If you received this months issue of Saveur magazine in the mail just recently you may have done something like me and gasped at the beauty of the front cover then flipped furiously through the pages to behold the recipe to such a mouthwatering strawberry doughnut. Well I had plans you see. To make and post other recipes. I dropped those plans because on the cover of their magazine they posted a picture of the most perfectly pink, strawberry doughnut that had fresh written all over it (well technically half of it was strawberry. It was two doughnut halves, one strawberry the other chocolate, positioned closely together to appear like one). Anyway, I was so excited to try out the recipe… only to be really let down. I’m not trying to give them a bad rap at all, I’ve always loved their magazine, but please Saveur tell me it was a typo in the recipe. I don’t know how 2/3 cup oil with only 1 1/4 cups of flour and 1 egg could ever work out – but I tried it anyway, and yes to my dismay they stuck in the pan, the sunk flat on top and they had nothing to hold them together (I’m thinking half the amount of oil would have been plenty). So what’s a woman to do? I tossed it out and went to work to make my own recipe, because at this point I just had to have what I saw on that magazine cover.
Next issue – when you think of a glazed doughnut, do you think of a sticky, wet, glossy coating or a matte, somewhat shell like and dry coating? My thoughts lean toward the matte coating. Maybe that’s just me, but I don’t think doughnut glaze should be really sticky because that, in turn will usually result in a soggy doughnut. I don’t know what the deal is lately but the third times a charm with me. I made their recipe. Bad (who knows though, maybe I’m the mistaken one). Created a second recipe, doughnut good, glaze bad. Not taste wise bad, consistency bad. What happens when you mix strawberries with sugar? Basically the strawberries begin to break down and some of the liquids are extracted (some sort of osmosis) and the mixture becomes juicy. So why did all of the strawberry glaze recipes I saw online call for water? I added it in mine the first time around and the glaze didn’t set and dry, so the simplest solution? Omit the water and rely on the juices from the berries to thin the glaze. It worked like a charm.
And if you are wondering why their are two different tones of glaze, the first one doesn’t have any of the strawberry powder in it and the second, more vibrantly reddish pink does have the freeze dried strawberry powder. If I’m going to give a certain something a main flavor I want to taste that main flavor. I just wasn’t getting enough strawberry flavor with fresh strawberries alone so I went with a more concentrated flavor without all the liquids by adding in some freeze dried strawberries as well. Yes, you can leave it out if you really don’t wan’t to purchase them, but you won’t get that vibrant strawberry flavor – you’ll get more of a light and mellow strawberry flavor. I must say though these doughnuts are a.maz.ing! My family and I had them devoured in no time. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups (270 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for doughnut pan
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup finely chopped strawberries
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries*
- 1/2 cup (6 g) freeze dried strawberries, finely crushed to powder (place in a Ziploc bag, crush with rolling pin)**
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter doughnut pans with room temperature butter, then sprinkle lightly with flour and shake upside down to remove excess flour. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt, make a well in center of mixture and set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla and eggs (mixture will appear to curdle a bit which is fine), then pour into well in flour. Using a wooden spoon, stir mixture just until combined, then fold in 2/3 cup finely chopped strawberries. Spoon 2 1/2 Tbsp batter evenly into each well of the doughnut pans. Bake in preheated oven 11 - 13 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of doughnut comes out clean. Allow to cool several minutes in doughnut pan then invert onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool dip top halves of doughnuts into glaze and allow some of excess to run off, then return to wire rack, glazed side facing upward. Transfer doughnuts to freezer to allow glaze to set, about 5 minutes.
- For the Strawberry Glaze:
- Prepare glaze just before dipping cooled doughnuts. In a mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries and half of the powdered sugar. Stir until mixture starts to become moistened, then allow to rest 1 minute. Add in remaining powdered sugar and freeze dried strawberry powder and stir until well combine (at this point mixture should be have the consistency of a thick glaze, and have a dip-able consistency, if not allow to rest another minute or two until some of the liquids have been extracted from the strawberries then stir again. I would not recommend adding water to thin. Just allow it to rest if needed until the strawberries begin to break down). Use glaze immediately.
- *For the 1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries for the glaze, don't chop until just before adding to glaze mixture (so they don't break down and become too watery) and don't prepare glaze mixture until doughnuts have cooled completely and are ready to be glazed.
- **I would say this is optional, if you omit it you just wont get as much strawberry flavor. Still a delicious doughnut just a lighter flavor. Also if used, the color will be more vibrantly reddish pink than the first picture posted.
