Baked Miniature Donuts

Today, on the commercially acceptable day to express love, I wanted to make something special for my leading man and me, since every holiday should be celebrated with a festive treat.

After much deliberation, I decided to try out my miniature donut pan, the one my sister got for me ages ago but I hadn't yet gotten around to experimenting with.

After a taste of these little guys, I have no idea why it took me so long.

The way I figure it, these guys could be dressed up for any holiday. I had a lot of fun using my festively colored sprinkles, but with the right color combinations, these could be decorated for any time of the year, or just made for normal eating. They were, after all, really really good.

They don't exactly taste like donuts to me, more like light delicious little cakes, but their shape makes them extra fun. And according to my calculations, four glazed donuts are about 150 calories, if you happen to be counting that sort of thing. That's not too shabby a deal either. 

The recipe I made these from claimed to yield 24 mini donuts, but I got 52 out of the batter. I might recommend trying to cut the recipe in half since the pan only cooks 12 donuts at a time. I mean, I've got nothing better to do than stand around in my kitchen all day, but you might have something better to do.


Baked Miniature Donuts
yields about 50 donuts
(recipe barely adapted from William Sonoma)


1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk with a teaspoon of vinegar (or 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup buttermilk)
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini donut pan with non-stick spray.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt with a whisk. Set aside.

With the paddle attachment of your electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients with adding the milk/vinegar combination until all of the ingredients are incorporated. 

Pour the batter into a piping bag and pipe about a tablespoon and a half of batter into each donut well. (Be sure to evenly distribute the batter or your donuts will be lopsided.) 

Bake in the oven for 8 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 3 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack. Wipe down the pan, spray with more non-stick spray, and repeat piping and baking until the batter is gone.


Donut Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons milk


Whisk together the powdered sugar and the milk with a fork, slowly adding to milk to make sure the glaze doesn't get too runny.

Dip the top half of the donut into the glaze. I found that a toothpick was handy at this stage to clear the hole of glaze and to gently remove excess frosting. Dip the glazed donut in sprinkles if so desired.