No one needs a doughnut pan the same way that no one needs doughnuts in the first place. But do I want one? After seeing those Apple Cider Doughnuts that Leela baked up earlier this month, you bet I do!
The advantages of a doughnut pan are clear. Baking them in a pan is infinitely easier and less messy than deep-frying. Baking instead of deep-frying is also healthier, though the amount of butter and sugar that still goes into these recipes hardly qualifies them as a healthy food (sadly!).
I've baked doughnuts before by simply rolling the dough into circles and laying them on a baking sheet. That worked okay, but a pan would hold the dough as it rises and make puffier doughnuts. A pan also enables you to make "doughnuts" out of things like cake batter and muffin batter, which wouldn't hold their shape without a pan.
And as far as kitchen equipment goes, these pans are fairly inexpensive. For around $10, you can get a nonstick pan for either six regular-sized doughnuts or twelve mini-doughnuts. The two most popular brands seem to be Wilton, available at Sur la Table, and Norpro, available on Amazon:
• Wilton Doughnut Pans from Sur la Table, $9.95 for mini-doughnut pan or $10.95 for standard-sized doughnut pan
• Norpro Doughnut Pans from Amazon, $12.75 for mini-doughnut pan or $14.99 for a standard-sized doughnut pan
I'm thinking this would be the perfect holiday present, for either myself (attn: husband) or my baking buddies. It's going on the list right now.
Do you have a doughnut pan? Do you like it?
Related: Trend Watch: Are Doughnuts the New Cupcake?
(Image: Sur la Table)
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Emma-
I LOVE mine! The only problem I run into is do I use the big one or the small one???
I've made two recipes so far and LOVED both of them:
http://www.shutterbean.com/banana-doughnuts-peanut-butter-frosting/
http://www.shutterbean.com/baked-caramel-apple-donuts/
Call me a pedant but this sort of thing drives me nuts. They aren't donuts if they aren't fried. They are little ring shaped cakes. There is not such thing as a baked donut.
I don't care if other people think they would use this, but I disagree that it would make a good gift. If someone doesn't want it, it's just another one-purpose pan taking up valuable kitchen storage. They're so inexpensive that if someone wants one, they can buy one.
I can vouch for Tracy's (shutterbean) caramel apple doughnuts. I made them and got RAVE reviews. I liked my first pan so much that I bought a second not too long ago. I'm actually meeting up with a bunch of people from twitter next weekend to taste test my baked doughnuts based solely on a picture of thr caramel apple ones I made : )
I do want one! I know my kids would love to have more donuts in the house!
I have to guess that baked donuts must be similar to muffins, but donuts seem more fun than muffins.
I also want one, although I am fairly certain that it would be one of those things in the kitchen I'd only use a couple of times a year. Still.....
I desperately want one of these...been trying to convince the other members of my family for a while now. I would love to try making eggs in one of these. I cook breakfast for little kids every day...so fun shaped food would be a huge hit!
I've baked "donut holes" in mini muffin pans with great success. No more unitaskers for my kitchen.
Fun!