Baked Carrot Cake Donuts

Hands up who agrees that your breakfast stack of Baked Carrot Cake Donuts should be as tall as your coffee cup!

Seriously, this NYT Cooking recipe by Samantha Seneviratne was so easy to make, I didn’t even need to get out my mixer, either one of them. And man, did they taste good with my morning coffee! And my afternoon one as well, for that matter.

I baked six, have the remaining batter in the fridge and will pop another batch in the oven tomorrow morning, so I can revel in fresh, spiced, carrot-y goodness dipped in creamiest cream cheese frosting AGAIN, Lord help me! So hard to resist.

But what are weekends for, if not indulging a little?

xoxo Donata

Ingredients

For the Donuts:

Nonstick cooking spray

1 ½ cups (190 g) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¾ cup (180 ml) vegetable oil

¼ cup (60 ml) whole milk

½ cup (110 g) dark brown sugar

¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups (115 g) grated carrots

½ cup (70 g) golden raisins (optional)

For the glaze:

4 ounces (115 g) cream cheese

⅓ cup (40 g) confectioners’ sugar

Food coloring (optional)

Sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350 F (180 C) degrees. Grease two 6-cavity doughnut pans or one 12-cavity muffin pan with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and ginger. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, milk, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla. Fold the carrots and raisins into the wet mixture, then fold the dry flour mixture into the wet.

3. Transfer the batter to a large pastry bag or resealable plastic bag. Cut a 1/4-inch hole in the corner of the bag, then squeeze the batter evenly into the 12 cavities. Bake until golden and set, rotating the pans halfway through, 14 to 16 minutes. A toothpick inserted into a doughnut should come out with moist crumbs attached.

4. Let the doughnuts cool in the pan for a few minutes, then tip them out onto a cooling rack to cool.

5. To prepare the glaze, gently heat the cream cheese in a wide, shallow bowl in short 5-second bursts in the microwave until warm and runny. Whisk in the sugar. Dip the top of each doughnut into the glaze. (If the glaze gets too thick as it cools, you can pop it in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds at a time.)

These are best the day they’re made.