A Donut Muffin: Doffin? Domuffin? Monutz?

For LCH who asked me to make them (and maybe a little bit for RH who was hanging out)

Recently through Tastespotting (a visual potluck website) I've become aware of a unusual breakfast item - and that is the combination donut muffin. It seems that quite a few people are trying a "baked donut" in order to eliminate the deep fried in oil portion of the donut, and thereby use the muffin tin as the medium to make these muffin donuts. I saw a recipe on Baking Bites where she makes these muffins and the idea intrigued me.

I shared with my friend who came over for dinner tonight, about this strange combination and she was so keen on the idea she wanted to taste them. I agreed to whip them together right then and there (only 25 minutes start to finish) and we ate them. The texture...it's not like a muffin at all - it's not like a donut either - it's a very fluffy something or other. The doffin, (my new word for this concoction) after being brushed with melted butter is rolled in a cinnamon sugar combination. The flavor is all sugar donut. They are somewhat reminiscent of donut holes we used to get in the old days.

It's a totally easy breakfast creation, and you can add different spices to change up the flavor if you so desire. Take the doffin out for a spin and you may never go back to regular muffins. These are especially killer with a cup of coffee.

As an additional note, I made these last night, and just had them this morning - I actually prefer the flavor and texture more than the just out of the oven feeling.

* Preparation hint - measure out all dry ingredients the night before. Then you just have to mix the wet.

Sugar Donut Muffins (or Doffins)  (from Baking Bites)

Makes 12

3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (I actually did not have any, so I used 1/4 teaspoon of both ground ginger and cinnamon)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (do not be tempted to change this to butter - it will change the texture of the doffin)
3/4 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter melted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup of sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil. (Do not be tempted to use liners - the point of doing these directly in the muffin tin is to have them pop out and be able to get sugar to stick to the sides without the addition of butter...you could, if you so desired, add butter on the sides as well before rolling in sugar.)

In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color. Pour in vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract. Mix to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Pour into egg mixture and stir to combine.

Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

While muffins are baking, melt butter and pour remaining sugar into a small bowl.

When muffins are done, lightly brush the top of each with some melted butter, remove from the pan and roll in sugar and cinnamon. Cool on a wire rack.

Printable recipe