Chocolate Doughnuts with Bailey's Cream Glaze

It's hard to trust that everything will work out exactly how you expect. Life is life and you can't anticipate everything or every turn, you just have to go with it and have a little faith and trust and pixie dust (okay, that morphed into a Disney quote real fast).

I trust that when I put sugar together with chocolate, flour and eggs that I will get a delicious cake. I don't need to taste it to know if it's right, I trust that the baking magic is there. So these doughnuts are my gift to my coworkers: untested and full of baking magic.

There have been a few different St. Patrick's Day treats on this blog in the past but it's been awhile since a doughnut has graced the pages. We're sticking with a classic chocolate baked doughnut but gettin' feisty with the glaze.

A touch of Bailey's makes this breakfast treat into a morning pick-me-up worthy of this festive holiday.

Kiss me, I'm Irish! And I gave you doughnuts soooo...

Recipe
Doughnuts

• 2 cups cake flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 425. Lightly grease a doughnut pan and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until combined.
3. Gradually add the buttermilk, eggs and vegetable oil and whisk until smooth. You should not see any dry ingredients poking through.
4. Spoon or pipe the batter into the doughnut pan, filling almost to the top.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes until firm. Remove from the pan and allow to cool completely before glazing. 

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons Bailey's
• 2 teaspoon buttermilk

1. Whisk ingredients together until there are no lumps left in the powdered sugar.
2. The consistency shouldn't be too runny or it won't stay on the doughnut. If it's too liquidy, add more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add more Bailey's (or milk). 
3. Dip the doughnuts in the glaze one at a time.
4. Place on waxed paper to set and repeat with all doughnuts. While the glaze is still damp, you can add sprinkles or other decorations to set.
5. Once the glaze is dry, you can then stack the doughnuts. 

Glazed Pumpkin Donuts

There's a day for everything, it seems. National guacamole day was a great excuse for a margarita and burrito. And national coffee day seems like a great excuse for some pumpkin donuts. October is just around the corner and I've filled my head with pumpkin recipes, lattes and cider. Not to mention monster cupcakes, caramel apples and candy corn. So to kick it off, this breakfast treat is a double-whammy of pumpkin.

My friend gave me donuts pans and cookbooks for Christmas a couple years ago. I've taken to crossing the recipes between the books, using the cake from one and glaze from another. I always bake my donuts but my mom would fry them when we were kids. In making this recipe, we talked about the good old days when we had donuts and wondering why we stopped.

 It is my recollection that we stopped having weekend breakfasts with donuts because we started going to church. This may explain why I resented having to go to church when I was a kid and I must admit, my mom didn't disagree with this memory.

These are very simple to make and can be made say on a Sunday night to make Monday a bit sweeter. The dry ingredients are mixed together and then slowly added to the combined wet ingredients. 15 minutes later and you have baked donuts, just enough time to make the pumpkin glaze. The two pumpkin components go well together as the glaze is very sweet. I even double-dipped some of the donuts in glaze as an experiment (it was a great success). I will say that now I understand why donuts come in flat boxes. After wrapping these up last night, I found that the glaze had sort of melted off the donuts. I think it would have been safer to let them air out overnight before packing them up for transport. Still tasty though.

I hope your Monday is going well and if you have a moment, find a local Dunkin' Donuts and you'll get a free dark roast coffee. Happy National Coffee Day!

 Recipe

Donut

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a donut pan or follow the instructions on a donut maker if you're using one.
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt together. Make sure all ingredients are sifted together.
3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and egg until creamy. Add the pumpkin, oil and vanilla.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in the large bowl, alternating with the milk until all ingredients are together. 
5. Fill the donut pan 3/4 of the way. Cook for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. Allow donuts to cool slightly before dipping in glaze.

Glaze

• 4 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (1 lb.)
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup hot water

1. Combine the powdered sugar, corn syrup, salt, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin and vanilla in a large bowl. 
2. Slowly mix the ingredients together and add the hot water until all is combined. 
3. Once the donuts have cooled slightly (but not completely cold), dip the to half of the donut in the glaze. 
4. Place the donuts on wax paper to dry. Consume in bulk.