Tag: donuts

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

Try a great mini sweet that’s perfect to have ’round

Mini pumpkin spice donuts are completely addictive, with tons of delicious spices and a fabulous cinnamon-sugar coating.
Mini pumpkin spice donuts are completely addictive, with tons of delicious spices and a fabulous cinnamon-sugar coating.

When I was a kid, our Sunday morning breakfasts before church would often be something special from the day-old bakery we had in town.

One of my personal favorites was when we’d get mini donuts. I would dip them in milk, trading off between chocolate-covered and cinnamon sugar flavors.

I have been thinking about those donuts ever since I found a mini donut pan at our local thrift shop, and I finally took the plunge on baking some of my own.

Around Thanksgiving this year, I accidentally bought pumpkin pie filling instead of regular canned pumpkin, and it has been sitting in my pantry ever since, so I decided it was high time to both use up that can and break in my new pan.

The recipe I made is from the blog “Lovely Indeed.” You can find the original post at https://lovelyindeed.com/mini-donut-recipe-baked-pumpkin-spice-mini-donuts/. I added extra spices in my version.

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Mini Pumpkin Spice Donuts

Mini pumpkin spice donuts are completely addictive, with tons of delicious spices and a fabulous cinnamon-sugar coating.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword baked donuts, canned cinnamon rolls, cinnamon-sugar, cloves, donuts, ginger, mini donuts, pumpkin

Ingredients

Donut Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

Coating Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup butter melted
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Spray the wells of a mini donut pan with cooking spray and set it aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and baking powder until the mixture is smooth. Beat in the flour just until it’s all incorporated.
  • Transfer the batter to a piping bag or a large zip-top plastic bag with the tip snipped off.
  • Fill each well on the pan about three-fourths full, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
  • Remove the donuts from the pan and let them cool.
  • In another zip-top bag, combine the sugar and cinnamon.
  • Lightly brush each donut with melted butter, and then drop them (a few at a time) into the bag, and gently shake to coat them in cinnamon-sugar. Serve immediately, and store any leftovers in an airtight container.

This took some time to make, as my donut pan only has nine wells, and this recipe easily made several dozen donuts, but it also gave me plenty of time to wash up my dishes and listen to a podcast.

And these were worth it. We shared them with our guests for a mingle at our office, and then we shamelessly snacked on the leftovers for a few days afterwards. They were moist, full of flavor and very addictive. I had a few with a cup of coffee, and it was the perfect pairing.

I didn’t get a chance to dip any of these in milk like when I was younger, but it was still nice to remember those Sunday breakfasts with my family. And the best part? I didn’t even have to share these with my sister.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 29, 2024.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

Lots of leftovers results in some recipe (sour) scheming

Sour cream donuts are cake-y, sweet and simple, with a light sugar glaze to really make them something special. Enjoy these for breakfast or as a dessert.
Sour cream donuts are cake-y, sweet and simple, with a light sugar glaze to really make them something special. Enjoy these for breakfast or as a dessert.

So much sour cream.

Seriously, you should see the nearly literal vat of sour cream in my refrigerator right now.

We hosted a catered meal about a week ago, and I ended up with the leftovers in my fridge. I’m not complaining, mind you, because the meal was absolutely delicious, and I’m never going to complain about somebody else cooking something amazing for me.

But now, even after the rest of the goodies are gone, there’s the sour cream.

Not being one to let things go to waste if I can help it, I’m starting a sour cream series this week. I’m not sure quite how many weeks of recipes it will take for me to clean out the bowl, but I’m no quitter.

To kick it off, I decided to try out a recipe for some baked donuts that looked fantastic, and they turned out great.

The recipe comes from the blog “Semisweet Sisters.” You can find the original post at https://www.thesemisweetsisters.com/2014/09/03/baked-sour-cream-donuts-recipe/. I added extra nutmeg and vanilla in my version.

