I remember learning several things very clearly from when I was little- the Golden Rule of course sticks out, "look with your eyes not with your hands" was another good one, and then of course "actions speak louder than words" was huge. Today, I often find that when I want to express gratitude, sympathy, excitement, or apologetic feelings, I often do so with a gesture rather than just words. More often then not, this includes food-I'm sure there is no surprise there.
Over the past few weeks my mother has been assisting me with a rather large project,
and I wanted to express my gratitude beyond the simple "Thank yous" I was saying. Now my mother enjoys a good donut now and then. We always stopped for them on our way to my college as the perfect morning road trip food, and it has been a lovely tradition ever since. Throughout last week I kept thinking how nice it would be to cook up a batch of donuts as a surprise for her, however the idea of frying them just made me stop in my tracks. So, of course, I reached out to the folks at Chowhound.com for some assistance. Though I caused a bit of a debate with my quandary for non fried donuts, I was also sent the link to these little bites of heaven known as Sugar Donut Muffins- recipe found here courtesy of Baking Bites.
These "muffins" are baked, but incredibly dense and with the flavor and internal texture of a "real" cake donut. Of course they don't have those lovely fried slightly crispy edges, but is that why we eat donuts? I think not. They are enjoyed for their lovely consistency, their heavenly flavor....and perhaps even the sugary sweetness of their dip in sugar.
The recipe itself was amazingly easy. Simple instructions to combine sugar and egg, and blend until light in color:
Then the instructions lead you through whisking together the dry ingredients and adding them to the sugar and egg combination. Once those are fully blended its a simple addition of the wet ingredients-vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract. The batter that is created is incredibly thick, and I noted as I began to spoon the mix into the muffin pans- it has a consistency almost of glue. It was quite a batter.
They went into the oven for about 18 minutes, or until the tester tooth pick came out clean. This took the full 18 minutes for me. In the mean time though, I melted some butter, and placed sugar in a bowl for rolling purposes once they were done baking.
Now the recipe did not say to allow the muffins to cool prior to painting them with
butter, and rolling them in simple granulated sugar- so I did not. They were a bit hot to touch, but I worked quickly and got all 10 of the muffins painted with butter, rolled in sugar and set out on wax paper relatively quickly. A few minutes later-and these were ready for eating.
What a treat! These had that wonderful thicker than cake like consistency, the wonderful nutty flavor of nutmeg that is so wonderful and delicious, the crunch of the granulated sugar, and just a pillowy softness. These were 100% delicious, and declared by my mother as a complete success- a great substitute for the fried cake donuts.
These were so simple to make, I will definitely be making them again, and may even add some jam surprise to the middle for an extra special treat!
Over the past few weeks my mother has been assisting me with a rather large project,
and I wanted to express my gratitude beyond the simple "Thank yous" I was saying. Now my mother enjoys a good donut now and then. We always stopped for them on our way to my college as the perfect morning road trip food, and it has been a lovely tradition ever since. Throughout last week I kept thinking how nice it would be to cook up a batch of donuts as a surprise for her, however the idea of frying them just made me stop in my tracks. So, of course, I reached out to the folks at Chowhound.com for some assistance. Though I caused a bit of a debate with my quandary for non fried donuts, I was also sent the link to these little bites of heaven known as Sugar Donut Muffins- recipe found here courtesy of Baking Bites.These "muffins" are baked, but incredibly dense and with the flavor and internal texture of a "real" cake donut. Of course they don't have those lovely fried slightly crispy edges, but is that why we eat donuts? I think not. They are enjoyed for their lovely consistency, their heavenly flavor....and perhaps even the sugary sweetness of their dip in sugar.
The recipe itself was amazingly easy. Simple instructions to combine sugar and egg, and blend until light in color:
Then the instructions lead you through whisking together the dry ingredients and adding them to the sugar and egg combination. Once those are fully blended its a simple addition of the wet ingredients-vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract. The batter that is created is incredibly thick, and I noted as I began to spoon the mix into the muffin pans- it has a consistency almost of glue. It was quite a batter.
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They went into the oven for about 18 minutes, or until the tester tooth pick came out clean. This took the full 18 minutes for me. In the mean time though, I melted some butter, and placed sugar in a bowl for rolling purposes once they were done baking.
Now the recipe did not say to allow the muffins to cool prior to painting them with
butter, and rolling them in simple granulated sugar- so I did not. They were a bit hot to touch, but I worked quickly and got all 10 of the muffins painted with butter, rolled in sugar and set out on wax paper relatively quickly. A few minutes later-and these were ready for eating.What a treat! These had that wonderful thicker than cake like consistency, the wonderful nutty flavor of nutmeg that is so wonderful and delicious, the crunch of the granulated sugar, and just a pillowy softness. These were 100% delicious, and declared by my mother as a complete success- a great substitute for the fried cake donuts.
These were so simple to make, I will definitely be making them again, and may even add some jam surprise to the middle for an extra special treat!
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2 comments:
These look so tasty - very similar to the "dirt bombs" that we get every summer at the Cottage Bakery in Orleans . . . those have cinnamon sugar on the outside, and perhaps a little more nutmeg. Highly recommended!
Isnt that funny- I thought about adding cinnamon to the sugar- but wanted to try them pure first :-) I have some ideas for them though....I feel as though they can be morphed into all different tastes...
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