I have always been skeptical of those donut baking pans. If you want a donut, something crisply fried on the outside, tender and moist on the inside– just eat a donut. Although the donut shape they form is cute, a baking pan, just seems like a poor, dietetic substitute. But these muffins, baked in a mini muffin pan, and rolled in sugar-cinnamon, have me rethinking my donut pan bias. Yes, they still look like a muffin, but they actually do taste like cake donut.

This is a recipe that I am playing around with for a baking course that I teach at the local community college. The course is for beginning bakers highlighting the basics of small batch baking. So I wanted a recipe that was quite straightforward, but delicious to boot.

DonutMuffins1The recipe is made from pantry staples– sugar, flour, butter– and can be easily made on a Sunday morning, and on the table for brunch. Because the recipe is so basic, it also is left open for experimentation– something I’m trying to teach my students. Although the recipe call for all-purpose flour, some whole wheat could easily be substituted. Try a little lemon zest in the muffin batter, or some cardamon thrown in the cinnamon-sugar rolling mixture.

The muffins are light, and sweet. A similar texture to frying is created when the warm muffins are rolled in additional melted butter and sugar. These muffins can be made in a mini muffin tin– where they remind me of a donut hole waiting to be popped in my mouth, or they can easily be baked in a standard muffin tin. Either way, they’re delicious enjoyed still warm from the oven, on a Sunday morning.