French Vanilla Donuts

   

  Do you like donuts? But not the calories or the mess of frying them? Baked donuts are a easy option. Donut pans for use in the oven are available as well as small electric donut bakers. I recently picked up a small mini-donut appliance at the thrift shop for $2. It worked so well I'll be on the lookout for a larger model!
      As we look forward to fall, donuts make a tasty snack or breakfast. This recipe is from the National Festival of Breads, this time the youth winner. For the youth division, yeast breads aren't required and many recipes submitted are quick breads, like biscuits or muffins or banana bread. This year I was pleased that that honor was won by a student from our home county, of Madison High School. The Food Sciences teacher there had taken a class to the previous contest a couple of years earlier and then encouraged her classes to develop recipes to enter. This recipe won both the top youth award and the top award for using soy ingredient.
   
      When I made these last night, I used my 'blended' flour, half whole wheat and half all purpose white, and I substituted skim milk for soy milk. I love the French Vanilla flavor of these donuts! The mini-donuts in the counter-top baker were much easier to fill and faster to bake. They also browned more evenly as they were browned from both sides by the top and bottom sections of the baker. Notice the photo of the donuts baked in the oven, lovely brown on bottom, not so on the top!

FRENCH VANILLA DONUTS

Ingredients:

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 ½ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose flour

1 ½ cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour

4 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon instant cappuccino powder, French vanilla

1 cup soymilk

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon almond extract

Topping:

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon instant cappuccino powder, French vanilla

6 tablespoons unsalted butter.

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350°. In bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Blend in eggs, scrape bowl.

2.     Sift together all-purpose flour, white whole-wheat flour, baking powder, salt, and cappuccino powder.

3.     Combine in the mixer bowl the flour mixture, soymilk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix well, about 1 minute.

4.     Fill greased donut pans ⅔ full of batter, 3 ½ - 4 tablespoons batter per donut.

5.     Bake 13-15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove to wire rack.

6.     For topping, in shallow dish combine sugar and cappuccino powder. Melt butter in a shallow bowl. While donuts are still warm, dip donut in melted butter and roll in sugar to lightly coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 14-16 3 ½ “ donuts

This makes a thicker batter than many donut
recipes I've used. I think it held up better.