- Recipe Source: Cooking Classy
Cookingcutie11: I LOVED this issue. I can’t tell you how long I spent looking over the doughnuts…your photos are gorgeous :) February 23, 2013 at 9:43pm
Jaclyn: Thanks, that’s so nice of you to say =)! February 24, 2013 at 9:35am
sara: These look INCREDIBLE! Thanks for figuring out a good recipe – glad I didn’t try the version from Saveur! ;) February 23, 2013 at 10:06pm
Jaclyn: Thanks Sara =)! February 23, 2013 at 10:46pm
Kristy @ Sweet Treats & More: These are beautiful! February 23, 2013 at 11:25pm
Jaclyn: Thanks Kristy =)! February 24, 2013 at 7:16pm
Averie @ Averie Cooks: Girl I was sooooo ticked at the issue, sorry, I was. There were only a handful of baked donut recipes and sorry, I don’t fry in my house. For 5+ days later I do NOT want to be smelling residual donut grease, lovely as the donuts are the first day but after that…no. So of the baked varieties, there weren’t many to choose from and knowing the strawberry ones don’t work…eeek. (I had a recipe failure with their Nanaimo Bars; well, a few things I ‘caught’ and said no way will this work – but on the things I trusted them on, i.e. the top layer of chocolate, it cracked and broke upon slicing)…so now I am leery of trusting them!
But you NAILED these donuts. Sooooo pretty! No words. I love them! Pinned! February 24, 2013 at 1:58am
Jaclyn: Thanks so much Averie =) and thanks so much for the pin! I know what you mean about the grease smell, it’s terrible especially in the winter when you can’t open your windows and fan out the smell, but every once in a while I’ll deal with it if it means hot, fresh doughnuts. Doughnuts are another of my many weaknesses so I really need to try out some more baked varieties. February 24, 2013 at 7:15pm
Wendy: That top photo is special. Maybe its the intense color and the simple composition? I don’t know but it made me say, “Wow!”, then pin, then read. I discovered that the recipe looks good too :) February 24, 2013 at 10:15am
Jaclyn: Thanks Wendy =)! That’s so nice of you to say, I hope you have a chance to make them soon! February 27, 2013 at 10:48am
Rachel @ Bakerita: These look so gorgeous and so delicious. I agree with your choice of glaze – looks perfect! February 24, 2013 at 3:24pm
Jaclyn: Thanks Rachel =)! February 24, 2013 at 7:06pm
Angela @ Another Bite Please: wow! that first photo stopped me! i want to be at your house jaclyn for breakfast…these look so bright, fresh and loved that they are baked! and so pretty. February 24, 2013 at 3:32pm
Jaclyn: Thanks so much Angela =)! February 24, 2013 at 7:06pm
Susan: How many donuts does this make? February 24, 2013 at 5:02pm
Jaclyn: Susan – it should make about 18. Keep in mind that’s baked doughnut size so everyone will likely want at least 2 =). February 24, 2013 at 7:20pm
Monique @ Ambitious Kitchen: Amazing. I’m loving the pictures. I don’t subscribe to Saveur but clearly I need to. :) Pinned! February 24, 2013 at 10:35pm
Jaclyn: Monique – yes Saveur is amazing I love their magazine, mostly for their photos – they are amazing and always make me so hungry. Thanks so much for the pin and your compliment =)! February 27, 2013 at 10:24am
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious: Is there any way you deliver? Because I desperately need this for breakfast tomorrow morning! February 25, 2013 at 12:51am
Jaclyn: Chung-Ah – If I lived in your neighborhood I most definitely would =). February 27, 2013 at 10:30am
Laurie: Yum! These doughnuts look amazing, and your photos are absolutely beautiful. I love homemade doughnuts, especially when they are baked. I look forward to trying your recipe. I recently made baked mocha cake doughnuts with coffee cream cheese glaze. You can see them here: http://www.love-laurie.com/2013/02/baked-mocha-cake-doughnuts-with-coffee.html February 25, 2013 at 10:09am
Jaclyn: Thanks Laurie =). Aren’t doughnuts just the best! February 26, 2013 at 2:52pm
alana: Jaclyn, where can i buy freeze dried strawberries? Baking isle? -Thanks February 26, 2013 at 8:20am
Jaclyn: Alana – you should be able to find them buy the dried fruits like by the raisins/craisins. February 26, 2013 at 8:53pm
Colleen: Trader Joe’s sells freeze dried strawberries in the dried fruit/nuts section. March 19, 2013 at 5:47pm
Chris: These look great but where do you buy freeze dried strawberries? I’ve never heard of them? February 26, 2013 at 2:15pm
Jaclyn: Chris – you should be able to find them near the packaged dried fruits, near the raisins and dried cranberries etc. Hope that helps! February 26, 2013 at 8:55pm
alana: Thanks for answering my question so fast! best food site ever!!!!:) February 27, 2013 at 1:39pm
Jaclyn: You’re very welcome! Thanks so much Alana for your very nice compliment =)! That is so nice of you to say! February 28, 2013 at 1:18am
