Posted on April 22, 2011
Filed Under Snacks, Sweet rolls and Coffee cakes
If cooking was basketball, this would be a slam dunk! Seriously, these little things are aWeSOmE!!! (I only put 3 exclamation marks there because I know some people get annoyed when bloggers go wild with exclamation marks, but in my mind, I’m adding about 30 more.) You’ve gotta try them… your taste buds will love you. They won’t take much of your time… 40 min from walking into the kitchen to popping one in your mouth.
STOP.
What was it that you could be doing 40 minutes from now?
Ok, just wanted to be sure you caught that.
Here’s a little unnecessary tidbit… I made these with one hand. I was going to quickly get them into the oven before putting Megan down for a nap. Well, just as I was ready to start, she got crabby and clingy, it was over, naptime was NOW.
Unless I was holding her.
So, I thought ‘oh well, no age is too young to start training a little cook’. Actually, I didn’t think that, I just thought it right now, but it would’ve been a cool reason to hold her while making these! So, yeah, from measuring the first ingredient to spooning the batter into the pan (including taking pictures), I had a 24-lb 10-month-old on my hip. She was tired enough to just lazily watch and not grab stuff. Then, while they were baking, I put her to sleep. Yep, I rock my babies to sleep. My babies were never trained to just lay down and go to sleep on their own. Not saying it’s for everyone, but it’s definitely for me. It’s 18 months out of each of their little lives that I rock them to sleep and that’s some cozy little moments that I’ll never regret. And it gives me plenty of time to try to memorize the feel of them in my arms in hopes that when they’re all grown up, I can reach in and grab those memories again… and remember.
Ok, where was I? (Yeah, I know this is a cooking blog, but I don’t do a personal blog, so I like to (and my mom likes me to) stir bits of life into here sometimes.)
Donut Muffins …taken from here, but I’d have probably never found and tried them if my friend Diane hadn’t alerted us to them on a message board I frequent. So, Diane, if you’re reading this, thanks a ton! 
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup margarine, melted (I used butter)
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup flour
1/4 cup margarine, melted (it’s up to you… you can either add a few Tbsp more right away or you can melt more butter when you’re running out halfway through dipping them ???? )
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375. Grease 24 mini-muffin cups. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup margarine, and nutmeg in a bowl.
Stir in the milk, then mix in the baking powder and flour until just combined.
Fill the prepared mini muffin cups about half full. Yeah, I know these aren’t all evenly filled, but I was never a perfectionist, and probably never will be. Plus, I was holding a baby and by this time, my left arm was starting to kill me.
Bake until the tops are lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes. During this time, a mouth-watering nutmeggy smell will be wafting throughout your house. While muffins are baking, place 1/4 cup of melted margarine in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon. Remove muffins from their cups, dip each muffin in the melted margarine, and roll in the sugar-cinnamon mixture.
Let cool and serve. I don’t know WHY it says ‘cool and serve’! I say ‘serve warm’! I only had one and that was a warm one and it was such incredible melt-in-your-mouth awesomeness that I’d try to serve them warm on purpose, if possible.
I don’t know what category to put these in. They’re so versatile.
— Make them for an after school snack.
— Take them to a ‘bring food’ church function.
— Make them for brunch.
— Serve them for dessert.
— Make them this evening for a bedtime snack.
Coming up next… a Lightning McQueen cake. ????
Comments
14 Responses to “Mini Donut Muffins”
note to self: never read kay’s blog when this hungry!!!!!!!!!! (using lots of exclamation points because i like to. and they don’t annoy me, i have kids that do that. so excessive punctuation does not.)
these sound wonderful. i already printed off the recipe and am going to make ’em instead of folding laundry.
yum.yum. only 40 minutes till heaven. and btw. i like how you stir bits of life here in your kitchen blog. you have a way of “seasoning” it just right.
They look marvelous! Might have to give them a shot (if I have nutmeg).
my laundry is still in heaps…
but my taste buds are.so.happy.
these are what we call in our family, make-again-good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CINDY!!!!!!!!! You totally made my day! Honestly, the best thing anyone could do for me in the comment section is say they’re gonna make what I posted RIGHT NOW and then come back in less than an hour and give a review on it.
Love ya!
Unfortunately I cannot make these muffins right now, but I WILL make them sometime very soon. And btw, I like the life bits you share. I also rocked my babies ~ all six of them. I know, too, that it’s not for everyone, but I sure don’t regret it. I cherish the memories now.
I also like the life bits…keep ’em coming! These things look good — we had cinnamon rolls around here today, so these will need to wait for another day, but I already know I’ll LoVe them. So…may I ask what a serving size was this time? Ok, I won’t ask.
This is very similar to a recipe my mom used to make…that we called french breakfast puffs! I haven’t made them for quite awhile and my boys have been asking for them. Maybe it will be tomorrow morning!
Beth, in this case, serving size was one…. until I needed another one, then 1 suddenly morphed into 2.
No really, I justified it because I could’ve made these into 12 reg-sized muffins and had a whole one (which would’ve been the same mass as 2 little ones) AND I really needed to try a room temp one to see if they were still good after they cooled.
So, here I am with an “after they’re cooled” opinion… good and still could’ve eaten half the batch, but not NEAR as good as warm. Not near. When they’re warm, they just melt in your mouth; when they’re cooled, they taste exactly like a donut hole (a cake donut, that is).
Wilma, glad to hear of another rocked-my-babies mom… I’ve always been in the minority in that dept.
Oh my!! I made these for brunch this morning and 4 of us ate almost all of them!! I couldn’t remember what they were called because yesterday I just jotted the recipe on a sticky note, so we just kept saying, “pass whatever those things are called!” I think there were about 5 left which I just put on a plate because I knew they’d get eaten as people walk through the kitchen. I will definitely be making them again. Often!!!!
We’ve been making these here for a few years too and we love them….but I never thought of doing them in a mini muffin pan! I’ll bet they’re even batter that way. So that’s what I’ll try next! After I lose these next few lbs…..Ha Ha!
Hi there,
I have recently started a saturday morning baking session with kids – all for fun and teaching ourselves some team spirits and ways to have fun. I was searching for some new ideas and saw your blog. It is very nice resource and specially you have done a lot of kids friendly stuff. Stories behind the food you cook are very good read too I will keep coming to you!
Hey! How did I miss this one? – must have been off to AK at the time! Yes!! that’s the “sugary spice” I like “stirred” into your posts! And yes! the recipe will have to be tried, maybe next Sunday (40 minutes from start to finish!) when we have company here for breakfast – they’ll be warm!! Count my exclamation marks!!!
Mom, I just knew you like it because you said that when I make a cookbook, I need to put that ‘extra’ stuff in there too, not just the recipe.
I made these and they were very good! Has anyone tried these, rolled in powdered sugar? I think I’ll try that next time. I’m not real fond of crunching white sugar, so thought that might be a nice alternative. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe!