I wasn't planning on making donuts this week. But that all changed after spending a couple of hours at a wine tasting with my sister, brother-in-law and childhood best friend this past weekend. Normally one would not associate donuts with wine, but in the 'new' normal world anything is possible. So here is the back story. More than a year ago my sister suggested I post the Golden Egg recipe. She and most everyone who has eaten them raves about them, and I mean really raves about them. But for a myriad of not so great reasons, except for the fact I did not have an 'egg' mold pan (quite possibly this may be the only pan I don't have), I didn't make them. The subject of the Golden Eggs happened to come up midway through the wine tasting (by this time we had all consumed a sum total of less than two glasses of wine, not enough to cause anyone not to think clearly, but enough for everyone to speak without a filter, if you know what I mean). These golden eggs are actually a season-less confection, but (in my defense) I have long associated them with Easter (it was the first time my sister made them). However, sometime during the wine tasting, let's just say I figured I should make the Golden Eggs, sooner rather than later.
Only I wasn't going to make them in shape of eggs. Not only because I didn't have the egg pan, but somehow eggs and the fall and eggs and Thanksgiving didn't seem to make much sense. But I had an epiphany Sunday night (the effects of the wine were long gone so I was thinking with a fair degree of clarity and creativity). Why not make Golden Egg donuts? Someone who shall remain nameless wondered if this change would work (or in other words threw down the proverbial gauntlet). Without ever having worked with the batter before, I left a tiny bit of room for the possibility this paradigm shift from golden eggs to golden donuts might not work. You have probably figured out by now the Golden 'Egg' Cinnamon Sugared Donuts worked.
I haven't made donuts in decades and now I have made them twice in the past several weeks. And honestly, I am starting to develop an affinity for baked, cake-like mini-donuts, especially the 'hard to resist eating just one kind'. Am already wondering what donut I will be making in December. Any suggestions? Any challenges?
One of the secrets to the 'deliciousness' factor of these Golden 'egg' donuts is in the making of the batter. Room temperature (unsalted) butter and granulated sugar are whisked until light and fluffy, a process that can take upwards of ten minutes to achieve this consistency. The length of whipping time will be somewhat dependent on how 'room temperature' your butter is. Since I usually take my butter out of the refrigerator the night before I bake, my whipping time was somewhere between five and six minutes. The richness of the donut comes from the five large eggs, added in one at a time and whipped until fully incorporated. And after the buttermilk and flour are added in alternately with the mixer on low speed, the vanilla and freshly grated nutmeg at gently stirred in with a spatula. The resulting batter is both thick and fluffy. Oh, did I forget to mention the importance of using the whisk attachment in achieving the batter's consistency?
Using a pastry bag, I piped the luscious batter into the mini-nonstick donut mold, sprayed liberally with vegetable spray). With each donut filled about 3/4 full, the pan is baked for somewhere between 15 and 16 minutes in a preheated 325 degree oven.
The Golden 'egg' donuts unmolded perfectly (non-stick pans work even better when sprayed with vegetable spray). One of things learned in the process of making these donuts was to allow the donuts to rest/cool briefly (about 5 minutes) before dipping into melted butter and then dredging in cinnamon sugar. If they are dipped while they are still 'too hot' you risk having them break and conversely if dipped when they are 'too cool' the butter will not absorb as well into them. The combination of the 'yellow' batter and butter not creates their 'golden' look, but creates a 'magical' taste. No one will believe you baked these donuts, heck they may not even believe you made them!
For those of you making Thanksgiving dinner these donuts are the perfect bites to keep your family at bay (and out of the kitchen) while you are cooking. And if you are not the one making the holiday dinner, they are the perfect bites to keep your family content until you reach your dinner destination. You are probably wondering who has time to make donuts while making a turkey and all of the trimmings. However, if you prefer to keep your sanity while making the Thanksgiving dinner, you can make them the night before. The Golden 'Egg' Cinnamon Sugared Donuts are equally delicious warm or at room temperature although I kind of think their flavor improves as they 'rest'.
Now that I have finally taken the advice of my sister and made the Golden 'egg' recipe (and most importantly conceded they really are bites of pure deliciousness), I know there is at least one less thing (trust me it's a long list) I will be 'gently' teased about at the next wine tasting. And now I can turn my energies towards what will be on the Thanksgiving menu (it is changing daily). But hey, at least I know what wine we will be drinking!
If you happen to believe there is a time and place for everything, wine tastings might just be one of those perfect settings to tease someone you care about (make certain they are tasting more than enough wine before you venture down that slippery slope). With the next wine tasting scheduled for the spring, I suppose I can relax until then (maybe, but probably not).
Golden Egg Cinnamon Sugared Donuts (ever so slight adaption to the Gesine Bullock-Prado's Golden Egg recipe)
Yield: 3 dozen mini-donuts
Ingredients
Batter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Cinnamon Sugar
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons Saigon cinnamon (mixed together)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray non-stick mini-donut molds with a vegetable spray. Set aside.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a standing mixer with a whisk attachment, whip butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (this will take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes, scraping bowl periodically during the whipping).
4. Add eggs one at a time, whipping until each egg is fully incorporated.
5. With mixer on low, add flour and buttermilk in alternately, beginning and ending with the flour (F-B-F-B-F).
6. Stir in vanilla and nutmeg with a spatula until evenly distributed in batter.
7. Transfer 1/3 of the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a round tube.
8. Fill each donut mold 2/3 full.
9. Bake 15 to 16 minutes or until the donuts are very light in color and/or the cake springs back when lightly pressed.
10. Unmold cakes onto a cooling rack. Allow to sit at least 5 minutes before dipping into melted butter and dredging in cinnamon sugar.
11. Place dipped and dredged donuts back on cooling rack.
12. Continue with steps 8 through 11 until all batter is used.
13. Serve immediately. Store Golden Egg Cinnamon Sugared Donuts in a sealed container.
Teasing is one of those things that are relationship dependent. In a great relationship, teasing can actually be a little endearing, playful, flirty, and quite funny. In not so great or strained relationships, teasing, no matter how clever the person tries to be or how insignificant the teasing topic may be, is often anything but funny. There can sometimes be a fine line between the teasing that moves from playful to educative to hurtful even in the best of relationships (remember we can all be having bad days, bad moments).
But no matter how the teasing is framed or intended, how it is received by the recipient matters most. Something as the teaser we may not always be sensitive to, especially when a playful intention is perceived as mean-spirited or when an educative intention is perceived as judgmental. Often the disconnect lies in the assumptions made about the current relationship (versus what it used to be or one would like it to be). If I have learned one thing (the hard way) about teasing, it is that the teaser always owns the outcome and is always responsible for making the repair (as hard as that can sometimes be). Because in making the repair you night just show the other person how much you really do care.
(Photos taken on Martha's Vineyard this past September.)