海角大神

National Doughnut Day is all about finding free doughnuts at various participating stores. But for me, making doughnuts at home really takes the cake.

Once I figured out that doughnut recipes reach infinity online, imagine my excitement as I scrolled through Pinterest, seeing doughnut recipe after doughnut recipe. I happily 鈥減inned鈥� away, thinking of all the times that I would make these sweet treats. I even created a new board appropriately titled 鈥渄oughnuts for days.鈥� Because I knew that someday, I would make all of these recipes.

Eventually I got tired of just looking at photos of sweet potato pecan-pie, rhubarb poppyseed, and funfetti cake doughnuts; I decided I might actually want to make some! So I clicked on a link to the perfect poppyseed doughnut with lemon drizzle. But when I saw that I needed a 鈥渄oughnut pan," I immediately closed the tab. I tried the link to cinnamon-roll baked doughnuts. Same problem. Suffice it to say I was devastated; I didn鈥檛 have this apparently essential piece of cooking equipment and my dreams of eating baked red velvet doughnuts with cream cheese glaze were crushed.

Problems have a funny way of finding a solution and somehow in the middle of the night that night I found myself on Amazon ordering this 鈥渄oughnut pan.鈥� As I anxiously awaited my new, novelty cooking-ware purchase, I dreamed of eating maple-glazed, vanilla-bean, and salted-caramel doughnuts with a steaming mug of coffee. A couple days later the pan arrived!

That following weekend I decided I was up for the challenge. I was going to make doughnuts, and I didn鈥檛 need Krispy Kreme鈥檚 help. And not just any doughnuts. I was going to make baked, cinnamon-sugar covered pumpkin doughnuts. I carefully sifted the ingredients into the bowl, mixing in the nutmeg and cinnamon with the pumpkin and ladled the batter into a Ziploc bag. I piped the batter mixture into the doughnut tray and 15 minutes later 聽they were done! After quickly dunking my new creations into melted butter, I tossed them in a bowl with cinnamon-sugar and immediately ate one. And then another. And another. Because they were baked so why not? The light, tender crumbs melted in with the cinnamon-sugar creating the perfect aromatic combination for that crisp fall morning.

In celebration of National Doughnut Day, you too could stand in line and get a free (or semi-free) doughnut from a beloved chain bakery. Or you could try making them yourself. Try this springtime "Pistachio and Cranberry Bite Baked Donuts with Vanilla Icing鈥� recipe from Heather Goldberg and Jenny Engel of . You might just surprise yourself!

Pistachio and Cranberry Bite Baked Doughnuts with Vanilla Icing
From

Yields 6 large donuts

1 cup organic unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup un-refined evaporated cane sugar
1/4teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup original almond milk, plus 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup neutral tasting oil (safflower)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons, plus 1 tablespoon pistachio kernels, chopped
1 tablespoon, plus 1 tablespoon, dried cranberries, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder, sugar and sea salt and whisk until uniform.

3. In a small bowl, add almond milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside to curdle, about 1-2 minutes.

4. Add almond milk mixture, oil and vanilla extract to dry ingredients. Whisk until uniform. 聽Fold 3 tablespoons pistachios and 1 tablespoon cranberries into batter.

Grease donut pan generously with cooking spray and pour batter into each donut shape. 聽Leave about 1/4-inch for batter to rise and clean any excess batter from center of each donut to prevent sticking.

Bake for about 21-24 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before glazing. Place on a cooling rack over a baking sheet with walls, to collect icing.

Vanilla Icing:

2 teaspoons non-hydrogenated buttery spread
1-1/2 cups organic powdered sugar
1 tablespoon soymilk creamer or almond milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash of sea salt

1. In a small pot, melt buttery spread and add in powdered sugar. 聽Whisk until lumpy. 聽Add soymilk creamer or almond milk, vanilla extract and salt. Whisk until smooth, about 1 minute and remove from heat. 聽

2. To glaze donuts, drizzle a small amount of glaze over each donut, making sure there is a baking sheet to catch the run-off. 聽Sprinkle right away with remaining pistachios and cranberries before glaze hardens. 聽Set aside to cool. 聽