Mini French Toast Doughnuts

I’ve been dying to try making doughnuts for a long time now, but anytime I saw a doughnut pan in a store, I always seemed to talk myself out of spending my money on something I knew I would very rarely actually use. Fortunately, my sister knows me well and bought me a doughnut pan for Christmas, and not just any old doughnut pan but a mini one! Mini baked goods are always ten times cuter than regular sized ones, so I was so excited to break in my new pan!

I had a lot of flavours to choose from when deciding what to make for my first ever doughnuts, but once I saw the idea of french toast doughnuts on Vegetarian Times, I was sold. Their recipe was vegan and I didn’t have a lot of those ingredients, so I decided to just take the idea of a cinnamon and nutmeg spiced batter with a maple glaze and cinnamon sugar coating, then use the recipe that came with my pan as a base to create my own version of (non-vegan) french toast doughnuts.

The end result was even better than I’d imagined! Not only did they taste amazing, but they were also ridiculously adorable! I was surprised at how easy they were to make too; the batter is just like a muffin or pancake batter where you mix the wet and dry ingredients then combine them (no mixer required), then they only take 8 minutes to bake, after which you immediately glaze and top them, so they’re ready pretty quickly. You could easily have a plate of them on the table on time for breakfast, but they’re good any time of the day! I found that they tasted best fresh out of the oven, but still enjoyed them later in the day and even the following day, after a quick zap in the microwave to soften them up a little.

I like to think these are also not that bad for you, especially compared to a lot of other baked goods like cookies and muffins, or even compared to typical fried doughnuts. Of course, their mini size makes it easy to lose count of how many you’ve eaten, so in the end it probably all balances out!

After the success of my first doughnuts, I can’t wait to try other flavours now! Stay tuned for hopefully many more mini doughnut recipes – and if you don’t have a pan, don’t make the same mistake I made and wait for someone else to buy one for you – go get one now!

Mini French Toast Doughnuts

Inspired by Vegetarian Times; Doughnut recipe adapted from my Fox Run mini doughnut pan

Makes 30-36 mini doughnuts

Ingredients:

For the Doughnuts:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Glaze:

1 cup icing sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1-1/2 teaspoons maple extract

*You may wish to add pure maple syrup for a stronger maple flavour - taste and adjust as desired

For the Cinnamon Sugar:

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray a mini doughnut pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the doughnuts (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg). In a medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients for the doughnuts (milk, eggs, melted butter, vanilla). Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir together until just incorporated.

Spoon the mixture into the doughnut pan, filling each hole 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 8 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly touched.

Meanwhile, stir together the ingredients for the maple glaze in a shallow dish. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar in a separate small bowl.

When doughnuts finish baking, remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack with a pan or parchment paper underneath to catch drippings when you glaze them. Dip each doughnut in the maple glaze to coat the top, then immediately sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of the glaze before it hardens.

When pan cools, wipe clean with a cloth or paper towel and continue filling with batter and baking until batter is used up.

Doughnuts are best served fresh and warm but will keep for a day or two (you may want to quickly reheat them before eating).

I shared this link in Sweets for Saturday over at Sweet as Sugar Cookies.