Doughnut worry… be happy!

Whether you spell it “doughnuts” or “donuts,” 2 June is National Doughnut day for our friends in the US of A, and we’re ready to jump on the fully glazed bandwagon. The lack of Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme means options in Hong Kong are limited, so we’ve got an easy-peasy recipe you can whip up at home. Though we love some deep-fried goodness, this recipe comes in a fully-fledged baked glory instead. Yup, that means it saves (…a little bit) on the calories, meaning you can go all-out on fabulous toppings.

The bonus? You don’t need any special equipment to shape your doughnuts! I used a measuring cup and a bottle lid to cut out my doughnuts, but if you intend to make them identical, head over to Shanghai Street and invest in a doughnut cutter. Keep the cut-offs to make doughnut holes (we can all do with more ‘hole’ foods, right?).

Check out this basic baked doughnut recipe below, and click through the slideshow for six quick and easy topping ideas… 

Baked Doughnut Dough (Makes 8 doughnuts)

Ingredients:

½ cup milk, lukewarm
½ tbsp. instant yeast
1 tbsp. melted butter, left to stand at room temperature
⅓ cup sugar, white
1 egg
2 ½ cups flour
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract –optional

Instructions
1. Combine the milk, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Stir until the sugar is dissolved
2. Leave this to stand at room temperature for 5-10 minutes – until the mixture looks frothy and smells like yeast.
3. Add the butter while continuously stirring.
4. Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix well.
5. Add the flour and mix until the dough holds together. This works best with a wooden spoon. If the mixture seems too dry, add a teaspoon of milk, but be careful not to make the mixture too sticky.
6. On a clean kitchen counter, knead the dough for 5 minutes, until it is no longer sticky. The dough should look smooth.
7. Form into a ball, place in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel to rise for an hour, the dough should double in size.
8. After an hour, punch down the dough and roll it out on a floured counter at 1.5cm thick.
9. Cut out circles and cut out the doughnut holes with a doughnut cutter or whatever you have lying around (keep the doughnut holes to bake later- simply roll them in cinnamon sugar and thank me later).
10. Transfer the cut doughnuts onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cover the tray.
11. Let the doughnuts rise for 45 minutes at room temperature.
12. Bake the doughnuts at 180°C for 8 minutes, they should only be slightly browned, otherwise they will dry out.
13. Allow the doughnuts to cool and prepare the topping of your choice.