Baked Doughnuts - recipe from shutterbean.com

This recipe is a game changer.

Reading Tracy's doughnut (donut?) recipes on shutterbean.com definitely got me inspired to try my hand at baking doughnuts, and I am HOOKED.

The batter for this recipe came together in about 5 minutes, and the doughnuts baked for 15, so only 20 minutes to wait until you have a tasty, sweet treat. 

If you don't have doughnut pans already, now is the time to get some. I'm sure glad I did.


Tracy adapted a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust, to make 6 instead of 12. Since it was my first adventure in making doughnuts, I decided to go with the smaller amount, but wish I'd gone with Ina's. They were so easy and so good!

Preheat your oven, gather your ingredients, and get ready to make some kitchen magic.

Sift your dry ingredients. Check out that freshly grated nutmeg!

Add wet to dry - that is surprisingly hard to photograph.

Then, use one of my favorite tricks: dump the batter into a freezer bag and snip off the corner to pipe it into the pan. This is a great trick for many kitchen situations -- filling cupcakes, frosting anything, making deviled eggs, pretty much anytime you might use a traditional piping bag, but a fancy tip won't matter. 

I may have overfilled these a bit

While the doughnuts bake, whip up the topping. Melted butter and cinnamon-sugar. I didn't end up needing the whole amount of either, so mixed up the extra and saved it for toast.

Once the doughnuts are ready (a toothpick comes out clean, and the tops are slightly browned), flip them on to a cooling rack and restrain yourself. Or not. I didn't. 

Brush the tops with butter, then dip in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. If you want more of an impact, then do it again to the other side.

mmmm.... doughnuts

These were delicious warm, but I found the texture better once they had cooled a bit. Now there is no substitute for a proper raised, fried doughnut, but these are pretty darn tasty, and super easy to make! I even had the mess cleaned up before they came out of the oven.

My mix ended up making seven doughnuts, but I probably should have stretched it to eight since a few of mine were overfilled. I recommend investing in two pans in case you get really into baking doughnuts at home, and I'm almost certain you will.

These made a delicious dessert the night I made them, and the few left made a tasty grab and go breakfast the next morning.