Maybe it was the picture that got me. The crumbly cake texture with a flaky sugary coating.
Maybe it was the recipe. It seemed easy enough and I had all the ingredients.
But whatever the reason, I began to have a sudden craving for chocolate glazed donut holes. And who said donuts had to be for breakfast anyway? They are just deep fried cake, ya know. ;)
I usually don't need an excuse to bake. I love it so much, that the concept of just getting in the car to drive to dunkin donuts' never crossed my mind.
I rallied my favorite miniature baking assistant (She has some MAD stirring skills and is an accomplished taste tester) and we got to work.
After a short and easy mixing of the ingredients, we rolled out the dough and my little four year old assistant helped make the donut holes.
One, by one, they dropped into the deep fryer. A small while later, we coated them in the sugar glaze and let them set.
If you have yourself a deep fryer, try the recipe:
(found at smittenkitchen.com)
Chocolate Donut Holes
Yield: 4 dozen 1.5-inch holes. You can half the recipe and used a 1.25-inch cutter to make a little over 2 dozen.
2 3/4 cups (12 3/8 ounces or 352 grams) all-purpose flour
1 cup (3 ounces or 90 grams) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons (about 3/8 ounce or 10 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (about 1/8 ounces or 4 grams) salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 (10 5/8 ounces or 300 grams) cups sugar
1/3 cup (2 7/8 ounce or 84 grams) sour cream or buttermilk (what I used)
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces or 42 grams) butter, melted and cooled a bit
Your fat of choice for frying (solid vegetable shortening or canola, peanut or vegetable oil are popular choices)
Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium one, whisk eggs, sugar, sour cream or buttermilk and butter. Stir wet ingredients into dry until well blended. Chill batter until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 3. (I put it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes and it worked just fine.)
Flour your counter generously and scrape dough onto it. Flour dough. Flour your hands. Gently pat or roll dough out until it is 1/2-inch thick. Dip a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2-inch round cutter into a dish of flour and cut rounds from dough. Pat scraps of dough together and roll or smooth with floured hands to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut them again. If your dough or doughnut holes have gotten too soft to easily pick up, put them on a floured or parchment or waxed paper-lined tray and put them in the freezer for a few minutes, until they’re firm enough to gently handle again.
Prepare your fryer or fill a 5 to 6-quart with 4 inches of oil. Heat to 375°F (190°C). You can fry 6 to 12 doughnut holes at a time, about one full minute on each side. The trickiest parts will be visualizing when the doughnuts are done — since they’re chocolate, the color change will be subtle; I suggest practicing with scraps of extra dough first — and keeping your oil at an even temperature, if you’re not using a deep-fryer. Make sure you bring the oil back to 375°F after each batch.
Drain doughnut holes on a stack of paper towels. Once cool, roll in glaze (below) and let drain and dry on cooling racks.
8 ounces powdered sugar
3 tablespoons water, milk or buttermilk (what I used, highly recommended)
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
I'll admit that I have eaten three by the time this photo was taken.
I'm eyeing a fourth.
Guilt may set in tomorrow, but for now I'm happy that I got my baking fix for the day and never had to turn on the oven, this hot summer day.
Time to rest outside in the hammock with a good book, a cool glass of milk and another one (or two) of these chocolate goodies.
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