Recipe: Baked Cinnamon Doughnuts

This is a recipe I really, really wish I hadn’t discovered. This is not the way I wanted to start recipes posts of 2017.

I wanted to start with a good fresh salad, or a zingy stir-fry. Something colourful, healthy, crisp, full of nutrients. Instead I’m posting about dougnuts. Which I absolutely insist must be dunked into Nutella. I’m sorry.

Don’t get me wrong, these are delicious. But my greedy tummy does not need to know that I can whip up doughnuts in just half an hour, with storecupboard ingredients. It makes Friday-night Movie-nights all the more gluttonous. And all the more yummy. That said, these are oven-baked. No frying. No oil. That’s got to count for something, right?!

Soft and moist, spiced with warmth from cinnamon, I like these dipped into a melted pot of Nutella. There’s just something so magical about the combination of chocolate, hazelnut and cinnamon; I could eat them all day.

Ingredients

• 225g plain flour
• 200g sugar (I like to use a combination of caster and light brown sugar in these)
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 300ml milk
• 25g butter, melted

Mix together the flour, sugars, baking powder, and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and melted butter. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until combined – but be careful not to overmix! Spoon or pipe the batter into dounght pans (I used silicone ones – if you have regular ones then grease them lightly first), filling each one a little more than three-quarters full.

Bake for 10 minutes at 180C, or until firm to the touch and light golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then carefully remove from the pan – I found my first batch tore quite a bit due to not letting them cool enough, so be patient!

If you want to be ultra-indulgent (and let’s face it, if you’re making brownies you might as well go hard or go home…), I recommend covering in a cinnamon-spiked sugar. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in an 8-inch saute pan. Combine 150g sugar and plenty of cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip each doughnut first in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar. Dip into Nutella. Eat. Done.

Have you ever made doughnuts? What have you been eating recently?