homemade donuts?

It started, as these things do, with a craving. A desire for cakey, chocolate-y, glazed goodness. The need to make them for myself, as I certainly wasn't going out on a search for the best chocolate cake donut in Toronto. I just wanted satisfying. So, I bunkered down with my good old web browser and methodically looked through my favourite cooking blogs, checked the recipe search on foodtv.ca and finally began Googling.

I was shocked by how difficult it was to find a relatively sane recipe for chocolate cake donuts. Baked was preferred, but not required. Just chocolate and delicious and not asking for a million obscure ingredients. Finally, finally I found a recipe.

Inevitably, of course, I encountered issues. I certainly don't have a donut pan; luckily it was implied that a muffin pan would work. I worried a little bit that it wouldn't taste donut-like, just like a chocolate muffin. I don't keep buttermilk around; that, I decided was an easy substitute for the regular stuff. The only thing to do was go ahead and try.

Baked Chocolate Cake Doughnuts
I used this recipe almost exactly as is - and honestly, I wouldn't even try to fudge it. It worked perfectly.

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup grams sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil
• I used margarine, and it was fine
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• Or regular milk, if you don't have buttermilk
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• I'm sure you could replace this with sour cream, if that's what you have on hand
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

Directions

1. Lightly grease a doughnut (I used a normal sized 12 cup muffin tin) tin and preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda, and then whisk in the sugar, nutmeg and salt.
3. Add the butter (margarine), and using your fingers, rub it into the dry ingredients until it becomes coarse crumbs.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix, or your doughnuts may be a bit rubbery. (I found that with a spoon this just needed a few quick mixes - almost like folding)
5. Fill each cup 1/2 to 3/4 full. You can do this with a spoon, but I prefer using a piping bag to fill each cup more evenly and cleanly. It’s important not to overfill, or as the doughnuts rise, you’ll lose the hole. (Using a muffin tin, I simply used a cookie scoop. Simple. They came out like oversized donut holes)
6. Bake for 6 to 10 minutes (mine took 11 minutes - but I only made 12 instead of 15), until the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool slightly on a wire rack before glazing. If coating in powdered sugar, let them cool even a bit more.

Honestly? You need to make these. They are ridiculous good. What Bunny and I couldn't get over was that they had a true donut texture. Oh, the texture. Dense, cakey, pulling apart perfectly.

Seriously. Make these. I wish I could take credit for even one small part of their yumminess, but I can't. What I can do is tell you that these are way easier to make that you would possibly imagine, and that you need to make them because they are amazing.

Come on, I'm throwing out the bolds and italics all over the place here. That's gotta tell you something.