I try and make something special on the weekend for breakfast or brunch for my husband. I saw a recipe for salted caramel donuts and was intrigued. The recipe that inspired me was from Country Cleaver. I did make a few modifications to add some whole grain and cut down on the saturated fat.

This recipe yields 17 donuts using a wilton donut pan.

Donut Ingredients:

1 cup cake flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup and 2 tb of skim milk

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 eggs (I like eggland’s best or farm fresh)

2/3 cup of raw sugar

1/2 cup fat free sour cream or plain fat free greek yogurt

3 TB canola oil

2 Tsp of baking soda

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp Mexican vanilla extract

 

Caramel glaze ingredients: (there will be 1 cup remaining for another baking adventure)

2 cups of brown sugar

3 tb unsalted butter

1/2 cup and 2 tb of heavy cream

2 tsp of vanilla

Sea Salt or course salt to sprinkle

 

Prep work: Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spray with cooking spray wilton pan to prevent sticking. Even though this is a nonstick pan it really needs a good coat of a canola oil spray.

Directions:

1. Mix  thoroughly with whisk cake flour, whole wheat pastry flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and baking powder in a large sized bowl.

 

Set aside.

 

2. In a medium sized bowl mix with whisk eggs, vanilla, milk, canola oil beat until incorporated together smoothly.

 

 

3. Add  the liquid mixture into the dry ingredient mixture.

 

4. Optional place batter into a piping bag with an ateco 808 tip to pipe perfectly into the donut pan. This can be messy but it does do the trick. Make sure the batter is even before placing in the preheated oven. I like to tap the pan on the counter to help speed up the process. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

 

 

5. Remove from pan immediately  and allow to cool on wire rack.

 

 

In the meantime prepare the caramel sauce.

Place the sugar in an even layer over the bottom of a heavy 2 quart nonstick saucepan. Heat the sugar over medium-high heat, whisking it as it begins to melt. Just keep whisking and as it continues to cook, the sugar will melt back down. Keep cooking until temperature reaches 350 degrees. Once temperature reached add butter, once the butter is melted gently pour in the heavy cream and whisk until combined. Remove from heat and add in the vanilla, stir to incorporate. Allow sauce cool for 10 minutes off heat and this will provide time for the sauce to thicken.

 

Dip cooled donuts into the sauce and sprinkle right away with sea salt. If you wait too long the caramel with harden and the salt will not stick. I like to place parchment paper under the cooling rack for easy clean up.

 

Enjoy!!