Baked Doughnuts

My family visited over Memorial Day weekend, and I thought the perfect pre-church activity Sunday morning would be decorating doughnuts. I received some doughnut pans for my birthday this year, which allows me now to make dozens of baked doughnuts very easily. I just follow the recipe on the back of the pans, and then pipe the batter into the pans using a ziploc bag with a corner snipped off (this reduces the mess, and the batter doesn't get all over the middle part). I have a regular-size pan and a mini-pan, and it took three or four tries to get the minis to actually turn out correctly (I was over-filling the batter cups!) Anyway, they cook in about five minutes, they are delicious, and somewhat healthier for you since they aren't fried. You can top them however you desire - chocolate glaze, vanilla glaze, lemon, cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar, etc. After trying several different glaze recipes, I decided to take the easy route and microwave some store bought chocolate frosting for my nephews to use. I then gave them free reign to my sprinkle collection (BIG mess, but BIG fun). Here are some pictures of their creations:

 

Erin helps Joel (5) and Nathan (3) with their sprinkle allotment.

 

Joel & Nathan display their final creations (they were devoured shortly thereafter).

Ezra (7) carefully decorates using every type of sprinkle, while fresh-from-the-oven doughnuts cool in the foreground.

 

Ezra shows off his masterpiece.

Isaac (9) was the first to finish his decorating (and the first to eat it!)

 

The remaining doughnuts were dipped in melted butter, then dunked in a cinnamon and sugar mixture - this was the topping of choice for all of the adults present.

This was a fun (but messy) activity, and very easy to orchestrate! (Just be aware of the risk of sprinkle spillage - I'm still sweeping up blue decorating sugar!) The recipe is on the back of the doughnut pans, and varies based on the size of the pan, so I won't post it here - but if you have a sweet tooth like I do, I highly recommend these doughnuts! They are quickly becoming a Sunday morning tradition (although when it's just my husband and myself, we don't go quite as overboard with the sprinkles ;-).