French Toast Doughnuts!

My favorite memory of doughnuts has to be when we were "down the shore" (Ocean City, NJ) and my dad would get up early in the morning to get fresh doughnuts and Mallon's sticky buns.  It was blissful waking up on a warm and muggy East coast morning to the sweet smell of pastry heaven.  This recipe is courtesy of Vegetarian Times September 2009 issue.  These are not the type of dougnuts you'll find at a pastry shop like the jelly doughnuts I made in November.  They're heartier like the boxed ones you find at the grocery store.  But better.  Much much better. Not to mention they're so easy!


Doughnuts:
1 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄2 cup sugar
1 1⁄2 tsp. baking powder
1 1⁄2 tsp. egg replacer (Ener-G brand)
1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1⁄4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2⁄3 cup plain soymilk
4 Tbs. nonhydrogenated vegan margarine
1⁄2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Maple Glaze:
2 Tbsp. soymilk
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1⁄8 tsp. salt
1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract


Cinnamon Sugar:
2 Tbsp. sugar
1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon


Directions:
1. To make doughnuts: Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat doughnut pan (see below) with cooking spray or vegetable oil.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, egg replacer, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
3. Combine soymilk, margarine, and vinegar in saucepan, and heat over low heat until margarine is melted.  Cool. Whisk vanilla extract into soymilk mixture.  Stir soymilk mixture into flour mixture.
4. Fill each doughnut mold half full with batter.  Bake 12 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in doughnut comes out clean. Carefully unmold doughnuts on wire rack to cool, and repeat with remaining batter.  Depending on the size of the doughnut pan, you may not have enough batter to make two batches :(
5. To make Maple Glaze (yum!): Combine soymilk, maple syrup, sugar, and salt in saucepan, and  bring to a simmer, whisking constantly.  Remove from heat, and cool 5 to 10 minutes, or until thickened.  Stir in vanilla extract.
6. To make Cinnamon Sugar: Whisk together sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
7. Dip each doughnut into Maple Glaze and sprinkle with or dip in Cinnamon Sugar.  Let glaze set before serving...if you can wait that long...


Enjoy!


You can purchase one of these doughnut pans at Sur La Table for $10.

The Conquering of the Vegan Doughnut!

 I finally got around to making the doughnuts from Vegetarian Times. Boy do I wish I made these sooner! I even remembered to take pictures this time. Although I made them at midnight and didn't have the best light...but you get the idea! You're gonna need time for these, so make them on a lazy Saturday when you have lots of love to give em! I did not modify these at all so before you go thinking I'm a doughnut goddess (although you can if you want), remember that this is not my recipe...but I did execute it well!!

Jelly Doughuts

Ingredients:
1 0.25-oz pkg dry active yeast
3⁄4 cup plus 1 tsp. sugar, divided
2 1⁄2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1⁄2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. ground nutmeg (don't skip this! don't worry, they won't taste nutmeg-y at all)
3 Tbs vegan margarine, melted
2 cups canola or vegetable oil for frying
1⁄2 cup confectioners sugar
at least 1⁄2 cup jam of your choice. I used Boysenberry from Trader Joe's. *It's MUCH easier to fill the doughnuts if you use jam with NO chunks!

1. Mix yeast and 1 tsp. sugar with 1 cup warm water bowl. Let stand 5 minutes or until mixture foams and smells yeasty (not my own words...)

2. Whisk together flour, remaining 1⁄4 cup sugar, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg in large bowl. Grease a separate large bowl with oil.

3. Stir yeast mixture into flour mixture with wooden spoon until sticky dough forms. Add up to 1⁄4 cup warm water to make smooth dough. Stir in melted margarine. Turn dough out onto well-floured work surface, and knead 6 to 8 minutes or until smooth, soft, elastic dough forms. Add flour while kneading if necessary. Transfer to oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm place for 1 1⁄2 hours.

4. Dust a baking sheet with flour. Roll dough out to a 1⁄4 inch thick round on well floured work surface. Cut circles from dough with a 2-inch round cutter. You can use a bigger cutter for bigger doughnuts. Transfer rounds to prepared baking sheet, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rest for 15 minutes.

5. Heat oil in large skillet or Dutch oven to 370°F, or until hot but not smoking. I filled the pan with oil until it was 1⁄4 inch or so deep. So they weren't completely deep fried. Fry doughnuts in oil 3-5 minutes, or until deep golden brown. Do a small test doughnut before you put a bunch in to find your groove. Turn each doughnut 2-3 times. Drain on paper towel lined plate: then roll in the confectioners sugar while still warm. Let cool.

6. Fun part!! Poke small hole in side of doughnut with toothpick or chopstick or something like that. Move tool of choice around inside the doughnut to create space for the jelly.  Use pastry bag fitted with small round tip to fill each doughnut with approx. 1 tsp. jam. *If you're using a jam with chunks, use a bigger round tip with pastry bag.

And if you are really worried about your figure, here's the nutrition facts per doughnut:

119 cal; 1g prot; 4 g total fat (1 g sat); 20 g carbs; no cholesterol; 119 mg sod; 10 g sug; less than 1 g fiber.

Enjoy!!!

*These guys are really only good on the first day, so make them when you're having friends over or if you're going to a brunch.  They're ok the next day, but nothing compared to freshly baked.