Strawberry Shortcake “Doughnut”

Yes, Yes you heard right… is your mouth watering yet? It should be.

My garden was producing a plethora of Strawberries last week so I decided to make these orgasmic, heaven-in-one-bite {or two} miniature “doughnuts”. They are extremely easy to consume and you will most surely be eating more than you thought possible. Yes. They will. Blow. Your. Mind. End of story, carry on….

“Doughnut” Ingredients:

• 1 ½ sticks of real butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup milk
• ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon

Browned Butter and Sugar Coat Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon

Homemade Strawberry Whipped Cream Ingredients:

• 2 cups {1 pint} heavy whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons of sugar
• dash or two of vanilla extract
• ¼ cup + some  of mashed up strawberry.
• Strawberries sliced for garnish.

Doughnuts:

Coat a mini muffin tin with a non-stick cooking spray or coat with a bit of flour.

Beat butter in mixer for 1 minute, add sugar. Beat until light in color and smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time just until mixed in.

TIP: Don’t over mix batter, just until eggs are mixed in!

Set aside.

In separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together until blended well.

Add a fourth of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir. Add a third of the milk and stir. Repeat alternating back and forth from dry ingredients to milk, ending with the dry. Mix JUST until batter is smooth, do not over mix! Fill mini muffin tins ¾ full.

Filling my mini-muffin pan 3/4 full of batter

Bake at 350° for 15 minutes

Remove “doughnuts” from pan once cooled enough. Let cool on cooling rack.

Lightly browned on bottom and sides

Browned Butter and Sugar Coat:

Melt butter in a sauce pan on medium/high heat until it starts to boil, bubble then foam a bit. Let the butter foam up for a bit, then whisk butter and continue to cook/boil.

Whisk constantly until it starts to brown, you should start to see the butter almost looking like it’s burning, black specks will start to turn it darker. Once you see dark specks on bottom of pan, remove from heat and pour into a heat-safe bowl.

Butter is dark in color and has black specks

In a separate bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon.

Sugar and Cinnamon coating mixture

Dip doughnut into butter on all sides.

NOTE: Let excess butter drip off before rolling in sugar mixture.

Dipping and rolling on all sides, letting excess drip off

Immediately roll doughnut in sugar/cinnamon.

Lightly rolling in sugar mixture

Remember: Less is more. But hey, it’s to your taste and desire. So a heavy coat, or a light coat, it’s up to you! I, however, prefer a lighter sugar/cinnamon coat.

Once rolled in sugar/cinnamon mixture goodness, place back on cooling rack.

Now, all joking aside, I won’t blame you if you just want to stop right here. It’s orgasmic just how it is, go ahead and try one. I’ll wait… or continue to maximize these little fellas!

HEAVEN IN A BITE

Strawberry Whipped Cream:

*So here’s the thing about home-made whipped cream: It just tastes better. End of story. 

Beat heavy whipping cream just until soft peaks form.

TIP: If you are using a KitchenAid mixer, this should only take literally about 20 seconds, SO PAY ATTENTION NOT TO OVER BEAT

Once soft peaks form, beat in sugar one tablespoon at a time on low. Beat in vanilla and mix until STIFF PEAKS form. AGAIN – BE SURE NOT TO OVER WHISK, IT WILL COME OUT CHUNKY and LOOKING LIKE BUTTER LIKE THE PICTURE BELOW. So don’t walk away like I did… doh!

What happens when you OVER beat your heavy cream. DO NOT DO THIS!

Gently fold in mashed up strawberries.

NOTE: 2 cups of whipping cream will make 4 cups of whipped cream. 1 cup of cream will make 2 cups after whipping. The ratio should always be 2 tablespoons of sugar to one cup of heavy whipping cream. Make what you will use because it doesn’t last very long.

TIP: You can freeze remaining whipped cream in dollops on wax paper, freeze laying flat and not touching anything. Once frozen you can remove dollops from wax paper and place all in a freezer bag for later use.

Place in a piping bag, or in a ziploc and cut off tip.

Once doughnuts are cooled, cut in halves. Pipe a layer of whipped cream on bottom half and place top half back on. Pipe some whipped cream on top and garnish with a few slices of strawberries!

Serve, and relish in all the moans and groans of enjoyment. Oh hey, you got a little sugar on the side of your mouth… 😛

Happy Baking!

Inspiration by http://www.kevinandamanda.com