Cinnamon Glazed Baked Doughnuts! {National Doughnut Week}

The whole selling baked good for a worthy cause is not a new one. Who hasn't attended or helped out with a bake sale before? Well this week, National Doughnut Week, independent bakers are raising money for the The Children’s Trust, through the sale of doughnuts!

A local bakery, Warings, is taking part! Not only are they donating 10p per doughnut sold, but they are hosting various competitions. One contest I am going to have my Mini Baker partake in. They are asking 5-15 year-olds to design a doughnut. I am going to get my Mini Baker to enter. I think she’ll really enjoy that! To find out if your local bakery is taking part please check out the links below!!

Baking doughnuts at home is pretty easy. I think frying them is too, but I like to make them with the girls and therefore easier to bake. The recipe I used here comes from Wilton. It was on the packing of my new heart shaped doughnut pan.

Cinnamon Glazed Baked Doughnuts 

2 cups cake flour

¾ cups granulated sugar

2 tsps baking powder

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp salt

¾ cups buttermilk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tbsp butter (about 14g), melted

Preheat oven to 425F/240C grease your doughnut pan. I used melted butter and a pastry brush. Sift all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add all the other ingredients and beat until just combined.

Half fill each doughnut hole (about 2 tbsp all depending on your pan). Bake for 4-5 minutes. If you over fill, like I did, then you will need a few extra minutes. If when touched they spring back then they are done. Let cool for a few minutes before removing. Repeat until all the batter is used, then glaze…

Cinnamon Glaze

1 cup confectioners’/icing sugar

3-4 tbsp milk (add slowly)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine all the ingredients until sugar is completely dissolved. Use immediately to glaze the doughnuts. I just dipped mine into the bowl and then place on a cooling rack, with parchment paper underneath, to catch the drips.

notes: Find out if your local bakery is taking part and join in the fun! - National Doughnut Week; Warings are not sponsoring this post, I have mentioned them because I do enjoy their baked goods!. I recently picked up this Wilton heart doughnut pan from Home Sense. Home Sense is like a TK Max for household items including kitchen stuff! How to Make Cake Flour 

3D Cookies!! by Janet

My sister, Janet, sent me these pictures of her 3D Cookies she made for the cake walk at her kids' school.  She told me she used her favourite and most reliable shortbread recipe from Martha Stewart.

Last fall she made these fun snowflake cupcakes!

For those readers in the UK I am not sure these cutters are available here- will have a look next time I am in Hobby Craft. They carry a lot of Wilton brand stuff. Joann's in the states is where these are available or probably any other reliable baking store or site like this one!

Christmas Cookie/Biscuits!!

Just like the Halloween cookie pan, we bought a Christmas one!! For these you could use any cookie dough really as you're molding them into pan cavity. We used the sugar/butter cookie recipe provided by Wilton!

I didn't buy new cookie decorations in red and green, we just used the same ones from Halloween! It worked for some and for others it would have been nice to have Christmas colors! It really didn't matter as we had a lot of fun decorating cookies for Santa!

note: To see a picture of the pan follow the links below. I could go take a picture of the pan as I didn't when I was making cookies, but I'm sitting comfortably and can't be bothered at the moment! ;0)

Resource: for UK buyers I got my cookie pan at Hobby Craft, but you can get it on amazon.co.uk. For USA buyers I'm sure you could find it at any store that sells baking things or the Wilton brand, but it is available on amazon.com.

Chocolate Orange Brownies

In America I remember only getting a Chocolate Orange at Christmas time. You couldn't get one any other time of year. 

When I moved to Great Britain and saw they had chocolate oranges out in the middle of summer I was appalled!! It was pure blasphemy! 

They were for Christmas like Cadbury Creme Eggs are for Easter. I was not impressed, obviously. Even though I have resisted buying them out of season, occasionally I will be given one for my birthday.

These were super smushy and delicious. My husband took a tin to work with him and they were gone quick as you like. Then I gave a few to friends and they all text to say how good they were!

This recipe is so adaptable. So, many different chocolates you could put in it to make your own flavor. I might have to use Green & Blacks burnt toffee with smashed toffee pieces….I think I may be on to something good here! 

How better to honour the chocolate orange at Christmas then with Chocolate Orange Brownies!

Chocolate Orange Brownies:

185g (6 ½ oz) unsalted butter

185 (6 ½ oz) Dark Chocolate Orange (1 Terry’s orange is 175g)

85g (3oz) plain flour

40g (1 ¼ oz) pure cocoa powder

50g (2oz) white chocolate

50g (2oz) Milk Chocolate Orange

3 large eggs

275g (9 ½ oz) golden caster sugar

Pre-heat oven 170C/325F/gas mark 3
Grease a brownie pan or regular square tin (22cm/81/2in) with butter and line with baking paper.
Cut the butter into cubes and melt with dark chocolate. Again there are different ways to do this. I use a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water. You can use the microwave just set it for 30 seconds then stir and repeat until melted.
Measure out your flour and cocoa into a bowl. Sieve if you must or whisk gently together.
Chop up your chocolate if you need to or if you bought buttons/chips/morsels/chunks then you’re already set!
Beat the eggs and sugar together at max speed until the mixture becomes really pale and almost doubled in size.
Poor the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, and gently fold in.
Add the flour/cocoa mixture and fold in with a large metal spoon.
Last but not least stir in your chopped chocolate.
Pour into prepared tin
Bake for 25 minutes. You can tell they are done when the top is cracked and crunchy but the middle is fudgy.
Leave in tin until completely cooled. Then cut ‘em up! I used a fancy Wilton cookie/bar cutter that makes hearts!

fun reindeer sticker off my orange

note: I added 50g of white chocolate chips but really you could add 100g milk chocolate orange. For a while Terry’s did a white chocolate orange, but I didn't see one anywhere. This recipe is based off of Eric Lanlard’s Double Chocolate Pecan Brownies recipe from Home Bake. If you have an amazing brownie recipe you’d like to share with me I’d love to have it!

Transformer's Birthday Cake!!

My sister, Indiana Baker, made this for her son Carter's 7th birthday!!

Turned out really well!! Wish I had been there!!

I just made a two layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Wiltons fondant tinted black with the Autobots symbol in Wiltons yellow sugar sheet...all edible! ~Indiana Baker

Resource: for the Autobot symbol click here!