MandiCrocker

Mini Donuts, Num!

Ever since I was a wee lass, my family & I have been making French Breakfast Puffs. They're buttery, sugary, cinnamony goodness that, in the words of Goldie Hawn in 'Overboard,' "burst in your mouth at precisely the right moment!" They've always been a huge hit.

Well, I brought some in to work the other day & my co-worker, Johnboy, loved them so much he wanted to share the joy of said puffs and order some for his mommy for Mother's Day. He said they were killer and that the flavor of the FBPs (yeah, you know me!) reminded him of the inside of a Van De Camp's crumb donut without the crumbs. What I heard was, "These are good. But a Van De Camp's crumb donut would be so much better. By the way, you suck."


CHALLENGE. Can I turn these puffs into mini donuts? Can I make the mini donuts into crumb mini donuts? Can I recreate the taste of joy from Johnboy's childhood!? All I knew was that a challenge had presented itself to me. And as a Johnstown Field Hockey Champion, I knew what I had to do. IT WAS TIME TO MAKE THE DONUTS!!! :)

So here's our ingredients for making three kinds of donuts (cinnamon & sugar, powdered and crumb donuts):


3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 & 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup shortening (Crisco)
2 eggs
1 & 1/2 cups milk
3 tsp cinnamon
2 & 1/2 sticks butter (1 & 1/4 cups)
2 cup confectioner's sugar
generous sprinkle of brown sugar


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.


Lightly grease mini donut pans or mini muffin pans.

To the right is a picture of mini donut pan. Mini anything is CUTE! :)




2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking power, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
















3. In a different bowl, cream together only 1 cup of sugar and shortening. Then add eggs and mix again. Watch Windy the Mixer fly!



Ooooooh!












4. Add flour mixture & only 1 cup of milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.














5. If you use mini donut pans, it may be easier to fill a pastry bag with dough. About 2 or 3 times around with the pastry bag, fills the cup about 2/3 of the way full. And that's where ya wanna be!























Same with a mini muffin pan!















6. Bake for about 8 minutes.



7. While the muffins cool, get started on making your crumbs! Melt a 1/4 cup of butter and a generous sprinkling of brown sugar in a pan.



8. Crumble up about 5-6 muffins or mini donuts.




Then throw 'em in a pan. Stir and saute until the crumbs are golden and carmelized into crunchy bits. Not to self: You can also use some coconut in there if you like that. Johnboy said Van De Crap's don't use coconut in their crumb donuts so I didn't. *rolls eyes*


Be sure to not let them overcook as I did on my first try! Whoops. I call the below picture "Heavely Crunchy Bits Versus Satan's Crispy Bits." *sigh* By the way, Satan's Crispy Bits smell horrid!!!


9. For cinnamon sugar donuts, mix together the remaining 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar and the 3 tsp cinnamon. Put in a bowl & set aside.

For crumb & powdered donuts we need some glaze. Take one cup of confectioner's sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup of milk. Stir like crazy until well mixed. Set aside.

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a bowl & set aside.

Also put the remaining cup of powdered sugar in a bowl. (A ziplock bag works well too if you wanna shake 'n' bake your way to powdered perfection!

10. Once you've got your set-up ready like I've done here. You want to get started!


For cinnamon sugar donuts. Roll a mini muffin or donut in the butter generously and then throughly coat with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Super easy! Buttery goodness, I tell you... Mmm...

For powdered donuts, dip in the melted butter, shaking off the excess. It'll be messy but that's part of the fun! Then throw your donut in the powdered sugar & mix it around until it's thoroughly coated. If there are wet spots, just throw it in again! I'm sure there is an easier way to do these but this is what I've come up with. Sometimes I'd dip the donut in the butter, then in the glaze and THEN in the powdered sugar just for kicks! Wahooey!

For crumb donuts, dip the donut in the butter & then in the glaze, shaking of the excess. Then throw the donut in the crumbs. If the crumbs don't stick then your glaze is probably a little too watery. If that's the case, just add a little more powdered sugar. Those crumbs can be a little high maintenance regardless!

But you know what? Soooooooooooooo worth it. Holy yum, Batman!!! :)


Even Johnboy approved, "You're a genius. These are exactly how I remember them." Why thank you, Johnboy. *cough, cough* It was nothing. ;)