Wanted: Type A personal assistant. Job duties will include: reminding me what day it is, reminding me how many days I have left to write a cookbook, eating pancakes, and listening to me talk to myself as I grocery shop.
Wanted: Dude dishwasher.
Wanted: Courage… to get back on my bike again.
Wanted: A sunny winter and a kitten for Christmas.
Wanted: Cakey doughnuts with none of the fuss and all of the glaze.
That one’s just too easy. Done and done.
I have to be honest… this post is a sort of dog-ate-my-homework situation.
I took about forty pictures of the making of these little darlings, then I realized that I hadn’t put my memory card back in my camera.
Not ideal. At all.
What makes a cake doughnut a cake doughnut? Tender light cake crumb cooked in hot fry oil.
Can a doughnut still be a doughnut if it’s baked in the oven and shaped like a muffin. Yea! I think so! What makes these doughnut muffins and not cupcakes is the glossy chocolate glaze. They’re fluffy and light. They’re springy. They’re not too sweet, and the chocolate glaze with sprinkles is pretty much perfect.
Chocolate Glazed Baked Doughnut Muffins
adapted slightly from Doughnuts (it’s new! i like it!)
makes 6 to 8 doughnut muffins
For the doughnut muffins:
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into about 8 cubes
1/4 cup whole milk, scalded
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
For the chocolate glaze:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (you can also use bittersweet, it’ll just be a sweeter glaze)
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
To make the muffins:
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a standard muffin pan (you’ll only need up to eight of the muffin cups).
Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and sugar. Add the cold butter cubes and use your fingers to break the butter up into the dry ingredients. Work the butter (it’s ok if it gets warm from your fingers) until you have a coarse mean and the butter is broken down very well into the flour. Set aside.
In a small pan, heat the milk until almost boiling and remove from the flame. Whisk together yogurt, egg and vanilla extract. Add the warm milk and whisk to incorporate. Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir together with a spatula until just incorporated. Be careful not to overmix as it may make the muffins dense.
Gently spoon batter into muffin tins. Muffins tins should be filled halfway. Bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the muffins are lightly golden brown and springy to the touch. Insert a skewer into the center of a muffin to test for doneness. If the skewer comes out clean, the muffins are done! Remove from the oven and let rest while you whip up the chocolate glaze.
To make the chocolate glaze:
In a small saucepan over medium flame, heat butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract until butter is melted. Remove from flame and add chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate has melted. If the mixture begins to separate a bit… don’t panic. Whisk in the powdered sugar and the glaze should come together. Dip the muffin tops in the glaze while the glaze is warm. Let rest for 3 minutes then sprinkle with jimmies.
[…] can’t describe how good these are, which is fine because I can show you with photos. The recipe comes from Joy the Baker and requires no […]