Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Challenge No 2 - Caramel Apple Doughnuts

Month 2 - February
Blog 2 - Gingerbread Bagels at http://gingerbreadbagels.com/
Recipe 2 - Cinnamon Apple Doughnuts http://gingerbreadbagels.com/2012/02/22/baked-cinnamon-sugar-apple-doughnuts/

I underwent Blog Challenge Number Two for 2012, so far so good in keeping up with my New Year To Do List.  I do love Gingerbread Bagels Blog, I get her Facebook Posts and they make me drool every day. The Challenge was an easy one because I had my trusty Handy Helper at the ready with apron on and whisk in hand! Infact I seem in the last fortnight not to be able to get out my sugar or flour pots without hearing the screeching of a little chair on the floor boards, and before I can get out "No not now" she is up at the bench announcing "Im here Mummy for stirring"!

So given that we were flooded in, now I know we are in a 4 story converted warehouse unit... BUT our basement/garage was flooded which in turn flooded the 2 lift wells, which meant they were shut down and were out of order for 4 days. So trapsing up and down flights of stairs was not an option I wanted to venture on so staying indoors and baking, painting and DVDs with some R & R was the avenue I chose for Marley and Me to take. So aprons at the ready! Whisks in hand! Ready, Set.......

The first choice was Pancakes, Chocolate Cupcakes or Apple Doughnuts?? Miss Handy Helper chose Apple Doughnuts, now aren't we just the healthy one (I would have chosen the cupcakes personally!).

Cinnamon Apple Doughnuts
1 Apple - peeled, cored and diced finely (I used a Pink Lady, its a red variety but holds up in baking)
2 cups Plain Flour
3/4 cup Castor (granulated) Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
3/4 cup Full Cream Milk (with a squeeze of lemon juice and rest for 5 minutes until it curdles = a Buttermilk alternative, which is my preference to the taste of Buttermilk)
2 lrg Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla (your choice of extract or essence)2 Tbsp Butter - melted

Preheat oven to 200C degrees. Grease the doughnut pan (Wilton Bake Off, Cake Release or a spray olive oil are perfect).

Sift your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl. This is where you "Handy Helper" fits in and can whisk them endlessly together. This will ensure that your raising agent (Baking Powder) is evenly distributed throughout the mix, however it can also mean that your mix my be missing a few grams of dry ingredient and you may (after assessing the chair and floor) have to throw in a handful of more flour to conteract (pre-warned there are pros and cons to this exercise).

Next mix up your milk, room temp is best, using the milk and a squeeze of lemon into the a jug (leaving for 5 minutes) will create the equivelent of Buttermilk (as mentioned in previous posts I prefer the taste as I am not partial to actual Buttermilk). Pour in your milk, along with the lightly whisked eggs and have your "Handy Helper" mix them in for you.

Finally add in your vanilla and butter and mix it up well, you may need to take over the mixing from here to ensure it is thoroughly mixed in to the right consistency, and by this stage you "Handy Helper" might have given up and hit the crayons and blackboard like mine.

Now pour the mixture into each ring of your mould or tin, careful to only 1/2 to 3/4 fill otherwise you will end up with Doughnut Muffins if overfilled. Wipe the centres or sides if there is any drizzled messy mix that was misbehaved. Note - I do opt to put my mix into a Ziplock bag, then snip the corner to squeeze in, does save alot of mess.

Place in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, check for springiness before removing from the oven. Cool for 5 minutes and turn out of the pan whilst the doughnuts are still slightly warm.

Makes - 18-20 regular or 36 mini Doughnuts

For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating :
1/2 cup Butter - melted
1 cup Castor Sugar
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

Prepare the Sugar mix but combining the Castor Sugar and Cinnamon into a small bowl, appropriate for rolling doughnuts in.  Melt butter in a seperate bowl.

Take your doughnuts one or two at a time and dip both sides into the melted butter, then sprinkle with sugar mixture, I dont recommend running them through it as I found it gets too thick and dense of a coating.

Note:
For future reference I think I will try instead of the butter and cinnamon sugar I think I will double glaze (as per Funfetti Doughnuts) but using a caramel icing glaze, I really think this would be a yummy combination with the cinnmon apple doughnut.

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