Leah Nagel
I love cinnamon. Anything cinnamon.Cinnamon buns, cinnamon cookies, cinnamon cake, cinnamon bread, cinnamon donuts - actually, I prefer chocolate when it comes to donuts. Well, not a chocolate donut, buta regular store-bought vanilla donut with chocolate icing. You know, the delicious, deep-fried kind.
But then I saw this recipe for baked cinnamon crumb donuts. And baked donuts are really just a cake batter, baked in a donut pan. Which basically means thatthis is a recipe for a cinnamon crumb cake, baked in a donut pan. And I am DOWN for some cinnamon crumb cake.Baked in a donut pan. Because refer back to my second sentence, where I mention that I love cinnamon cake.
Somehow, donut pansmakeeverything you bake 100xcuter and tastier andbetter. Like, why pour this cake into a pan, bake it, and cut out boring 'ole squares, when you could simply portion it into a donut mold, bake it, remove it from the mold, and then proceed to eat aDONUT. Because it just became a donut. Without all the work, time, and oil of a donut. Magic.
Thesebaked donuts are actually double cinnamon donuts. Theydon'tjust have a cinnamon crumb topping. Each donutalso has a cinnamon swirl tucked into it.
Let me explain:
You're going to be makingthree easy mixtures for this recipe:
1 - the moist, airyvanilla donut batter that serves as the base for each donut
2 - thecinnamon-sugar mixture that's sprinkled intothe center of eachdonut
3 - the cinnamon-brown sugar crumb topping that covers thetop of each donut
The process will look something like this:
Don't worry - although there's three different components here, this recipe is still an easy one. All the mixtures are really simple and it will take you minutes to mix together each one.
These donuts are actually the first baked donut recipe I've ever tried, the reason simply being that I just neverhad a donut pan before (I know, bad excuse). Buta few weeks ago,I was in a home goods store, passed the donut pans, and thought:"how is it I've never tried one of these donut pans??" So I decided to purchase two pans (each one has 6 donut molds). Let's just say I'mvery pleased with my decision.
After I bought the molds,I began searching for baked donut recipes. And I spotted this one. And, after seeing the ingredient list, I had thisfunny, little feeling that these donuts were going to be perfect. I was right. They were. They are. They're amazing.
Just imagine eating one of these donuts with a steaming mug of coffee for breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner. Aside from cheesecake, I can't think of a more perfect pairing for coffee than these cinnamon donuts. I don't have to imagine it,because I had one of these with my coffee this morning. And everything came up smelling like roses. It was a "thestars finallyaligned" type of moment for me.
Stop imagining, and get baking. These baked cinnamon crumb donuts will rock your world. And probably align the stars for you, too. I know, I'm not really making sense here. But these donuts will do that to you.
See this content in the original post
Adapted from Alessprocessedlife
Yield: 12 donuts
Donut Batter:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (for non-dairy option:1 cup soy/almond milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar)
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cinnamon Swirl:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Cinnamon Crumb:
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons lightbrown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teasoon nutmeg
4-5 tablespoons oil
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray 12 donut molds.
Cinnamon Swirl: Mix together the ingredientsin a small bowl.
Cinnamon Crumb:In another small bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the oil. Pour in the oil and work mixturewith hands till it clumps and resembles largecrumbs.
Donut Batter: Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add in the wet ingredients and whisk till no lumps remain.
Spoon batter (or pour itwith a spouted cup) into each mold, filling them halfway. Sprinklethe cinnamon swirl evenly over the batter. Top each mold with theremaining donut batter (the molds will be filled almost,or till, the top). Sprinkle the cinnamon crumb evenly over the donuts.
Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until the donuts spring back slightlywhen touched.
Let cool a minute, and then use a knife to ease the donuts from the molds.
On a completely unrelated note, another reason to make these donuts:
