Cinnamon Sugar Baked Doughnuts

Go out and buy a doughnut pan. Immediately. The pan i got from a specialty baking junk store was surprisingly only ten dollars. Once you have your awesome new doughnut pan, this easy recipe from Lovin' From the Oven, will make you friends. Perhaps you are thinking,"Friends by baked dough sharing? Ridiculous!", dough not knock it until you try it....

Anyway, I brought these to my neighbor Nate, who proceeded to make un-intelligible sounds of scarfing and sugary delight. 

I also attended a book club where the doughnuts were scarfed and enjoyed nearly as equally. I was then asked to join. So see, my friend making theory is getting stronger. 

Proceed to drool:

Drenched in cinnamon sugar! 

Doughnut tower! 

Yummy sparkly sugary doughnuts!

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 tablespoon canola(vegetable) oil
2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
                                                       
Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
3 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoon butter (melted)
                                                       

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
• In a large bowl whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• In a separate bowl lightly beat the egg, add in yogurt, oil, lemon juice and maple syrup. Mix together.
• Make a hole in the middle of your dry ingredients, pour the wet ingredients. Mix together gently.
• Divide your batter into greased doughnut pan.
• Bake your doughnuts for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
• While the doughnuts are baking, melt your butter for your topping and mix sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl. 
• After the doughnuts are done, place them on a surface like a cutting board to cool.
• Brush melted butter over donuts and then dip both sides into cinnamon sugar.
• Commence enjoyment of the doughnuts!

Happy Dough Punching!

Home-made Samoas

SAMOAS!

These cookies are not for the feint of heart, nor for those wanting a break N bake cookie. These cookies are easy, but have many steps. However, if you have a good hour or so to devote to fun dough punching, do it! They are so worth it!

There are four different steps involved in this recipe, luckily none of the steps overlap intensely.

Cookie Base: 3-4 dozen at 350F
1 Cup of butter softened (2 sticks)
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Cups all purpose flour
1/4 Teaspoon baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 Tablespoons milk

Melt butter in microwave and mix in sugar in a large bowl. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Next add the vanilla. Add milk based on how sticky the dough is ( you want the dough to stick together without being slimy/sticky). Add extra flour if your dough is too sticky.

Throw some flour on your rolling pin and parchment paper, grab a blob of dough, and roll it out.
Cut out circles in the dough with either a cookie cutter or a knife.  I just used a knife to cut out the circles as well as cutting the donut hole in the middle. Re-roll the dough as many times as you need and keep making more dough circles.

Bake cookies for 10 minutes or until golden brown at edges. Set cookies aside to cool.

Eating a few caramels along
 the way is permitted

Caramel Topping: 
3 Cups of shredded coconut
1 Bag of chewy caramels (12-14 oz)
1/4 Teaspoon of salt
3 Tablespoons Milk
8 oz dark or semisweet chocolate chips

Turn down the temperature on the oven to 300F. Spread the coconut on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven. The coconut will get crispy quickly so make sure you stir and pay attention. When the coconut starts to turn golden brown, remove from oven to cool.

Crispy coconut

While your coconut is cooling, unwrap and melt the caramel in the microwave in a large bowl while stirring occasionally. Pour the toasted coconut into the caramel, mix together and spread on top of the cookies.

Let your caramel covered cookies set for a few minutes while you melt your chocolate in the microwave. To keep from scorching the chocolate, melt in 30 second intervals while stirring throughout.
Dip the bottoms of each cookie in the chocolate and place on clean parchment paper to set.

Using the remaining chocolate, drizzle (or fling like i did) over top of the cookies.

Cookies dipped and drying!

No longer do those adorable little girls with vests and badges have a monopoly over samoas. Knowledge is power and now you have it, my friends! 

Let the dough punching begin!

Howdy All! My name is Jen and i am a bake-aholic. I LOVE baking everything from cookies to pies, cupcakes to yummy breads, and anything else i find that looks delicious.

This blog is a way to express my love for baking and a way to let me write about something other than feet (I blog professionally for a podiatrist.. exciting stuff, i know).

I haven't always been interested in baking or cooking. I burned myself way too often, therefore, i found it safest to avoid everything 'oven' for a long time. A few months ago, i made a loaf of chocolate chip zucchini bread from a zuke from my mom's farm. All that grating and hand mixing was actually fun, I did not burn myself, and i made something delicious.

Giant mess from all that grating and mixing

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Since then, it has been almost an obsession of mine finding new recipes to try and then eating the living beastliness out of my creations. Luckily i have been able to share and get opinions of friends, neighbors, co-workers, cute boys i meet on the side of the road, and my Starbucks posse. Extra luckily, they don't spit out what i bring them.

I've got the punchy name (ha!), I have a love for baking, and I am so excited to be able to share my creations with everyone.

Let The Dough Punching Begin!!