HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE BUTTERMILK DOUGHNUTS

It’s a good thing most people don’t know how easy it is to make doughnuts.

If they did, the livelihood of countless workers would be at stake, and America’s expanding waistline would balloon to epic proportions.

Once I wrapped my mind around the fact that you don’t need to be a doughnut purist and that you can bake (instead of fry) them, that opened up a world of possibilities. All you need for a great homemade doughnut is the right pan, a moist, cake-y batter, and glaze. How else will you get all those sprinkles to stick on?

I love the blog Averie Cooks; here I found a doughnut recipe I just had to try.

The resulting batter is thick and rich, and I used fleur de sel in the recipe, knowing that this salt would really play up the deep chocolate flavor.

And no, my kids didn’t argue too much about who was going to lick the batter. I just gave them each a hemisphere of the bowl as outlined by my spatula and let them figure it out. Crisis averted.

Now when you bake this — and you really should, even if it means you just use mini-muffin pans– I’d advise that you use both butter and then non-stick spray on the pan. There’s something about this gooey buttermilk-y base that makes it crazy-hard to extricate the doughnuts, even when using a non-stick pan like mine.

And leaving any of these moist doughnuts in the pan instead of in your mouth or on a plate for a friend would be a crying shame.

I know what you are probably thinking — what the fudge is going on with that battered-looking cookie sheet?

I bought five industrial strength cookie sheets at a restaurant supply store twenty five years ago when I was in cooking school and I still have the full set.

Sure they’re a little natty looking, but that wear and tear comes from almost daily use for a quarter century, and they still work so beautifully that I can’t part to see them go in favor of some shiny new upstart.

I’m not trading up; I’m sticking with my work horses. After all, ugly to some is beauty to others.

Back to doughnuts.  In the last two weeks I’ve made a lot of them.

Doesn’t two batches of tripled recipe sound like a lot to you? According to the recipe, that would be fifty full-sized doughnuts, or three trillion mini-ones.

And I will take a mini over a full-sized one any day — it’s like the perfect two-bite tango (much more than that and I tend to get bored and sport a wandering eye).

This tray was shared with my husband’s doctor’s office.

They always take such good care of him, and they always clamor for something sweet.

This little cake stand of treats  was left on the door step of a neighbor who I heard recently is moving from her adorable farmhouse just off the park to a house closer to her kid’s high school.

Susan, I will miss seeing your lovely face regularly.  Please keep the cake stand with my best wishes. Lunch soon!

And then of course I had to leave something for my not-so wee ones at home.

We each had one after school and Oliver guzzled the milk in one nanosecond.

Cheers!

This was what the second batch looked like.

I’d just bought some new rainbow jimmies and I guess I went a little bonkers.

Who cares– don’t sprinkles make everything look brighter?

These are going out this morning to all my people on my Meals on Wheels route.

I haven’t seen them for two weeks as end-of-school-year trips and parties have kept me out of the loop, but I’m happy to know that I’ll have something cheery for them today.

So take this recipe for a spin next time you know you are going to a potluck, block party, or neighborhood picnic. There’s rock star status awaiting you in these little holed wonders.

Just remember to grease those pans like the dickens.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t skimp on the sprinkles.