Baked Cinnamon Vanilla Donuts (plus DIY donut pan)

Sometimes, a girl just needs a cinnamon covered donut. 

Like now, seriously. Now.

I didn't want to be kneading, rolling out or frying dough for hours. I wanted a cake donut, brushed with warm, melted butter, and rolled in extra special cinnamon and sugar, infused with vanilla. 

That's what I wanted. But alas, there was a problem. I don't actually have a donut pan.

This was not going to hold me back, if you can't beat them, join them I say. (By them I mean the people who make the donut pans). Although I can't hammer steel into donut shapes, I do have a brain, my hands and a roll of aluminium foil. Good enough for me!

I wanted to keep this idea to myself at first. However after eating every last grain of cinnamon sugar off my hands once I had eaten a donut (or two), I was feeling more generous, so decided to share it on here.

If you have a donut pan (lucky face), then I don't know why you're not making donuts right now! But seriously, then you can then skip the pan making part, and get right to the recipe. If not, read on!

DIY Donut Pans 
(this looks long but takes only 15 minutes to do)

You will need:
Aluminium Foil
Paper towels / tissues / paper
Tape
Scissors





First, we're going to make a donut shape to form the mold around:


Take your paper towels/tissues/paper and roll up into a cylinder.

Wrap the foil around it tightly until you get a cylinder whos diameter is as thick as you want your donuts to be.

Curve the cylinder round into a circle (you can trim the ends to make the donut smaller so the hole in the middle of the donut is narrower).

Secure ends with tape.

Voila, your finished foil donut!








Now for the actual molds:

Cut a large sheet of foil out and fold in half. 

Cut it in two so you now have two pices of folded in half foil.

Center one of these pieces on top of the foil donut you just made and carefully push it into the middle of the donut, making sure you don't tear the foil sheet. Then tightly form the foil around the edges of the donut.

Roughly trim the edges off the mold. 

Remove the foil donut from the foil around it. 

Form the scraps of foil into a ball you can use to help you form the center of the next donut mold you make.

Repeat until you have enough donut molds ( I made 6 because I got bored, but this recipe needs about 12)

Baked Cinnamon Vanilla Donuts
slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour - Doughnut Muffins

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup (2 oz / 55g) granulated sugar
2 tbsp + 1 tsp brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 - 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg, to taste
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups (6 oz / 170g) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 ml) milk

Topping

3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup - 1/2 cup (2-4 oz / 55-110g) sugar
1- 2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp vanilla sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Spray your (diy) donut pan(s) using non stick spray or brush with oil using a pastry brush. If you're using the diy donut pans, place them on a cookie sheet.
In a bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth.
Add the eggs, beating to combine.
Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla.
Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
Spoon the batter into a disposable plastic sandwich bag. Cut off the tip of one corner and pipe batter into the prepared pans, filling each cavity 2/3 full.Bake the donuts for 10-18 minutes, or until they're a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
Remove them from the oven, and let them cool for a couple of minutes, or until you can handle them. While they're cooling, melt the butter for the topping (this is easily done in the microwave), and mix cinnamon and sugar(s) in a shallow, wide bowl.
Remove the donuts from the foil/donut pan. Use a pastry brush to brush the each donut with the melted butter, then roll in cinnamon and sugar.
Serve warm, or cool on a rack and wrap airtight. Store for a day or so at room temperature.