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Sour Cream Donuts

Sour cream donuts are cake-y, sweet and simple, with a light sugar glaze to really make them something special. Enjoy these for breakfast or as a dessert.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword baked donuts, donuts, glaze, nutmeg, powdered sugar, sour cream, vanilla

Ingredients

Donut Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 vegetable or canola oil
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 heaping teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 4 tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a donut pan by spraying the wells with cooking spray (I got seven large donuts out of my batch, for reference).
  • In a mixing bowl, whisk the sour cream, egg, vanilla, oil and sugar until well combined.
  • Whisk in the remaining donut ingredients until the mixture is smooth.
  • Spoon the batter into the prepared donut tin.
  • Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the donuts comes out clean.
  • Once the pan is cool enough to handle, remove the donuts and let them cool completely. Bake the rest of the batter if you still have some left.
  • Once the donuts are cooled, prepare to glaze the donuts by lining your countertop with a large piece of waxed paper and setting a cooling rack on top. In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla for the glaze and mix well. You’ll want it thick enough to coat your spoon and thin enough that you can easily dunk the donuts into it.
  • Dunk each donut fully to coat it in the glaze, and place them on the cooling rack so the glaze can set up.
  • Once the glaze is dry, enjoy the donuts immediately or store them in an airtight container for later.

These were cake-y and not overly sweet. Even Joey, who tends to shy away from anything that’s overly sugary, really liked these. They are a fantastic pairing for a cup of tea or coffee for breakfast.

I must admit, I was a little disappointed that scooping a mere half cup of sour cream out of my bowl didn’t seem to make much of a dent, but I still have quite a few new recipes to try before I’m all done.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 13, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

Pumpkin spice donuts make for a ‘gourd’ fall recipe

Pumpkin spice donuts are extremely easy to make, only using two ingredients: a cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree.
Pumpkin spice donuts are extremely easy to make, only using two ingredients: a cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree.

One of the pieces of advice you get if you ever put your house on the market is to bake cookies before a showing so that your home feels more inviting.

When we had a house on the market several years ago, our real estate agent also banned us from cooking anything too pungent—like curry or fish—lest we end up with the opposite problem.

I was on board with the fish rule, but if it were up to me, I think the curry smell would attract me more than repel me from a house. To each his own, I guess.

I thought about that advice this week after making this week’s recipe for pumpkin spice donuts. Our whole house immediately just smelled like fall—comforting and inviting.

If you don’t tend to be a baker, this is the recipe for you. All you need is a donut pan and two ingredients, and you can have some amazing donuts in no time.

I found this recipe on the blog “The Suburban Soapbox.” You can find the original post at https://thesuburbansoapbox.com/two-ingredient-baked-pumpkin-spice-donuts/. I didn’t make any changes to the recipe, since it’s only two ingredients, but I did leave off the powdered sugar glaze the original post suggested. These were moist, flavorful and plenty sweet without it.

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Pumpkin Spice Cake Donuts

Pumpkin spice donuts are extremely easy to make, only using two ingredients: a cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword cake mix, donuts, pumpkin, spice cake

Ingredients

  • 15.25- ounce spice cake mix
  • 15 ounces pumpkin puree

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a donut pan by lightly spraying the wells with cooking spray.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix and pumpkin puree until the mixture is smooth (it will be thick).
  • Spoon your filling into the wells (or use a piping bag, as the original recipe author suggests, if you want your donuts to look more uniform and not have rough edges). I filled my wells to the tops.
  • Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the donuts comes out clean.
  • Let the donuts cool and then remove them from the pan, running a knife around the edges of each, if necessary, to loosen them. Store the finished donuts in an airtight container.

These were so, so easy and made a moist, delicious donut, too. The only “hard” part was that since I only have a six-well donut pan, I had to go in batches to get my donuts done. I managed to get a dozen out of this recipe.

That same day, I decided to make some chili in my crockpot, and I ate a donut along with my bowl that evening. It wasn’t quite the same as a cinnamon roll, but it was a great companion. They were also phenomenal along with a cup of coffee for breakfast.

I hope I don’t have to move from our current house any time soon (like never, ever, ever), but if I do have to put a house on the market again, I’m going to remember this recipe as a great air freshener. It’s quick, easy and smells and tastes fantastic.

Plus, if you don’t end up with any offers on your house, at least you have donuts to drown your sorrows.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 28, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Uncategorized

It’s ‘butter’ to double check ingredients

Coffeecake donuts come together quickly and bake in only about 10 minutes. They're perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee or a big glass of milk.
Coffeecake donuts come together quickly and bake in only about 10 minutes. They’re perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee or a big glass of milk.

