less damaging.
Mixing up the batter was easy. Flour, sugar, baking powder, egg, milk, vanilla, and cooking oil.
I didn’t even bother using two bowls. I didn’t even add spices! (Next time I think cinnamon & nutmeg are a no-brainer addition.)
The tricky part was pouring the batter into the donut maker without making a mess OR covering the part that creates the hole.
Honestly, I was afraid to take time to snap the picture, because they start cooking on the bottom while you’re still spooning the batter carefully into the other molds. Tricky business!
I closed the lid, and after some experimenting, found that just shy of four minutes was about right for cooking time.
Now I know why one would cover them in chocolate icing..they do look a little uneven. But the taste? Full of donut-y goodness. And they’re so tiny! So innocuous! So round and cute!
I made a cinnamon-sugar mixture to sprinkle on top, then got the salted caramel sauce out of the fridge. It was too cold to pour, so I let it sit on top of the donut maker to soak up some heat. It worked!
Both were a hit.
Funny, right? I think this machine is fun. I’m going to play with different flavors to make them a little more wholesome, but on birthdays I think I’ll go full on with frosting and sprinkles. It did feel weird deliberately giving my kids donuts for breakfast, although they didn’t seem to mind.
Dave suggested that I bring it to work along with a big pitcher of batter and just make them for my co-workers all day. It does fulfill my fantasy of having my desk & computer located inside a baking kitchen, but honestly, I like my job too much to become the crazy mini-donut lady. It’s a pretty funny idea though, and I’d be very popular until I got fired for being a lunatic.
Speak Your Mind