Baked Buttermilk Donuts

Finally a recipe for a baked buttermilk doughnut that is crispy on the outside and light and airy on the inside! You won't think you're eating a donut-shaped muffin with this one! You could also toss the donuts in a cinnamon-sugar mix, glaze them with a powdered sugar-water icing, or frost them with chocolate frosting.

Baked Buttermilk Donuts
Ingredients

• 1 serving Pam Butter Cooking Spray-1/3Sec Spray IHF
• 2 cups Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, enriched, bleached  
• 1 cup Sugars, granulated  
• 2 tablespoons Cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon Leavening agents, baking powder, double-acting, sodium aluminum sulfate
• 1 teaspoon Spices, nutmeg, ground
• ½ teaspoon Salt, table
• 1 cup Milk, buttermilk, fluid, cultured, lowfat
• 2 Egg, whole, raw, fresh  
• 1 teaspoon Leavening agents, baking soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons Shortening, household, soybean (hydrogenated)-cottonseed (hydrogenated)
• 1 cup Sugars, powdered  

Instructions
 Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Adjust an oven rack to upper-middle position. Spray a donut pan with cooking spray.

 Step 2
Sift flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.

 Step 3
Whisk buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla extract together in a smaller bowl.

 Step 4
Pour melted and cooled shortening into flour mixture and stir until absorbed. Add buttermilk mixture and mix well. Let batter rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

 Step 5
Pour a scant tablespoon of batter into the well of each donut cup in the prepared pan. Use the back of a spoon to distribute batter evenly across the bottom of each; you won't use up all of the batter in this batch.

 Step 6
Bake in the preheated oven on the upper-middle rack until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven; let cool in the pan for 2 to 3 minutes before removing onto a wire rack.

 Step 7
Place powdered sugar into a small paper bag. Toss warm doughnuts in powdered sugar to coat.

 Step 8
Spray the donut pan with cooking spray again. Spoon batter in tablespoonfuls into the hot pan for the next batch.

 Step 9
Bake donuts in the preheated oven on the upper-middle rack until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes before removing from the pan and toss in powdered sugar.

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