Happy Mother’s Day! After dinner, we were craving something sweet, but weren’t sure what. I was looking at doughnut recipes, but realized that making doughnuts would take hours because of the dough needing to rise. Then, I came across an Ina Garten recipe for Cinnamon Baked Doughnuts! They seemed very simple and straight-forward to make, so I thought I’d give them a try! I put the recipe down below, because they tasted so good and only take around a half hour to make. The only out of the ordinary tool you need is a doughnut pan (I had a mini one), which you can easily find at a baking store. I put a heaping tablespoon of batter into each doughnut, and it made 24. The recipe says to dip them into melted butter, and then coat in cinnamon sugar, but I found that when I do that, the sugar clumps together and doesn’t taste as good, so I opted out of the butter. My dad suggested that we should make a caramel sauce, so he made a delicious one! Caramel is actually really easy to make, and I highly suggest that you make it with the doughnuts. I also put the recipe for the caramel below, and instead of using half and half, I used milk. I didn’t cool the caramel, and it tasted really yummy warm! Hope you had a great mother’s day, and enjoy!
Cinnamon Baked Doughnuts
Ingredients:
- Baking spray with flour, such as Baker’s Joy
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the topping: - 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray doughnut pan well with baking spray.
- Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Spoon the batter into the baking pans, filling each one a little more than three-quarters full. Bake for 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then tap the doughnuts out onto a sheet pan.
- For the topping, melt the 8 tablespoons of butter in an 8-inch saute pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip each doughnut first in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar, either on one side or both sides.
Easy Caramel Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1 packed cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 4 tablespoons butter
- Pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- Mix the brown sugar, half-and-half, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until it gets thicker. Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further.
- Turn off the heat, cool slightly and pour the sauce into a jar. Refrigerate until cold.