Club Baked: Time to Make the Donuts!

This recipe was hosted by Gloria, The Ginger Snap Girl, so you can find the recipe on her blog. Also check out the other member's results from this recipe at Club: Baked.  

Do you have any idea how often I've heard that phrase? For most of high school and all of college, I worked at Dunkin' Donuts. Every day that I went to work, my dad would say, in a sing-song-y voice, "Time to make the donuts!" Needless to say, I know donuts. I can decorate them, fill them, frost them, you get the picture. It was a fun job, creating new combinations in the back, an unlimited supply of caffeinated beverages, and (usually) fabulous customers. (And too you not so fab ones - I'd be careful about being mean and cranky to the person that supplies your morning pick me up - Do you want decaf?).

I have never made donuts from scratch though, so I was thrilled when Gloria picked the Farm Stand Buttermilk Donuts for the second recipe of Club: Baked. When I got the book it was absolutely one that I wanted to try. Only problem? Buttermilk.

Easily solvable problem though. For this recipe, I substituted buttermilk for a mixture of 3/4 cup goat's milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. I let that sit and mingle while I drained the sheep's milk yogurt that I used as a substitute for sour cream  (more details on how to do that over here).

To get my itty bitty donut hole centers, I used a metal frosting tip to cut out small holes. It worked out, although they were a bit too small at 3/4". But I thought it was good improv since I don't have a 1" biscuit cutter.  

disregard the semi-phallic shape being formed by the frying donuts - i didn't notice until editing!

This recipe was fun to make and very tasty to eat! My friend and fellow sprinkle lover, Patty,  and I made up a full recipe. Luckily, she took several with her when she left. Which was good because after using a 2 1/2" biscuit cutter for the outer edge of the donuts, I ended up with far more donuts than I could eat (about 30!). I liked their small size - it was perfect for sampling all the flavors without feeling stuffed, but it did make far too many! Next time I will certainly make a half recipe as I suspect they are best fresh.

As for the toppings, I made the chocolate frosting & cinnamon sugar as the recipe suggests. For the donut holes, I actually tossed them in some powdered sugar. I would say the powdered sugar topping was actually my favorite, followed in close second by the chocolate (with rainbow sprinkles of course!).

The donut itself was absolutely yummy. It was cakey, moist, and had just the right amount of spice. The nutmeg and cinnamon really took this donut over the top. They weren't overly sweet, either, which is sometimes a problem with donuts. The dark chocolate frosting was much more suited to this particular donut than the sweeter traditional chocolate frosting.

All photos in this post were edited with the PW Vintage Photoshop Action.