Happy Monday everyone!!!! Normally, I wouldn't use so many exclamation points for a Monday but today is not your ordinary Monday! Today is Cate's virtual baby shower, hosted by Zainab and Allie ! Virtual baby showers are totally a thing and they're SUPER fun. The preparations are all done secretly and it's all just so exciting! Also, Zainab and Allie picked the best theme ever! I mean, who doesn't love baking donuts?! I hadn't pulled my donut pan out in a while prior to this, so I was definitely excited about sharing this recipe with you all today. In honor of Girl Scout cookie season, I have for you all, the Samoa donut. A rich, buttery donut topped with a caramel-coconut glaze and dipped in semi-sweet chocolate. Literally the best donut I've made thus far.
...And now back to everyone complaining about how cold it is. Yup, it's officially Fall as of yesterday but I for one, am definitely not mad about it. As long as I'm not having to drive through slushy snow, temperature changes are irrelevant to me. I'm just happy for Fall baking to commence. Clearly, I got a head start on the pumpkin this year, but now it's time to bring out the apples! Apples are my favorite thing ever and I've probably mentioned that a few hundred times on here. Last year or maybe even two years ago, I went to a Fall farm festival and they had these mini apple cider donuts that were too delicious for words. I knew right away I had to recreate them at home and yesterday, I finally got a chance to. Now, these aren't an exact replica since they're baked and not fried, but they come pretty darn close to the real thing! The apple cider is reduced for a deeper, more concentrated flavor and the buttermilk in the recipe keeps them so...
It's the most wonderful time of the yeaaaaaaarrrrr! And that song has been stuck in my head for approximately thirteen days. I tried desperately to get it out but it just wouldn't budge. So, I just went with it and made gingerbread donuts as I belted out my best baritone. Needless to say, my family wasn't too happy about that. But they were happy about these donuts! Though some of my absurd family members said they preferred them without the glaze, I think it was the ultimate complement to the deep, spicy flavors.
I upgraded to a regular donut pan, y'all! The mini one was cute and all, but having to bake multiple times to finish off the batter was getting a bit much. Aint nobody got time for that, for real! So, I snagged this beauty off Amazon and I must say, I will be giving it five stars for making my life easier. And for bringing these bangin donuts into my life. This recipe may look familiar to you and that's because, it was the first one I made in my mini donut pan. Back then , I topped these donuts with a chocolate glaze, but today, in honor of breast cancer awareness day, I topped them with a bright pink raspberry glaze. Also, I switched out some of the all-purpose flour in the recipe for cake flour, because after all, it is a chocolate cake donut. And cake flour always takes baked goods to the next level, which is what we want here. Delicious, next level chocolate cake donuts with an awesome naturally dyed glaze.
Fun fact: My body temperature is 1 billion degrees and the second my finger touches a chocolate covered donut, it melts. This isn't really fun, but it is a fact. And I've got ugly looking donuts to prove it. Right up there. So much for my great idea to post great donuts on the one and only National Donut Day this past Friday, right? Not only did I not make the deadline, but I also experienced extreme technical difficulties photographing these. They honestly almost didn't even make it to the blog! I HATE posting anything subpar. It's either I give you my best or I don't give you anything at all. But for the sake of how delicious these donuts are, I decided to cut myself some slack. Unfortunate pictures aside, you must know that these chocolate covered donuts were inspired by the classic Entenmanns chocolate covered donuts and they are a near perfect replica.
The donut pan is back in action, y'all! It's been exactly five weeks since it's big debut and I couldn't possibly wait any longer to try my hand at another miniature creation! I can see why Jessica wrote a whole cookbook about them. They're so darn cute! It didn't take me very long to decide what flavor I wanted to work with. Carrot is basically blowing up the interwebs at the moment, with Easter and Mother's Day around the corner, so that's what I stuck with. Also, it was the best way I could incorporate honey, cinnamon, and ginger for my Mystery Dish this month! Kat from I Want Crazy was our host, and she gave us boxed cake mix, peeps, oats, ginger, honey, wine, shallots, coconut, shrimp, cherry tomatoes, kiwi, dried fruit, and cinnamon. We were required to use three of the ingredients.
Guess who finally bought a donut pan? Yours truly! But I didn't get just any donut pan. I got a MINI donut pan. Why? Because it's automatic portion control. Also, mini desserts have been scientifically proven to be more delicious than their regular-sized counterparts. It's true. I don't make this stuff up people. Also on the way to being scientifically proven is chocolate desserts being significantly more delicious than non-chocolate desserts. As a chocoholic, I have complete expertise in this field. However, they may need a non-biased person to perform the study. I have no doubt those findings will be released soon though. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying more chocolatey desserts like these double chocolate donuts. Yes, double chocolate. Because just chocolate is NOT enough for me. My mom thinks I have a serious problem. PROBLEM? This is a blessing. Chocolate is the best thing to happen to my life.
