No-fry jam doughnuts

A few years ago, I became aware of one of my many personality flaws: obsessiveness. These are obsessions that sometimes become so frenzied and dogmatic that I could easily be mistaken for a corporate sponsor of the product I'm hooked on.

In my defence, some of the obsessions do go on to form life-long habits and endure the test of time: the Tudors, drinking Americanos, The Smiths, Jay-Z, Disney mugs, books (NB: change some of these interests to look less douchey b4 publishing blog).

But I cannot escape my much longer list of lapsed obsessions: Fruit Pastille ice lollies, drinking espressos, the idea of learning French and moving to Paris for a year, Starbucks, Cadbury's fudge bars, cupcakes, Lord of the Rings, Crunchies, Moulin Rouge, Metallica, the Israel/Palestine debate, graffiti, working in music, deviantART, writing blogs and so on and so forth; an obsessions graveyard.

One enduring fixation that I have gracefully accepted into the hall of fame (the VERY exclusive club) is the jam doughnut. I regard myself as something of a doughnut connoisseur. Tesco's is too doughy and not deep-fried enough. Krispy Kreme is, as I have previously mentioned, not even close to living up to the hype, M&S's are good but a bit small and not covered in enough sugar. Sainsbury's though, they are DIVINE and so, so cheap - a generous dollop of raspberry jam, golden deep-fried crispiness, rolled in sugar and not too bready.

 In the past, I have justified eating jam doughnuts for breakfast ("Raspberry jam on toast for me this morning!") and my record thus far, has been four doughnuts in one day. So it seems only right that I write this little homage and attempt to make them for myself.

There is one problem though, the big old stick in the mud that is deep-fat frying. It fills me with terror: the smell, the waste of oil, the DANGER, the fat. These are all factors that I can put to the back of my mind when I just pick them up in the supermarket, all first-world consumer-like. But doing it myself? Absolutely not. That is what professionals/machines/deep-fat fryers are for.

So when my Mum showed me these doughnuts that were baked! In an oven! Well, I set about making them straight away.

Taken from Issue 59 of Easy Cook, makes 12.

Turn oven to fan 170c/conventional 190c (our fan oven has recently had a bit of a mental breakdown and is now sort of a hybrid of fan and conventional – if you have a similar problem, 180c is advisable).

 Grease a 12-hole muffin tin (not a bun tin – these are too shallow). Put 140g caster sugar, 200g plain flour and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and mix well.

 In a jug, whisk together 100ml natural yogurt, 2 large eggs and 1 tsp vanilla essence. Tip the jug contents and 140g melted butter into the dry ingredients then fold in with a wooden spoon to combine.

Divide two-thirds (or a bit less, as I struggled for enough mixture to put on top) of the mixture between the muffin holes. Put 1 tsp raspberry jam into the centre of each then cover with the remaining mixture.

Bake for 16 – 18 minutes or until risen, golden and springy to the touch. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before lifting out of the tin and rolling in extra caster sugar.

A bit of leakage...

But wipe it up and keep smiling (use a little less jam next time!)

These are amamamamzzzzing. So tender, so bun-like, so jammy, so light. AH, A DREAM. 

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