October Daring Bakers' Challenge - Doughnuts!

October has been a pretty hectic month around here. We've had a wedding and a killer sickness that knocked me on my butt for 2 days. Shanna came to Toronto, and we completed the epic feat of climbing the CN Tower for the Toronto United Way, and it's been United Way fundraising month at work. Not to mention Halloween! However, my mind started churning out piles of ideas when I saw this month's DB Challenge. It is one of Canada's favourites, and it was the perfect thing to bring to work for our United Way potluck: Doughnuts!

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I made pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin being one of my favourite seasonal flavours (Pumpkin Spice Latte Season!!!), rolled onto little tiny, Timbit-like morsels. I have to admit, I'm really not a doughnut fan. One of my first jobs was slinging coffee at a little doughnut shop around the corner from my parents' house. Believe me - after smelling like a doughnut 3 days a week, the things really aren't that appetizing. However, knowing how delicious these turned out, and how easy they were considering my preconceptions, may turn out to be dangerous information!

The recipe smelled delicious as I made the dough, but once I dropped those little blobs into the hot oil, the room filled with the unmistakable smell of deep-fried batter, and I got really, really excited.



The finished product was to die for. I could probably have eaten the whole batch myself. Dipped in a quick glaze and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, there were no complaints from anyone.


I think I need to up my exercise regimen... These things are far too good for me to resist!