Red, White, and Blue Week: Tri-Color Mini Doughnuts
How fun are these fruity doughnuts? A basic vanilla doughnut batter gets mixed with fresh strawberry and blueberry bits to create these little treats. This is a wonderful recipe to use the last of a carton of fresh fruit. I bet peaches and blueberries, or peaches and blackberries would be amazing.
A sweet drizzle of white chocolate tops each two-bite doughnut. Since these doughnuts are baked and not fried, they’re a bit healthier to enjoy. Experiment with different icings on top, and dried fruits like cranberries, cherries, and blueberries if fresh fruit is not available. As-is, these mini doughnuts got rave reviews — brunch will never be the same!
Tri-Color Mini Doughnuts
Makes 24 mini doughnuts.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
sprinkling of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 tablespoons buttermilk
2 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
3 fresh strawberries, rinsed, dried, and tops removed
8 fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
3 (1-oz.) squares, white baking chocolate (sweetened)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease two mini doughnut pans with baking spray. I recommend a variety with flour in it.
Mix together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.
The batter begins with the dry goods and spices…
Add in the wet ingredients: the beaten egg, vanilla, buttermilk, and cooled melted butter. Stir the dough until it comes together.
Then the wet stuff…
Prepare the fruit. I used a small paring knife which worked well. I quartered the strawberries and then cut each quarter into small strawberry bits. I also quartered each blueberry — be careful not to cut your fingers!
This recipe only calls for a few berries. A couple of blueberries are hiding behind that strawberry!
This is the fruit all cut and ready for the batter bowl.
Gently fold the fruit into the doughnut batter.
Then the fruit goes in.
This batter is speckled with red and blue and has a delicate vanilla flavoring.
Spoon the fruity batter into a gallon-size plastic food storage bag to make a piping bag. Snip a hole large enough for the fruit bits to get through in one corner.
Pipe the batter into the cavities — try to disperse the strawberries and blueberries as best you can among the mini doughnuts. Do not overfill the cavities.
I wanted to post a few shots so you readers can see how I dispersed the fruit bits.
Here is another view…
Bake the doughnuts for 10 minutes and remove from the oven. Allow the doughnuts to cool in the pans while preparing the white chocolate drizzle.
Here are the mini doughnuts out of the oven. A cooling rack is a big help.
When baking the doughnuts, make sure that the round centers of each doughnut cavity peek above the piped-in batter. This ensures nice, round holes in each little doughnut.
Melt 3 (1-oz.) squares of sweetened white baking chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave until smooth. (If using the microwave, this takes about 90 seconds, stopping every 30 or so to stir the chocolate).
The prepared drizzle.
Turn the doughnuts out from the pans and use a spoon to drizzle with white chocolate to garnish.
Patriotically palatable.
