Now that everyone is looking forward to fall, I thought I’d share one of the donut recipes I developed two autumns ago. These spicy pomegranate donuts are light in texture and aroma, making them perfect for early fall when the weather is still too warm for rich flavors.
Fun fact: pomegranates are in season from September to February in the northern hemisphere, although you can usually find them year round at the grocery store.
Since these are baked donuts, they are so easy to make. There’s no need for yeast leavening, or cleaning up used oil. You could quickly whip them up on a Sunday evening and enjoy them over the next few days. They make for a perfect snack or dessert and are easy to pack for work or school.
I made the donuts using a simple, classic batter. You only need a couple simple ingredients such as: flour, sugar, butter, eggs, cream, baking powder, vanilla extract, and spices. To complement the pomegranate glaze, I also used the following spices: star anise, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
To make the glaze, I mixed a little pomegranate juice with some icing sugar. And look how pink the glaze looks from only 3-4 tbsp. of juice!
I also decorated my donuts with a couple pomegranate seeds as I thought they were looking too plain. But this step is optional.
If you have extras, you can freeze them in ziplock bags. Let them thaw at room temperature and eat them right away. Once you thaw them, they dry out very quickly.
See more donut recipes here.
And lastly, this is how to make the spicy pomegranate donuts:
Spicy Pomegranate Donuts
Ingredients
For the batter:
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup (150 g/ 5 ¼ oz.) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g/ 3 ½ oz.) granulated sugar
- ½ stick (60 g/ 2 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup (120 ml/ 4 ¼ oz.)cream (35% fat content)
- 1 tsp ground star anise seeds
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature for greasing the pan
For the glaze:
- 1 ¾ cups (200 g/ 7 oz.) icing sugar
- 3-4 tbsp. freshly squeezed pomegranate juice
Instructions
For the batter:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
- Sift the flour, ground star anise, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a bowl, add the baking powder and mix them with a whisk.
- Gently melt the butter over low temperature. Make sure the butter does not bubble. Once melted, set it aside and allow it to cool a little.
- Crack the eggs into another bowl, add the sugar and beat at high speed with an electric mixer.The mixture is ready when almost triple in volume and light in colour. Add the vanilla extract, salt, cream and mix.
- Using a spatula, add the flour mix to the egg mix in 2-3 steps, mixing gently after each step. Make sure the flour is well incorporated, but do not over mix. Once the flour has been incorporated, fold in the melted cooled butter. Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes.
- Grease the donut pan with room temperature butter. Pipe the batter filling ¾ of each cavity. Bake for 10 minutes, or until donuts spring back when gently pressed.
- Once baked, take the pan out of the oven and allow the donuts to cool in the donut pan 2-3 minutes at room temperature. Transfer them to a rack and let them sit until completely cooled.
For the glaze:
- In a bowl, mix the icing sugar and pomegranate juice until sugar is dissolved and mixture looks creamy. If the glaze is too thick, add 1 more tbsp. pomegranate juice. Pour or drizzle over the donuts.
