FIrst things first, would you spell this tasty treat “donuts” or “doughnuts”? Either way, they still taste great! After the challenge of eclairs last week, I knew I needed near perfection to stay in the competition this week. And then I found out we’d be making doughnuts. Doughnuts. As an American, I felt I owed it to my country to ace this challenge.
But here’s where some doughnut purists might feel I let them down. I baked my doughnuts, not fried them. For multiple reasons. Reason 1- I knew I was going to eat a lot of them and to lessen the caloric shock I opted not to dunk them in oil. Reason 2- I didn’t really want the house to smell like a greasy spoon for the rest of the weekend.
Move over Paul Hollywood, because the rise on my doughnuts was perfect. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you’ll already know that the donut holes didn’t go to waste either!
(Adapted from Chelsea’s Messy Apron)
Ingredients:
4 cups of flour
2 sachets of yeast
2 tablespoons of white sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 cup + 2 tablespoons of whole milk
1/4 cup of butter
4 egg yolks
(For glaze)
1 cup of apple cider
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tablespoon of golden syrup or corn syrup
(For cinnamon sugar dusting *optional*)
3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Instructions:
In a large bowl, add 2 cups of your flour, the yeast, salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. In a small saucepan bring the butter and the milk to about 130 F. (But don’t let it begin to boil!)
The warm liquid will activate the yeast. Beat the egg yolks into your flour mixture and then slowly mix in your warmed milk mixture. Beat it all together for 2 minutes. Then slowly add in the remaining 2 cups of flour.
Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed it until it’s smooth and elastic. (About 5 minutes.) Then cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
After the resting period is over, roll your dough out until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Then cut out your doughnut shapes! I don’t own a special cutter for doughnuts (or any real cutters at all) so I used a coffee mug as the main shape, and a shot glass for the inner doughnut hole punch-out.
Place your doughnuts on a greased cookie sheet and cover and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 390 F and bake your donuts for 8-10 minutes.
Prepare your glaze by reducing the apple cider in half in a small saucepan over medium heat. This will take about 10 minutes. In a bowl add your powdered sugar, vanilla and syrup. Once the cider is reduced stir it all together. If the glaze is a bit liquidy add in tiny amounts of powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
Then dip your doughnuts in the glaze and set them aside to dry. If you want to add a cinnamon sugar dusting, mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl and then sprinkle it liberally over your doughnuts before your glaze dries.
Checking my resting dough.
Our kitchen wasn’t large enough (or warm enough) to spread the baking sheets out for the donuts proving session. So the sitting room it was!
Nervous but excited about my first donuts!
The first taste — I was fully prepared for them to be awful!
Luckily they were a huge hit with Mary!
Huzzah donuts!