One of the habits my mom taught me when I was first learning to bake is to go back through a recipe before popping something into the oven.

Giving each ingredient a once-over to make sure nothing was left out is a good idea, since you inevitably realize you forgot something when the mixture has already been in the oven for several minutes.

Normally, I follow her advice. I skim through the ingredients, creating a mental checklist to make sure I didn’t mess anything up. Of course, I also tend to get in a hurry and forget from time to time.

Such was the case this weekend when I went to quickly bake a batch of donuts for some house guests before they headed out of town.

The donuts were out of the oven, cooling in the pan, when my friend opened the microwave to reveal a little bowl of melted butter that should have been mixed into the donut batter.

The good news: they were still delicious, so I’m going to share this recipe with you even though I didn’t completely follow it correctly.

This recipe comes from the blog “Baker by Nature.” You can find the original at https://bakerbynature.com/coffee-cake-donuts-with-vanilla-glaze/. I added a ton more cinnamon to the recipe and left off the vanilla glaze, because I didn’t think the donuts needed even more sugar and calories.

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Coffeecake Donuts

Coffeecake donuts come together quickly and bake in only about 10 minutes. They're perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee or a big glass of milk.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword baked, cinnamon, coffeecake, donuts

Ingredients

Topping Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons cold butter cut into small pieces
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Donut Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup sour cream I substituted non-fat plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons butter melted
  • 1 egg

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a six-well donut baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray and set it aside.
  • In a small bowl, cut together the topping ingredients until it’s well combined into small crumbs.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat together the flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, sour cream, butter and egg until just combined.
  • Spoon the batter into the donut pan, distributing it evenly between the wells. Now evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the the tops of each donut.
  • Bake for about 10 minutes or until the donuts spring back when you touch them lightly (mine ended up taking 12 minutes).
  • Let the donuts cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then gently remove them and serve.

These were really, really good, and I was glad I decided to skip the extra glaze. They were perfect without it.

And even though I left out the butter, they were still tasty. I’m guessing they would have been a bit moister if I would have put it in, but you could probably get away with leaving it out, too, if you wanted.

I learned yet again that it’s important to go over my ingredients list before popping something into the oven. As ever, my mom is always right, even if I did end up with some delicious donuts.

This piece first appeared in print on July 30, 2020.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

Have a ‘hole’ lot of fun with baked donuts

Coffee donuts with a coffee glaze are great for breakfast or dessert.
Coffee donuts with a coffee glaze are great for breakfast or dessert.

Several weeks ago, I got the opportunity to meet Tina Ostrander, owner of Main Street Co. & Kitchen Corner in Newton. We sat down over a cup of coffee to talk about working together, which we were both pretty excited about.

And then the world shut down, and I was super nervous that the first week of our partnership—this week—would mean I might have trouble finding more recipes to try, and Kitchen Corner wasn’t going to be open for us to do anything fun together.

But I’ve been discovering that I have lots of random ingredients hanging out in my kitchen, and despite her brick-and-mortar being closed for the time being, Tina has an online store set up.

So, for my part, I started examining my pantry and realized that I, for some reason, have quite a few instant coffee packets, so I determined it was time for something with coffee flavor—and time for something sweet. I landed on a recipe for cake donuts with a coffee glaze that ended up being a fantastic recipe.

I found this recipe on the blog “Marsha’s Baking Addiction.” You can find the original post at https://marshasbakingaddiction.com/baked-coffee-doughnuts. I added extra vanilla and nutmeg in my version.

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Glazed Coffee Cake Donuts

Coffee donuts with a coffee glaze are great for breakfast or dessert.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword coffee, donuts, glaze

Ingredients

Donut Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons instant coffee or make 1/4 cup strong coffee
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk or use regular milk with a touch of vinegar
  • 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Glaze Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup warm milk
  • 1 tablespoon instant coffee or use a tablespoon strong coffee
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a donut pan by spraying it with cooking spray.
  • If using instant coffee, dissolve it into 1/4 cup of hot water.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat the egg, sugar, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and coffee until smooth.
  • Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg until just combined and spoon the batter evenly between the six wells in your donut pan (this will fill them pretty much to the brim. If you’d rather have smaller donuts, you could fill them less and make another partial batch, too).
  • Bake for eight to 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in them comes out clean.
  • Let the donuts cool for about 10 minutes and then let them cool completely before glazing them.
  • For the glaze, in a shallow bowl, whisk the coffee, vanilla and milk until smooth, and then whisk in the powdered sugar, a little at a time, until you get the consistency you want. If it’s too thin, add more sugar. If it’s too thick, add a little more milk.
  • Dip the donuts into the glaze (just the tops, you don’t have to submerge them) and then place them on a wire rack to dry. I did two coatings on mine.
  • Once the glaze is dry, store any leftover donuts in an airtight container.

