I’ve been meaning to post this recipe forever – but hey – I’ve been busy! I have a Mini Donut Maker and it’s so much fun. This is my base recipe, I tend to change it up here and there, but it’s what I use for my coffee + donut cupcakes…

ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (as needed)

In a bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the eggs and buttermilk – you may not need all of the buttermilk, but I don’t like the batter too thick, myself. Stir until just combined.

Spoon the batter into your donut maker and bake according to the directions.

Mochi. And donuts. If there are two more wonderful things in the world, you let me know. I thought I’d combine the two to get a nice sweet donut with a little chew. These are similar to ‘dango’ which is a fried dough that is sold at church carnivals – but those are plain. I wanted to add more sweetness and FLAVA and you can’t go wrong with cinnamon and sugar.

ingredients:
2 cups mochiko (sweet rice flour)
2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups whole milk
4 Tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoon vanilla

oil (you need to DEEP fry these, so they are immersed)

1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons cinnamon

In a large bowl mix together the mochiko, flour, sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder and vanilla. Set aside.

In a separate shallow dish, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Set this aside for later, and start to heat your oil.

You know I HATE frying, but someone gifted me a fryer years ago and man, I think it’s the best thing ever. It does all the work and no mess. Heaven. If you don’t have one, just heat some oil in deep skillet, that’ll work too. The optimum oil temp for these is around 350 degrees.

Now you’re going to drop these by the Tablespoon into the hot oil. They expand a lot so don’t go crazy overflowing the spoon. Also the mochiko makes the batter very pull-y and sticky, so try your best to keep it formed into nice round shapes or you will get some craziness at the end of it all.

Once the dough pops up and floats, you know you are in good shape. Fry until golden brown, a few minutes on each side. Drain them on a wire rack. If you drain them on paper towels alllll the oil will get sucked back into the donut. GROSS. Trust me and use a rack.

While still hot, roll the donuts in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

These things are BEST warm, but people who ate them hours later said they were still great. There’s nothing more comforting than sugary donuts. YUM!!

All the coffee lovers in the house say HEY…HO! I LOVE coffee. I thought it’d be cute to make Coffee+Donuts Cupcakes, using the coffee cupcake and frosting as a nice flavorful base. I know not everyone has a Mini Donut Maker, so here’s just the recipe for the cupcakes. They are really excellent on their own.

ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/8 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

(coffee frosting recipe, below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Combine the coffee and milk, set aside.

Alternate the flour and the coffee mixture into the butter mixture, beating until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

The cakes become more coffee-vescent the longer they sit. These make a really nice cake as is. The coffee frosting is just a nice touch.

Coffee Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-1/2 Tablespoons coffee
1 Tablespoon milk (as needed)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter, carefully adding the sugar, coffee, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. Add a little of the milk at a time to get the right consistency. Turn the mixer up to high and beat well.

Quite obviously, if you have a donut maker OR a tiny sous chef to help sprinkle the donuts: top these with a donut to make coffee+donut cupcakes. Or just buy mini donuts from the store, they make a really cute presentation.

Then you can just top these with a donut to make coffee+donut cupcakes. Or just buy mini donuts from the store, they make a really cute presentation.