waffled cake donuts.

We have fried raised donuts, fried cake donuts, baked raised donuts, fried cake donuts, mini donuts, huge-ass donuts, chocolate donuts...

but I betcha never tried a waffled donut!

I took a basic cake donut recipe that was meant to be fried and baked it partially in the oven. Then, I finished it off in the waffle iron to get that signature checkered pattern and a nice crunchy crust. I did it this way because if I baked it only using the waffle iron, chances are that the outside would cook way faster than the inside and leave me with a gummy donut. Also, it would result in a denser donut. Of course, by waffling the donut in the end, we have compressed it as well but not all parts of the donut would be dense. That's great because we wouldn't want to end up eating a brick.

i just twisted the dough together to make the last donut

It's very important not to overbake these because there's so little fat in them. You want to err on the side of underdone rather than over because to remedy that, all you need to do is allow the donut to spend a longer time in the waffle iron. But once they're too dry, nothing can repair that. A good way to tell if a donut is nearly done is by the colour. A raw donut would have a darker shade while a cooked donut would be paler. Or, you could just stick a cake tester in just to be sure. There should be moist crumbs attached to it.

I replaced the traditional white sugar with brown to give it extra flavour. I think the nutmeg here is spot on. These donuts really taste like those donuts I can buy outside, only grease-free and much more unique!

Waffled Cake Donuts
adapted from here
makes 6 donuts + 6 donut holes

1 cup + 1/2 cup plain flour, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk together 1 cup of flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, sugar and vanilla until the mixture begins to thicken slightly. In another small bowl, combine the melted butter and milk. Have the milk at room temperature too so that the melted butter won't solidify. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk mixture to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour, beating well after each addition. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of flour until just incorporated. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

Roll out the dough to a 1/2 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface and cut your circles with a floured cutter. Bake in a 425F oven for 6 to 7 minutes until nearly done. Then, proceed to waffle in your preheated waffle iron for 30 seconds or until the squares show. You may only be able to fit one donut at a time so you gotta be patient. You will need to press down on the lid to fit the donut.

Serve warm.