Baked Heart Doughnuts

We ended January with a nasty case of Croup. We had gone almost eight months without him catching that nasty cough. We luckily are able to get it under control fairly quickly and easily with essential oils. We do keep an oral steroid on hand just in case and we have a nebulizer machine should he need it. But we were lucky last year and he really never needed either one. But over the weekend he came down with the cough in the middle of the night and this one was pretty bad. So oral steroids and breathing treatments right off the bat! However, we only needed the one dose of each and then we used oils to give him comfort the other days. I am so thankful that he is old enough that he can wake up before it gets too bad and he can tell me. He also knows that he needs to calm down to stop the coughing. So that's a huge plus!

So the other day when we woke, I knew I wanted to start February on a fresh and fun note. I have been saving yeast doughnut recipes for years, but I never got the courage to try them. I have a huge fear of frying them in oil (silly childhood memory!) and I decided that I am still not ready for that. So we made a healthier baked version! The original recipe called for cinnamon and sugar to coat the doughnuts, but Ry is more of a chocolate icing person. The doughnuts are obviously more dense and will not have the same taste or texture as fried doughnuts. None-the-less they are delicious!! I do want to add that they were not as delicious the next day and should most definitely be eaten fresh.

INGREDIENTS
For Doughnuts
5 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons yeast
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

FOR ICING

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1. Heat your milk and butter up on the stove or in the microwave, until warm, 100 to 110 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer, stick your finger in the melted butter/milk mixture and just heat until lightly warm to touch. Stir in the sugar, and then stir in the yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes, until foamy.
2. Meanwhile, in a bowl fitted with a hook attachment, add in your flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add in eggs and foamy milk mixtures.
3. Beat on medium speed with a dough hook, for about 5-8 minutes, until dough is smooth. The batter will still be a little sticky. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead dough by hand until it forms a smooth ball. Add your ball of dough to a large, oiled bowl. Cover with a dishtowel and let rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
4. Turn your risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Lightly roll out your dough to about ¾". Cut dough out with your favorite heart cookie cutters.
5. Place the cut out hearts onto lined baking sheet, spacing them about at least 2″ apart. Cover with towel and let rise another 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 365 degrees. Take towel off of your baking sheet and bake doughnuts for about 10 minutes, until they are a nice golden brown. Your baking time will vary, depending on the size cookie cutter you have,
7. Add powdered sugar, light corn syrup, vanilla, and cocoa powder into a medium bowl. Stir together and slowly add a tablespoon of water until you've reached desired thickness. I like mine to be slightly thick.
8. Let doughnuts cool on cooling rack until completely cooled. Dip one side of each doughnut into icing and decorate if desired.