These were amazing. And I learned that I absolutely should never make them when only Joey and I are around to eat them, because they, embarrassingly, did not last more than a couple of days.

And, while Tina and I will have to wait on some of the in-person ideas we discussed a few weeks ago, I’m glad I can keep baking and she can still keep people’s kitchens stocked with needed supplies. If you need a donut pan, for instance, go visit her online store; she’s got ’em.

Also, if you’re bored and want to look back at some of my previous columns, I officially have my own website, and I’m still working on uploading my archives, so look for it to keep expanding over the next few weeks. You can visit it at spiceupkitchen.net.

Stay safe. Shop local online. And eat donuts.

This piece originally appeared in print on April 1, 2020.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert Snack

You ‘donut’ want to miss out on this recipe

Baked sugar donuts are a simple recipe with uncomplicated flavors. They pair well with a good cup of coffee or tea for breakfast.
Baked sugar donuts are a simple recipe with uncomplicated flavors. They pair well with a good cup of coffee or tea for breakfast.

I’m forever looking online for new recipes to try, and it seems like there aren’t a lot of foods I haven’t given a go over the years of writing this column.

I keep a spreadsheet of the recipes that have appeared in this space to keep track of what I’ve done and also when they came out, since I sometimes receive e-mails asking me for recipes that appeared pretty far back.

I started my 2018 spreadsheet and decided to do some counting. This column is my 288th recipe. I don’t even want to consider how many tablespoons of butter that probably represents.

That being said, I’m constantly amazed by the types of foods I haven’t tried making yet, and this week is another one to mark in the books as a new experience: donuts.

Years ago, I wrote about making fried donuts from biscuits—a childhood favorite—but until this week, I haven’t tried baking them.

I received a donut pan for Christmas, so I decided on New Year’s Eve that it was time to try out a baked donut recipe.

I started very simply with just a sugar donut recipe, and they were a great treat to accompany our game night with friends.

The recipe I used came from the blog “Brooklyn Farm Girl.” You can read it at http://brooklynfarmgirl.com/2017/02/06/homemade-baked-sugar-donuts/. I doubled the vanilla in my version.

If you don’t own a donut pan, by the way, you can make these as muffins or create your own donut pan out of a muffin tin with aluminum foil. I found a good tutorial to do that at http://tiphero.com/diy-doughnut-pan-and-recipe/.

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Baked Sugar Donuts

Baked sugar donuts are a simple recipe with uncomplicated flavors. They pair well with a good cup of coffee or tea for breakfast.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword baked, donuts, sugar

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup oil I used canola
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk I used skim milk with a touch of vinegar
  • 3/4 cup sugar plus more for coating the donuts
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup flour

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray your donut pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
  • With a fork, beat the eggs, oil, buttermilk, sugar, salt, baking powder and vanilla together.
  • Mix in the flour.
  • Pour the batter into the donut pan, filling each well about 3/4 of the way up.
  • Bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the donuts comes out clean.
  • Remove and let cool for a few minutes before removing the donuts from the pan.
  • Put a scoop of sugar into a Ziploc bag or a bowl and coat your warm donuts in sugar on all sides one at a time.
  • Store in an airtight container.

I actually halved this recipe, since my donut pan only makes six donuts at a time, and there were only four of us playing games, and it was super easy to do.

These aren’t fancy by any means, but I really liked how simple the flavors were. You could also coat these in a cinnamon-sugar mixture if you wanted to add a little more zip to them.

It was also such a quick recipe that I already had my pan filled with batter before my oven was finished preheating.

And now I can cross baked donuts off the list of foods I haven’t tried making yet. Who knows what culinary roads 2018 will lead me down? I’m excited to see (and so are my taste buds). I’m glad you’ll be joining me for the journey.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 4, 2018.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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