gluten-free baked chocolate donuts (a lesson in humility)
This weekend I was in the bathroom at my in-laws and decided to hop on the scale - you know, as one would normally do after a three-course meal. As I admired my 5-pound, pre-winter hibernation weight gain, I said to myself, “Yup. This week we’ll be on a diet.”
And then this morning I proceeded to search for donut recipes.
BUT, I thought, they’ll be gluten-free! Which means healthy! So I searched and searched for solutions, until I came across a recipe, which I figured I could make gluten-free by switching out the regular flour with almond flour. Genius.
The only other problem was the donut pan. Hmm, no donut pans in Italy. So I searched again, and found this handy solution: put a ball of tin foil in a muffin pan to get the standard shape! It was perfect. I would make these gluten-free chocolate glazed donuts and have an instant hit on my hands! It had been a while since I had a really popular recipe on the blog and these donuts would be it. I was preparing myself to be inundated with comments, and my analytics numbers to be off the charts. What was happening in my head was nothing unlike
Ralphie imagining his theme earning him an A …..
The first problem was that the batter looked really loose. Eh, a little moisture won’t hurt a donut. Right? I shook it off. Then I remembered I had to create my donut pan but CRAP I was out of tin foil. There was no time to go to the store now, the oven was ready! I grabbed the closest thing, parchment paper, and began to make balls, which slowly unfurled into sad non-balls. My muffin pan was too small, but I had a mini bundt pan. Make it work, Tim Gunn said, so I shall. I poured the thin batter around the tufts of parchment and popped the bundts in the oven.
The first problem was that the batter looked really loose. Eh, a little moisture won’t hurt a donut. Right? I shook it off. Then I remembered I had to create my donut pan but CRAP I was out of tin foil. There was no time to go to the store now, the oven was ready! I grabbed the closest thing, parchment paper, and began to make balls, which slowly unfurled into sad non-balls. My muffin pan was too small, but I had a mini bundt pan. Make it work, Tim Gunn said, so I shall. I poured the thin batter around the tufts of parchment and popped the bundts in the oven.
Yes, they were disaster. Yes, I ate that middle one out of the pan with a spoon, because not only were they never coming out in one piece but I also forgot to butter the pan.
As I scooped the failed “donuts” into a tupperware (just because they were a failure doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy a spoonful after lunch today) I realized that I should be less impulsive in my kitchen experimenting. That making drastic substitutions with things that weren’t meant to be flour won’t always yield perfect results. That you can’t force perfection, or a super pin-worthy blog post for that matter. Some things just have to come naturally.
So if you’re feeling like today is your lucky donut day, here’s a great recipe and here’s a real donut pan. Which I’m ordering myself for Christmas. Get ready, I will have that perfect donut for you very soon.
As I scooped the failed “donuts” into a tupperware (just because they were a failure doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy a spoonful after lunch today) I realized that I should be less impulsive in my kitchen experimenting. That making drastic substitutions with things that weren’t meant to be flour won’t always yield perfect results. That you can’t force perfection, or a super pin-worthy blog post for that matter. Some things just have to come naturally.
So if you’re feeling like today is your lucky donut day, here’s a great recipe and here’s a real donut pan. Which I’m ordering myself for Christmas. Get ready, I will have that perfect donut for you very soon.
More posts from
