I have made no secret of the fact that I am falling in love with baked doughnuts. Last month I made Vanilla Bean Heart Doughnuts for Valentines Day. This month I am loving experimenting with the Meyer Lemons that my local grocery store has started to stock. This is my first lemon recipe this season. Last year we had Lemon Crinkle Cookies and Lemon Curd Cheesecake. Believe me, I'm sure it won't be the last. I love lemon!!
First off, what is a Meyer lemon? Well, since you asked so nicely… a Meyer Lemon is a cross between a lemon and a Mandarin Orange, thus taking the sweetness of the orange and the tart from the lemon and making a wonderful hybrid for us lemon lovers. It's perfect for baking with and for adding a little slice of one to your or Diet Coke.
For this doughnut I took the standard vanilla doughnut recipe added some zest from the lemons and then glazed them with a lemon infused glaze. Here is the recipe…
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs slightly beaten
3 tablespoons melted butter
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray pan with non-stick cooking spray
In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl add buttermilk, vanilla, lemon zest, and eggs. Add wet mixture to the dry mixture and then add the melted butter. Mix just until combined. Fill each doughnut cup 1/2 full and bake accordingly.
I find the best way to fill the pan is to fill a pastery bag with the doughut batter and with a simple round tip gently add your batter to the pan. Better yet, a pancake pen is PERFECT for the job!
large doughnut pan or heart shaped pan 10-12 minutes
mini doughnut pan 4-6 minutes
4 cups confectioners sugar
4 tablespoons Meyer Lemon juice
In a small bowl combine confectioners sugar with lemon juice. Add lemon juice slowly until you reach the desired consistancy. The doughnuts in the pictures had a pretty thick glaze, but if you would like a light glaze add more lemon juice.
Let me know how your doughnut adventures go. Send over some pictures if you make some. I would LOVE to see them!!