Donut Love: 60 Versatile Recipes for Every Kind of Craving, written by Sloane Papa, features a delicious collection of sweet and even a few savory doughnuts using a variety of textures, glazes, and fillings. A few notable flavors include Cozy Hot Chocolate, Spiced Apple Cider, Nostalgic Cereal Milk, Creamy Dreamy Tiramisu, and Mini Cheddar Chive Croissant. I will also be sharing her recipe for Mini Powdered Sugar Donuts following the review.
Disclosure: I received this book from Page Street Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All opinions and statements are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Sloane Papa
Sloane Papa is a food photographer and recipe developer. She grew up in Southlake, Texas and is currently based in New York City.
Sloane developed the blog, Sloane’s Table, to share favorite baking recipes and more for every season, special occasion, and holiday. She has also worked with numerous food brands and has been featured in Half & Half magazine. This is her first cookbook.
Donut Love
Sloane begins Donut Love with a short introduction before jumping into the recipes. She also offers helpful tips and notes across the pages from the best types of flour and other ingredients to storing donuts and safely disposing of oil.
Chapters are divided according to style: Pillowy Brioche Donuts; Comforting Old-Fashioned Donuts; Decadent Baked Donuts; Flaky Croissant Donuts; Irresistible Choux Donuts; Addicting Savory Donuts; and Tempting Glazes, Fillings & Toppings. The Table of Contents has a list of included recipes with page number for easy reference.
Sloane also provides the photography. Every single donut is paired with a full-page, vibrant photo of the finished treat. There are also a handful of step-by-step photos demonstrating techniques such as folding croissant dough and making braids.
Measurements are listed in Metric and US Customary (though metric is highly recommended for accuracy). Each recipe has a headnote with background information, personal notes, ingredient tips, and yield.
Mini Powdered Sugar Donuts
All the doughnuts we tried were wonderful, but these Mini Powdered Sugar Donuts were a particular hit with the kids.
Inspired by “those prepackaged mini confectioners’ sugar donuts you can find at just about any gas station,” these nostalgic, cake-like doughnuts are fried until golden and coated in copious amounts of powdered sugar.
After forming the cake flour and sour cream-based dough, rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to overnight before rolling into a 1/2 inch (1.3 centimeter) thick sheet.
Use 2 1/4 inch (6 centimeter) and 1/2 inch (1.3 centimeter) round cutters to cut out the individual circles, then fry in batches until golden.
To finish, coat the completely cooled donuts fully in powdered (confectioners’ sugar). These Mini Powdered Sugar Donuts are especially delicious within a couple of hours of frying paired with coffee.
I also tossed the rounds of dough created from the smallest cutter into the oil to make fun, bite-size donut holes.
A Few Mini Powdered Sugar Donut Tips
The most accurate way to measure is by weight. If measuring by cups, do not pack in the flour when measuring or you may end up with too much. To measure flour, gently spoon it into the measuring cup and level with a knife without pressing down.
Do not over-mix when adding the dry ingredients and sour cream into the dough. Combine just until no streaks remain.
Since the resulting dough is so soft, it is easiest to roll between two sheets of well-floured parchment.
Do not twist the cutters as you press down. Twisting may seal the dough and prevent the doughnut from rising.
Keep the temperature no higher than 350˚F (180˚C) and adjust as needed. Too low and the doughnuts won’t fry and will just soak in the oil. Too high and they will become too dark before the center has had a chance to cook.
Do not crowd the pan when frying. They need room to expand in the oil.
More Donuts
I also made the Coffee Coffee Coffee, Nutella Bomboloni, Birthday Cake, and Chocolate Churro + Hot Chocolate Donuts.
I was immediately drawn to the Coffee Coffee Coffee Donuts with their distinctive braided shape and variety of toppings. These pillowy brioche doughnuts are perfect for coffee lovers with the option of an espresso swirled glaze, espresso cinnamon sugar, and/or mocha ganache.
The Nutella Bomboloni also have a pillowy brioche base with the addition of a bit of orange zest. After frying until puffed and golden, they are filled with a luscious chocolate hazelnut spread and coated in sugar.
The Birthday Cake flavor comes from the Decadent Baked Cake Donuts chapter. These festive vanilla cake-based donuts are baked until golden, topped with a thick vanilla glaze, and covered with plenty of rainbow sprinkles.
The Chocolate Churro + Hot Chocolate Donuts are such a fun option from the Irresistible Choux Donuts chapter. The choux-like dough is flavored with vanilla bean paste and Dutch process cocoa powder before piping into rounds and frying until golden. To finish, they are coated in cinnamon sugar and paired with a rich hot chocolate ganache.
Donut Love is a fantastic pick for those who love all things doughnuts. There is such a fun variety of both fried and baked/sweet and savory donuts with all sorts of shapes, fillings, and glazes. Many require about 1-2 hours of rise times while the croissant-based doughnuts take about four days.
Most of the ingredients are readily available in larger American grocery stores. A few items that may require further searching include vanilla bean paste, cardamom, Dutch process cocoa powder, rose water, freeze-dried raspberry/strawberry powder, blood oranges, black cocoa powder, malted milk powder,
Mini Powdered Sugar Donuts Recipe
Excerpt from Donut Love
Mini Powdered Sugar Donuts
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 300 grams (2 1/2 cups) cake flour
- 6 grams (1 1/2 teaspoons) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 56 grams (1/4 cup) unsalted butter room temperature
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 170 grams (3/4 cup) sour cream room temperature
For frying the donuts:
- 48-64 ounces (1 1/2-2 quarts) vegetable oil
For the coating:
- 227 grams (2 cups) confectioners' sugar
Instructions
To make the dough:
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Set it aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Mix in the egg and vanilla until fully combined.
- Scrape down the bowl and add half of the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed until barely combined, then mix in the sour cream.
- Add the rest of the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
- Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
To fry the donuts:
- Just before rolling out the dough, fill a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot with enough vegetable oil to cover 2 inches (5 centimeters). Heat the oil over low-medium heat and bring it to 350˚F (180˚C).
- Place a wire rack over a paper towel-lined baking sheet.
- On a separate baking sheet, cut out twenty-eight 3-inch (8-centimeter) parchment squares for the donuts.
- Roll the dough out between two pieces of well-floured parchment paper to 1/2 inch (1.3 centimeters) in thickness.
- Brush away any excess flour.
- Use well-floured 2 1/4-inch (6-centimeter) and 1/2-inch (1.3-centimeter) round cutters to cut out as many donuts as possible and place each on a parchment square. Reroll the dough and cut out more donuts as needed.
- Use the parchment squares to gently lower two to three donuts into the hot oil.
- Fry the donuts for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip over and fry for 2 minutes until golden.
- Transfer the donuts to the wire rack to cool completely.
- Wait a couple minutes for the oil to come back up to 350˚F (180˚C), then continue frying the donuts.
To coat:
- Once the donuts have cooled completely, quickly toss each of them in confectioners' sugar.
- Be careful not to handle them too much or the confectioners' sugar will melt.
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