I’m back with another donut recipe! If I wasn’t careful (or maybe just lazy), I might crank out a donut of some sort every weekend. But thank goodness I don’t have the energy to do that, or we might be looking at a very large baby come February.
When I think of Christmastime flavors, I think of eggnog, spices, hot chocolate, and of course gingerbread. I utilized the flavors of gingerbread (plenty of ginger, cinnamon, brown sugar, and molasses) to make a a pretty easy cake donut and then dipped them in a simple coffee glaze. A cream cheese glaze would also be really fantastic with this, if coffee is not your thing or maybe if you make this for little ones. (This is how I’m starting to think now, with little Baby H on the way!)
I’ve failed to do any of my Christmas shopping yet this year, with the exception of a couple of things for Kyle, but I did order wallpaper for the nursery and am so excited for it to come in!! I also registered us for birthing classes in January. This sounds so weird saying out loud on the internet. But yes, we are going to learn all about labor and delivery and then take a tour of the hospital where we will be delivering a human! Ahh!!!!
Back to donuts. You guys know how much I love them as I’ve professed in a couple of other recipes, such as here and here. While you may be intimidated to make donuts at home, cake donuts are by far way easier than yeasted donuts! You simply whisk together the dry ingredients, stir in the wet ingredients, cut out donut shapes, and fry. You don’t have to wait for any dough to rise or any of that nonsense. The only waiting time is when the punched out donuts chill out in the refrigerator for about half an hour, but you can do that while your oil is heating! Easy, easy.
I actually made the dough the night before to see if it would hold up for frying the next day, and it turned out wonderful. If you want to do it in a two step process like that and get to your donuts faster in the morning, I included that in directions below. Happy Frying!
Gingerbread Cake Donuts with Coffee Glaze
makes 12 - 18 donuts
Ingredients
3 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbl ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbl brown sugar
2 tbl molasses
2 tbs butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla
For the glaze
2 -3 tbl coffee
2 cups powdered sugar
Directions
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and baking soda.
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, buttermilk, white sugar, brown sugar, and molasses. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. Mix in vanilla and melted butter. Dough should be sticky and wet.
At this point you can cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight and continue steps below the next morning, or you can use dough immediately.
Generously flour a clean surface and dump out the dough. Knead several times (adding more flour as necessary) until the dough comes together and forms a ball. Roll out to about 1/2-inch thick, and then punch out circles for the doughnuts. You can use anywhere from a 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 inch cookie cutter, and then a 1 or 2 inch cookie cutter for the center. Re-roll scrap dough and repeat to punch out more doughnuts.
Arrange donuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes - 2 hours.
Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Heat a large dutch oven or similar deep pot with oil over medium high heat, or until 360°F.
While oil is heating, make the glaze. Whisk all glaze ingredients together until combined. Set aside until ready to use, stirring the glaze just before using.
Using a slotted spoon, carefully fry the donuts, 2 - 3 at a time, for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown. Flip over and cook on the other side, another 1 - 2 minutes. Transfer to paper towel lined plate, and let cool for 5 minutes before dipping in the glaze. These are best eaten soon after they are fried, or at least the day of!
