Cinnamon and Maple Doughnuts

These started out as something quite different. I was aiming for a pumpkin doughnut, filled with a pumpkin pie type filling. I made a pumpkin dough, and made the doughnuts. I made a creamy pumpkin pie filling. I fried the doughnuts and filled them, but it just didn’t seem quite right.

So then I decided to make them small, unfilled doughnuts. And I moved away from the pumpkin in the dough (I didn’t feel it was adding anything in the way of flavour it texture) and stuck to the spices. These weren’t flavourful either.

I tried adding maple syrup to the dough and simplifying the flavour from pumpkin pie spice mix to just cinnamon. I kept the maple syrup glaze and chopped pecans but added cinnamon sugar. Bingo!

Sweet Dough

200g of Milk, scalded then cooled

50g of Maple Syrup

15g of yeast

500g of Bread Flour

60g of Butter, softened

40g of Caster Sugar

10g of Salt

2 Large Eggs

2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon

 

Cinnamon Sugar

3 Tablespoons of Caster Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon

1. Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and roughly rub in the butter.
2. Add the eggs and maple syrup to the milk and blend.
3. Add the liquid to the dry and work until you have a soft and moist dough. It will be quite wet to start with, so use a mixer if you don’t feel confident handling it yourself. If you have read some of my other bread recipes you will know that I don’t knead the dough but work it using the Slap and Fold method. I find this so much easier, especially with wet doughs.
4. Once the dough is smooth and soft, shape into a tight ball and place in a lightly floured bowl, covered with a clean cloth, for one hour and a quarter.
5. After the first prove, scrape the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and de-gas by bashing with the flat of your hand.
6. Fold the dough in on itself and start to portion out 30g pieces.
7. Form the 30g individual pieces into tight balls and shape with your hands, then allow them to rest on a baking tray for a further 45 mins.
8. 10 minutes before their second prove it up, start heating up 1 Litre of flavourless oil in a medium sized saucepan. The oil needs to reach 170C.
9. In batches of four or five, gently lower each dough ball into the hot oil on a long handled slatted spoon.
10. They will cook for about two minutes before turning themselves over in the oil. Allow them to cook on the other side for two to three minutes. They will be a dark golden brown all over.
11. Lift them out of the oil with the long handled slotted spoon and place each doughnut on some kitchen paper to absorb some of the oil. Be very careful as everything is very hot.
12. Blend the sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and roll the slightly cooled doughnuts in the bowl to coat them in cinnamon sugar before putting to one side.
13. Fry all the doughnuts balls and coat them in cinnamon sugar.

Moose Maple Butter is a delicious blend of Canadian Maple Syrup and butter. 

Maple Glaze

70g Moose Maple Butter

50g Icing Sugar

To Finish

30g Pecans, chopped

1. Melt the Moose Maple Butter then blend in the icing sugar until you have a smooth glaze.
2. Drizzle over the doughnuts and sprinkle with the chopped pecans.

If you can’t find Moose Maple Butter then blend some Maple Syrup, melted butter and icing sugar until you have a thick pouring consistency.

Of course, the doughnuts are delicious warm, simply coated in cinnamon sugar, and you don’t have to glaze them at all. But, I am a sucker for Maple Syrup and I love all kinds of nuts, pecans being one of my favourites. So, this is the finish I prefer.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Maybe pumpkin doughnuts will eventually come good, but for now I am happy with these little sweet and spiced dough balls.