Lori: Saw you on Tastespotting. I’ve got to admit – now I’m glad that I bought 2 boxes of strawberries! We are donut-a-holics, especially baked ones. I am so excited to try these! I hope mine come out even half as beautiful as yours. :-) February 28, 2013 at 10:10pm
Jaclyn: I hope you love them Lori! I love strawberry everything and donuts are my weakness so these are a definite match for me =). March 1, 2013 at 9:38pm
Jennifer: I recognized the photo immediately! I was planning on making the recipe in the magazine. I’m glad you posted your findings and will use your recipe instead. Thanks so much! March 1, 2013 at 11:17am
Jaclyn: I hope you love this one Jennifer =)! March 1, 2013 at 9:39pm
JoannaWG: Hi Jaclyn,
I was wondering, if one could substitute strawberry flavoring for the vanilla, would that help the flavor any? Just a random thought while I was reading this. March 4, 2013 at 4:08pm
Jaclyn: I used half a bottle of the imitation strawberry extract in a batch of cupcakes I made a month ago and I bit into one and was like – wait, where is the strawberry flavor? I made some strawberry meringues with it and I could taste a slight strawberry flavor but I think that’s simply because there was hardly anything to them but eggs whites and sugar. Of course you can use it if you like to though, but if you use the strawberry powder in the glaze I think you will have plenty of strawberry flavor as is. March 4, 2013 at 6:50pm
Tricia: My achilles heal is a blueberry doughnut. Would substituting blueberries for strawberries work or would it need other tweaks? March 10, 2013 at 10:11pm
Jaclyn: I think that would be fine (and delicious) you may just want to reduce the powdered sugar slightly and add a bit of water depending on how juicy the blueberries are (to the icing). Hope you enjoy! March 19, 2013 at 4:00pm
Adventures in Donut Making | WolfandBear.in: [...] I made strawberry donuts using this recipe from Cooking Classy. They were pretty easy to make and ended up tasting pretty good. I plan to make [...] March 20, 2013 at 8:28pm
Jeannine Baker: Those look beautifully delicious!! March 21, 2013 at 9:08pm
Strawberry Doughnuts | Invited: [...] glaze. The photos looked to temping I just had to try them! The original recipe can be found HERE. The only changes I made were using skim milk instead of buttermilk (I already had it on hand) and [...] March 24, 2013 at 4:54pm
Jackie Humphrey: I found this through Merdith’s blog at One Sheepish Girl. I can’t WAIT to try these. I also love that we have the same name (and spelling!) Rarely do I meet another Jaclyn who spells her name that way. March 25, 2013 at 3:26pm
Jaclyn: Cool name you have =). I hope you enjoy these! March 26, 2013 at 8:30pm
60 AMAZING Strawberry Recipes | FamilyFreshCooking.com — Family Fresh Cooking: [...] Baked Strawberry Doughnuts Cooking Classy [...] March 26, 2013 at 8:58am
Doughnut Obsession : Strawberry Doughnuts | Snaxilicous: [...] Recipe adapted from Cooking Classy [...] March 29, 2013 at 7:20am
Buka: So so so good! And beautiful March 30, 2013 at 2:35pm
AliceY: Hi! I absolutely love your blog but unfortunately I live in Italy and can’t try some of the recipes as they need buttermilk which doesn’t exist here… Do you know any substitute I could use? I would really love to try these doughnuts, they look so good! Thanks April 3, 2013 at 2:30am
Jaclyn: I always make my own buttermilk substitute when I run out, for this recipe I would pour 2 1/4 tsp of white vinegar or lemon juice into a measuring cup then add enough low-fat milk to bring it to 3/4 cup (or measure out 3/4 cup milk then remove 2 1/2 tsp milk and replace it with the 2 1/4 tsp vinegar) and let it rest for a few minutes until it begins to curdle. Hope that helps! Thank you for you sweet compliment Alice =)! How I would love to visit Italy, you guys make the best food! April 9, 2013 at 8:43am
Hannah C.: What size doughnut pan did you use..? a standard or a mini pan? April 17, 2013 at 6:02am
Jaclyn: I used a standard doughnut pan but I think these would also be great in mini size. April 17, 2013 at 9:08am
Krista Low: Wow. I found you searching for strawberry recipes on Pinterest and I love these! I am Pinning this recipe and will be making it soon :) Krista @ A Handful of Everything April 20, 2013 at 1:32pm
Baked Strawberry Doughnuts | The Motherload: [...] found a great recipe for beautifully baked strawberry doughnuts from Cooking Classy that I couldn’t wait to try. To really heighten the berry flavor of these doughnuts, the glaze [...] May 6, 2013 at 4:00am
Strawberry and Chocolate Donut (baked): [...] Glaze I suggest you use the recipe from Cooking classy. For my glaze I changed the recipe a little, adding some strawberry extract, but the result [...] May 8, 2013 at 6:51am