Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Little Pieces of Heaven (aka mini donuts)

You know when your 7-year-old puts something into his mouth and groans "Ohhhhhhh! Pieces of heaven!" that you have just scored major mama-points!

We have had quite enough healthy baking on this blog recently. So these are full-fat donuts - no parsnip or butternut squash in sight. 

For some reason I always thought donuts were difficult. Needing yeast and rising time and specialist equipment. Which is why I was so chuffed with my earlier Instant Donut recipe. But these. These are as good as the best donuts I have ever eaten, sold by a man on the streets of Dorchester. We had some this Easter, which my daughters adored a much as me, so I know my taste memory is not dusty. These truly earn their moniker. They are nothing short of heaven.

If your only experience of donuts is shop bought jam filled. Then let me kindly and gently say: YOU HAVE NEVER LIVED UNTIL YOU HAVE EATEN A FRESH, HOT DONUT!


And these, with three kids under 8 helping were done from first weighing out, to first donut in mouth in ten minutes. 

THEY ARE SO EASY. So I demand that you try them. NOW!!!! And then come back here and kiss me!

They are adapted from The Hummingbird Cafes's latest book Home Sweet Home - they make them to go on jam filled cupcakes - I say WHY? And they roll them in cinnamon sugar - again WHY?

So here we go. After a write up like that, I now require your trust. I know what follows looks like a sloppy scone mix. It is. But holy mother of all things wonderful, it makes donuts that will take you straight to paradise.

Preheat deep fat fryer to 160 C (medium)

Makes about 16

Ingredients
250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp baking powder
35g cold butter cut into cubes
35g caster sugar
1 large egg
120ml full-fat milk

Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Rub in the flour with your fingertips as you would making scones until there are no lumps of butter left. 
Whisk up the milk and egg in a jug with a fork. Make a well in the flour mix, pour in the milk and egg. Mix gently with a blunt knife. 
Pour onto some lightly floured baking parchment, it will be like a loose scone dough. gently squash together with your hands (coated in flour) and pat down to 1 cm thick. 
Now either use a small cutter (about 2cm across), or take heaped teaspoon sized pieces in your hands and gently roll into balls and put onto a plate. Cook in batches of 6-8. Put them in using a spatula or deep frying implement with holes in. They take about 2 minutes on each side, you need to turn them over half way. Cook  till golden.
Take them out and drain for 1 minute on kitchen paper, before tossing in a bowl of 100g caster sugar. 

Eat and enjoy! These do not keep and must be eaten within a couple of hours, but preferably when still warm!

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