I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend getting ready for all of the Halloween festivities just around the corner! Today was such a fun day, we made some fun Halloween themed treats with the kids, and the favorites were these mini donuts.
The recipe is a Tessa Kiros recipe, just perfect for I Heart Cooking Clubs theme of the week, Harvest Moon -- Foods celebrating Fall's bounty/Halloween-themed foods. The recipe is for Vanilla Cake and I made the cake batter and used it in my mini donut maker, Maxim Donut Bites, pictured below...
This is an almost retro, almost vintage, okay, okay, just old, small kitchen appliance from 1995. It is still going strong. I hadn't used it in years but after seeing all of these cute new mini donut makers all over amazon and at stores I had the yearning to trudge mine out and see if it still fired up. The kids were very excitecd, and I'm sure we'll be using this thing a lot more now that they know about it.
I also broke out my new heart doughnut pans and baked a few heart doughnuts as well, but mostly the minis. I know, hearts are for Valentine's Day, but I love hearts all the time, and we heart Halloween :) The heart ones were gobbled up too quickly to photograph.
Here is the recipe from the book Apples for Jam adapted for doughnuts:
Vanilla Cake Dougunuts
1/2 pound plus 2 tablespoons butter (2 and 1/4 sticks)
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar -- I used regular sugar3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla -- I upped this to two teaspoons
2 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup half and half
Preheat oven to 350 or preheat your doughnut maker.
Beat butter and sugar together very well in a large bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one goes in. Add the vanilla and sift in the flour and baking powder. Beat well, adding the half and half a little at a time. You will have a thick and creamy batter.
Scoop it into a ziplock bag and cut small hole at the end, squirt in enough batter to fill your doughnut molds half full and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, depending on your pan, or about 2 minutes in your doughnut maker (or follow manufacturers directions for baking) remove to wire rack and cool completely before frosting or glazing.
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To top the doughnuts I made a quick chocolate glaze, I didn't measure really, but it was pretty much 1 and 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, 1/4 cup corn syrup, and 1/4 cup half and half, microwaved together for 2-3 minutes and half power, stirring vigorously after every 30 seconds. Add a little time as needed and add some extra light corn syrup if it is too thick. It should be shiny and glossy and easy to dunk the doughnut tops in -- you could also spread it on the doughnuts, just make sure to add any desired sprinkles asap so they will stick.
These ended up being the perfect snack and a perfect fun halloween treat to make with my kids and their neighborhood friend. I wish I had snapped some pictures, but it was kind of crazy managing kids and sprinkles and chocolate glaze :) Happy almost Halloween!
