Mini Baked Donuts

Preheat the oven to 350º F

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients with a whisk to mix thoroughly. Combine the wet ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium low heat and mix until the margarine is melted. This mixture should not get too hot; you should be able to stick your finger in the mixture and feel slightly warm. If you burn yourself, 1) it’s not my fault! and 2) it’s too hot for the dough!

Add the wet ingredients to dry ones and mix until just combined. It should form a very soft dough or thick batter.

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out the dough into your ungreased nonstick mini-donut pan. Smooth out the top of the dough with your fingers, clearing off the post in the middle of each one. This will make for more even, prettier donuts, but isn’t crucial.

If you over fill, your donuts will come out looking like they have muffin tops. While not the end of the world, it’s not very donut-like either.

Bake for 12 minutes until the donuts are almost browned on top, and a tester comes out clean. Invert a hot pan over a cutting board or cooling rack to release the donuts. Allow them to cool completely before decorating, with the exception of the powdered sugar donuts. If you let them cool loosely covered with plastic wrap, the donuts will stay soft and fluffy.

To Glaze with Sprinkles
Whisk the soymilk and powdered sugar together. Dip the “bottom” half of the donut (the side with the nicer shape) into the glaze, let some drip off, then dip glaze-side down into sprinkles. Transfer to a wire rack that has been set on top of some parchment paper. The excess glaze will drip through the rack onto the paper for easy cleaning later.

To Chocolate Dip
This is the easy part. Melt one bar of your favorite dark chocolate in the microwave. Remove from the microwave and stir every 15 seconds until chocolate is smooth and barely warm to the touch. I should mention that you should be very careful not to get any water in the chocolate or it could seize, and no one likes that!

Dip your donuts one-by-one into the chocolate. Place the donut on your wire rack and decorate with sprinkles, if desired.

For Striped Donuts
Dip the donuts into the powdered sugar glaze first, then drizzle with melted chocolate.

For Powdered Sugar Donuts
Roll warm donuts in a bowl of powdered sugar. Yum!