Happy Easter!
Or, if you don’t celebrate the holiday, Happy Sunday Morning Homemade Donut Day!
Earlier in the week, I ordered a Wilton Donut Pan off Amazon. It’s heart shaped and likely a castaway remaining from Valentines Day, but it was only $5. Can’t beat that!
Going with the whole “Spring” thing and wanting to use my brand new donut pan, I came up with a recipe for Carrot Spice Muffins.
I know it’s confusing, Donut Pan Muffins?!?! Duffins??? Is that a thing?
The batter ended up baking and tasting like a muffin, albeit in a donut shape, so I just went with the title of muffins in order to avoid any breakfast table debate.
My kids woke me up at 6am. On Sunday. Screaming about the Easter Bunny. Without having made mommy coffee. ‘Nough said.
However, in my mind, since they were baked in a DONUT pan this makes them DONUTS, allrighty?
Since it’s Sunday and I don’t count Sunday calories, I topped these gorgeous muffins with a bath of gooey Citrus Cream Cheese Glaze and tossed on some pecans for good measure.
Enjoy!
Whisk together your dry ingredients.
I’m a big fan of using a whisk to combine dry ingredients. It breaks up any clumps and eliminates sifting:
Similarly, use the whisk to combine the dry ingredients.
Add in your grated orange zest:
After combining the wet and dry ingredients, use a spatula to mix in your finely shredded carrot.
Note the size of the grate I used. Using the finer grate means that your carrots will cook through:
Fill your baking pan of choice.
If using a donut pan, it helps tremendously if you cut the corner off a plastic bag and use a coupler to squeeze the batter into the cavity:
For the donuts, I baked them at 400 degrees for about 14 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
As you can see, mine puffed up quite a bit.
Nobody complained, though:
CARROT SPICE DONUTS
Makes about 18 donuts if using the Wilton pan. Approx 12 standard muffins if using a tranditional muffin tin.
Ingredients:
1 cup finely shredded carrot
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk or whole milk
1 tsp. grated orange zest
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 T. pure maple syrup
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, using a whisk, combine dry ingredients: flour, sugar, spices, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: milk, orange zest, eggs, melted butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
4. Make a well in your dry ingredients. Pour in the combined wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Stir in the shredded carrots.
6. In a greased muffin pan or donut pan, fill cavities about 2/3 full.
7. Bake at 400 degrees. DONUTS – bake 12-14 minutes or until firm and toothpick comes out clean. MUFFINS – bake at 400 degrees 18-21 minutes or until firm and toothpick comes out clean. Please note that I baked this recipe with a donut pan and muffin time is approximate.
8. UNGLAZED donuts/muffins should keep at room temperature 2 – 3 days.
CITRUS CREAM CHEESE GLAZE
Ingredients:
8 ounces Neufchatel (reduced fat cream cheese)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 T. fresh orange juice
2 – 4 T. milk (as needed to make glaze of a dipping consistency. Start low and increase as needed)
*The beauty of this recipe is that depending on the amount of milk you add, you can either make a frosting of sorts or a dunkable glaze. You choose! If you are crowning your donuts with chopped pecans, do so immediately after topping your treats.
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and orange juice.
2. Add in milk 1 T. at a time until desired consistency is reached.
3. Dip or spread your donut with the glaze and enjoy immediately.
recipes from the birdcage. 