Fried, baked, twists, crullers – everyone has their faves, but I always seem to go for a maple. Here are some of my faves when it comes to recipes:

Vanilla Mochi Donuts (recipe, here)
My ‘award winning’ donuts are a big hit whenever I make them. A little bit of work and a whole lot of flavor.

Cofffee + Donuts Cupcakes (recipe, here)
I love having TWO desserts in one and this combines my two favorite things, coffee + donuts. It was also picked as one of the “20 Most Inventive Cupcakes Known to Man.”

Strawberry Milk Donuts (recipe, here)
These were a hit with my kids who always love to get involved in the decorating, but it’s also one of my faves because I adore pink, and these are the pink-iest.

I came up with this recipe for Vanilla Mochi Donuts to enter the Spice Islands Vanilla Challenge and I was one of the three finalists!

Wanting to bring out the best of the ingredients, I used not only vanilla extract but vanilla sugar. Is there anything more satisfying than a piece of fried dough covered in sugar? I think not. Add mochiko AND vanilla into the mix and you’ve got the perfect combination!

ingredients:
2 cups mochiko (sweet rice flour)
2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups vanilla sugar**
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups whole milk
4 Tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons Spice Islands Vanilla Extract

oil (for frying)

1/2 cup vanilla sugar**

The only thing you will have to make ahead is the vanilla sugar. Scrape and bury a vanilla bean into two cups of sugar. Keep in an airtight container until you are ready to use.

In a large bowl mix together the mochiko, flour, vanilla sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder and vanilla. Set aside. (Mochiko is a Japanese rice flour that can be found in asian sections of the market or online. Mochiko gives a nice ‘chew’ perfect for these donuts.)

Heat the oil in a large skillet or a home fryer.

Drop by the Tablespoon into the hot oil. They will expand a lot. Also the mochiko makes the batter very pull-y and sticky, so try your best to keep it formed into nice round shapes.

Once the dough pops up and floats, fry until golden brown, a few minutes on each side. Drain them on a wire rack.

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

My prize? A YEAR’S supply of vanilla! That’s a lot of vanilla.

For more info about the contest and the other winners, here.

Super Kawaii Happy Fun Time Donuts…is what this recipe should have been called. Something about pink is just super adorable.

I love donuts as you know, and for these I used Strawberry Organic Milk – which guess what – is not pink. D’oh. So I cheated and added food coloring. Yeah, yeah, but it’s soooo much prettier, don’t you think?

ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 cup strawberry milk
pink gel food coloring

glaze ingredients:
1/4 cup Strawberry Milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
pink gel food coloring

I use an electric Mini Donut Maker – it’s like a waffler, and I LOVE IT. But if don’t have one (why not??) then you can use a Donut Pan for the oven just as well. Whatever you choose, prep it – I like to use melted butter on mine…

In a bowl whisk together the cake, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs and the milk and stir together until JUST combined. Don’t overwork it!

Ok, here’s where the cheat comes in. Since the milk is just plain milk colored (boring) I add a teeeeeeny amount of pink gel food coloring. Just to give it a nice hint of color – very strawberry. Mix it until just combined.

Now that your batter is ready, spoon it into your prepared maker and cook per manufacturer’s directions.

Let the donuts cool on a wire rack. Aren’t they lovely and poofy?

While they are cooling, make the glaze. In a small bowl combine the strawberry milk, vanilla and the powdered sugar. Whisk until combined and runny, and again – just add a touch of food coloring if you like. Psst…get a kid to do it so you can take a breather.

These donuts are mini – so you can be sure that sprinkles would be a total overload, am I right? Yeah well I couldn’t help myself, I was already on a pink high, so I had to keep it going.

I set up a prep station of cooled donuts, glaze, and sprinkles…

…then came the fun part. Dipping into the glaze, then the sprinkles – soon we were surrounded by beautiful little sprinkled donuts.

Sweet and cute – a total pink overload!

I’ve told you of my love for my Mini Donut Maker. Some days just require tiny little chocolate donuts, dunked in a luscious chocolate glaze. That’s the way to start your morning…or end your day. These are ALL DAY donuts!!

ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
1 cup sugar
2-1/2 Tablespoons Valrhona Cocoa Powder
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 Tablespoons Sour Cream
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Chocolate glaze ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup whole milk (more if necessary)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add the sour cream, eggs and buttermilk, just until combined.

Spoon the batter into your donut maker and bake according to the directions. Let cool on a wire rack.

For the glaze, in a small bowl mix together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, milk and vanilla. Whisk until combined and you have a nice thick glaze. Dip the donuts into the glaze and place on a wire rack to set.

You can add sprinkles, nuts, chocolate chips, coconut – or just leave ‘em plain!

Yes, these aren’t fried to an inch of their life like a typical donut, but they are still good, and CUTE and great for a nice sweet treat!

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 (more 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!!

*listed as one of the 20 Most Inventive Cupcakes Known to Man*

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.