three more ways to love ya

I know, I know. It's getting really out of control around here with donuts. As I've said before, donuts are my weakness and they're the one thing I have a really hard time saying "no" to. I even created a whole donut category in my recipe section... I can't believe I have that many various donuts on here! I told my sister the next time I make donuts, I'm going to bake them so that there are some non-fried versions.

I visited my sister Tracy (who has an awesome design blog, btw) in Maryland recently and made a double batch of these babies. It was a true "Donut Day" since we made three types of donuts. An updated, (and easier to eat) version of the Samoa donut called the Coco-Caramel Chocolate Donut, a honey-dip glazed and chocolate frosted. I just love this donut dough. It doesn't require the same amount of rising time that the dough from Flour does. And the end is result is a fluffy, airy donut that holds whatever toppings your heart desires.

In the Samoa donut, the caramel and coconut were mixed together and thickly applied to the top of the donut. In these Coco-Caramel Chocolate Donuts, I made the caramel softer (thank you heavy cream) and kept each component separate. First, I spread the soft caramel all over, then generously sprinkled toasted coconut and drizzled chocolate all over. I also didn't dip the bottom-half of the donut in chocolate (like I did with the Samoa donut) but you are more than welcome to do it. Can't hurt!

The chocolate glaze from the Samoa donut is more of a ganache and is delicious! It tastes like rich chocolate and stays a bit soft (unlike store-bought donuts that harden). That's why I also used it on the Boston Cream donut. 

The honey-dip glaze is unbelievably good, but there's a reason it looks a bit grainy here. My sister had run out of confectioners' sugar so we whipped up our own, but didn't blend it long enough. If you use store-bought confectioners' sugar, it should look silky smooth

the $5 donut

Last week a friend of mine posted this video on Facebook and two days later, I was making these in my kitchen. Inspiration (and hunger) is everywhere!

My sister, Aubrey, came over to help me taste-test these fried bits o' heaven (no convincing needed) and we decided that if these were sold in a bakery, they'd charge at least $5. Here's why: 1. They're labor-intensive (start to finish was pushing 5 hours!) 2. The ingredients ain't cheap, and you need a lot of them and 3. Um, have you seen these? Each donut is comprised of 4 layers, resulting in a mouthwatering decadence unlike any donut you've ever had before. So yes, even though I realize that $5 is more than the price of an entire box of samoa cookies, one of these donuts is sooooo worth it.

As I was making these, I thought to myself, the Girl Scouts have been doing it wrong all these years. Who wants a dry, crispy cookie when you can have a soft, fresh donut that's loaded with some of the best flavor combinations ever to exist? I hope you're with me on this one. 

While I loved the concept of this donut, I did have a major issue with it. The coconut caramel mixture is thick and dries hard, plus it's thickly applied so you're forced to open your mouth wide. So, if you have TMJ (uh, present!) then your jaw will feel like it will crack from all that opening and chewing. Not good at all.

Since I loved all the elements to this donut I plan on making it again, just in a different way. Each recipe is wonderful on it's own- I really loved this raised donut recipe and will definitely use it again to make different donut variations. And the chocolate ganache was perfection, as was the toasted coconut and caramel.