Sunday Morning Doughnuts

The Sunday morning routine around here is pretty standard. I tend to wake up with tons of energy, and I jump out of bed ready to tackle the long list of household projects and chores I've neglected over the course of the week. I always start off with laundry and dishes, and then usually begin to tackle some bigger, more intimidating projects. I am able to do all of this because we don't go to church until 11:00, so even if I sleep in until 8:00 I have several hours to get stuff done. It is also pretty standard that D sleeps in on Sunday morning, and wakes up at some point after 10:00 (Saturday nights for him tend to be designated to staying up late and working on various woodburning projects). This allows me plenty of time to get stuff done without having to worry about being in his way (or him being in mine). It's a pretty good system, with the only flaw being that by the time I get home from church at 12:30 I am ready for a nap and have lost all motivation to continue my projects, so they sit until the following Sunday morning when I can tackle them again.

This week was a little different. I slept in a little later than usual, and, since I've been battling a lot of weepiness on Sundays lately, decided to take it easy in the morning in the hopes that I would not be an emotional mess by the time I arrived at church. In hindsight, I didn't really do too much differently; I still did laundry and dishes, and I cleaned the clutter off my desk. But I dedicated some time to writing in my prayer journal (a new tool I've discovered thanks to my mom that has really helped me think out/pray about some of the heart issues I've been dealing with). And then, something crazy happened: D woke up early! I was pleasantly surprised, because it gave me a great excuse to do something I have been wanting to do for a while now: make breakfast. And by "breakfast," I clearly mean "doughnuts." Okay, I don't really consider doughnuts to be a great breakfast, but it's a nice treat every now and then. I have a great recipe for baked doughnuts that I rarely use, so today I busted it out and made a handful of homemade doughnuts. They are quick and easy, and taste great (and are slightly healthier than fried doughnuts). Here's the recipe:

*1 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted (sometimes, like this morning, I cheat and use all purpose flour - and don't get any complaints)

*1/2 cup granulated sugar

*1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

*1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

*3/4 teaspoon salt

*1/2 cup buttermilk

*1 egg, lightly beaten

*1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a doughnut pan with nonstick spray.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Add buttermilk, egg, and butter and stir until just combined. Fill each doughnut cup about half full. Bake 4-6 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan 4-5 minutes before removing.

This recipe made 9 regular sized doughnuts (it is actually the "mini" doughnut recipe, and apparently makes 24 of those). And yes, I use a doughnut pan... I am not sure how to make them without that, but I'm sure there's some kind of way. (Perhaps piping the batter in a circle on a baking sheet?)

Once the doughnuts are out of the oven, you can begin the fun part: deciding how to glaze them! I think my personal favorite is to dunk the top in melted butter and then sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar. You can also melt chocolate chips to make a chocolate glaze (add some butter for a smoother look). To make a vanilla glaze, mix together 1 cup confectioner's sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract until sugar is completely dissolved. You can also take a hot doughnut and toss it around in a ziploc bag full of confectioner's sugar to make powdered doughnuts.

I ran out of granulated sugar when making the doughnut batter, and powdered doughnuts tend to be too messy for me, so I decided to improvise on a topping. I mixed a half cup of melted peanut butter with 2 1/2 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar to make a makeshift peanut butter glaze (I don't like it too sugary, but others might prefer it sweeter). I dipped each doughnut in the peanut butter glaze and then sprinkled it with chocolate cookie crumble. They were delicious!

 

The lighting in my kitchen isn't very good for taking pictures, but I promise they tasted better than they look! Baking something easy like this was such a great, relaxing way to start the day:-) If you try out the recipe, I'd love to hear how you glazed them!