When it comes to doughnuts, I might be the pickiest person out there.  I don’t like Krispy Kreme, grocery store, convenience store, pre-packaged or even most bakery doughnuts.  To be a good doughnut, they have to be fried, glazed doughnuts.  You know, the old fashioned kind with the light batter and the flaky glaze that gets all over everything when you eat them.  The kind I like are super hard to find…there are only a handful of doughnut shops that I’ve ever found that still make them the “right” way.  To be fair, there is a gas station/convenience store around here that sells a maple glazed chocolate doughnut that will do in a pinch, but otherwise I just don’t eat them. 

Which, is probably a good thing. 

This recipe is easy, quick and pretty tasty.  They don’t really taste like doughnuts per se, but more like a cakey-scone type creation.  Good?  Yes.  Doughnut?  No.  The glaze is full of vanilla and honey and goes on easily.  I didn’t have any fun sprinkles, but actually liked the way the chocolate came out.  Cute!

I bought the doughnut pan at Crate & Barrel for $10.   I’ll definitely make these again, but will surely experiment with some new recipes before I come back to this one.  Try it, and let me know what you think!

A couple of tips:  Use a pastry bag to fill the doughnut pan.  Otherwise you’ll turn into a sticky-fingered mess.  Only fill each well 1/3 to 1/2 fill.  Any more than that and they’ll puff up into little muffins with no hole in them, and what fun is that?    Finally, keep your pan sprayed with a liberal dousing of cooking spray, just to make them easy to remove.  I found that tapping the pan upside down over a dishtowel garnered the best results.  Store in an airtight container. 

Enjoy!

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray mini doughnut pan liberally with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add buttermilk, egg, and butter and stir until just combined.  Scoop batter into a pastry bag.  Snip the end off to leave a 1/2 inch opening.

Fill each doughnut cup approximately 1/3- 1/2 full. The batter will rise quite a bit during baking. Bake 4-6 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched. Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Honey Vanilla Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup whipping cream or milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

*3 Tablespoons Honey (optional)

In a small bowl, stir together sugar, milk and extract until sugar is completely dissolved. Use immediately to glaze doughnuts. Dip each doughnut in glaze, then set on a plate or baking sheet and top with sprinkles of your choice.  *I added about 3 Tablespoons of honey to my glaze to offset the powdered sugar taste, and it worked, and was yummy!  Try it!  =)

Enjoy!