Description
These Muffins That Taste Like Donuts are my interpretation of ‘those little donuts’, the ones you buy at Amusement Parks. Although mine aren’t deep-fried they are soft and cake-like, dipped in butter then rolled in cinnamon-sugar and they’re delicious.
These muffins remind me of the cake donuts my grandmother made when I was young. I remember watching her fry donuts in a cast iron pan on the stove in hot oil, something my mom never did. When all the big donuts were cooked she fried the little holes. Us kids each got a brown paper bag with some white sugar in the bottom. As she cooked the donut holes she transferred them to our bags and we would shake them in the sugar before eating them warm. It’s a great childhood memory of mine.
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Midway Food at The Calgary Stampede
Every July the world is invited to come to The Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth in Calgary, Alberta. It’s a western event with a rodeo and chuck wagon races, amazing entertainment and a midway, but for some people it’s all about the food. Each year they advertise their line up of weird and wonderful food and the idea is to out do the offerings from the previous year. From Cricket Pizza to Butter Beer Ice Cream you never know what you’ll see but you can be guaranteed there’ll be something outrageous. The more outrageous the better.
I think of summer as the season for amusement park food. Call it junk food or midway food but no matter what you call it people love it. There’s a lot of excitement around the idea of eating these treats. It’s partly nostalgia for the food you ate as a child and partly the anticipation of trying something you haven’t eaten since last year. Then there’s the atmosphere, walking around outside, eating food on a stick or in little bags.
Reinventing Amusement Park Food Gluten Free
Since much of amusement park food is off limits for people on a restricted diet it can be reinvented at home. Whether it’s an ongoing adventure trying different foods one at a time or an annual party with friends, you can think outside the box and do it your way. Here are three ideas to get you thinking.
- Deep-fry all your favourites and invite friends to share in the fun.
- Create an Amusement Park Food dinner party or (a Junk Food party) and have everyone bring one thing.
- Host a competition and challenge like-minded friends to create something new. Do this with as little as three food items and invite the others to fill in the menu with healthier fare (or not).
Get The Tools
All you need is a mini muffin tin to make these muffins. I haven’t bought one of those donut pans yet but if I had one I’d try it with this recipe.
- Mini size muffin tins
- Donut pan, mini 20-donut size or the larger 6-donut size
- Portion scoops, a set of 3-sizes or for this job the 1½ tablespoon size
Let me know in the comments below if you made these muffins, tried them in a donut pan or even deep-fried them.
More Recipes – Amusement Park Food
Ingredients
| 1⅓ cups GF flour (I used my EGFG flour blend) |
| ¾ cup sugar |
| 1 Tbsp cinnamon |
| 1½ tsp baking powder |
| ½ tsp baking soda |
| ¼ tsp xanthan gum |
| ¼ tsp salt |
| ⅛ tsp nutmeg |
| ¼ cup sour cream or yogurt (first amount) |
| ¼ cup butter, room temperature |
| 2 eggs |
| ½ cup sour cream or yogurt (second amount) |
| 1½ tsp vanilla |
| CINNAMON-SUGAR TOPPING |
| ¼ cup melted butter for dipping |
| ½ cup sugar |
| 2 tsp cinnamon |
Directions
- 1
- In the large bowl of an electric mixer combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt and nutmeg. Whisk the dry mixture until evenly combined.
- 2
- With electric mixer on low add the sour cream (first amount) and butter. Beat for 2 minutes.
- 3
- In another bowl combine eggs, sour cream (second amount) and vanilla. Add half the mixture to the large bowl and beat until mixed in. Add the remainder of the mixture then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- 4
- Grease mini-muffin tins or use paper liners. Using a small scoop fill muffin tins ½ to ¾ full. If they are too full they will rise over the top of the pan and break when you try to remove them.
- 5
- Bake in 350°F oven for 18 minutes, do not under cook.
- 6
- Cool on rack 5-10 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from the pan. Cool completely on baking racks before adding cinnamon-sugar topping.
- 7
- CINNAMON-SUGAR TOPPING
- 8
- Melt butter in small bowl. Set aside.
- 9
- In another bowl combine sugar and cinnamon. Divide the mixture into 2 bowls.
- 10
- Dip the top of each muffin into melted butter then into the cinnamon-sugar. When there are too many lumps of butter in the sugar change to the other bowl.
- 11
- Makes 48 mini muffins.
6 Comments
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I have made these a few times. I used dairy free sour cream. They are delicious!! Thank you for this recipe!
Hi Barbara! People appreciate knowing how recipes work if you substitute for dairy so thanks for letting me know. I made these more often when my son was young so they bring back memories. I’m glad your family enjoys them!
Love these! My family asked for ‘s’more please.’ I did find the full-size muffins easier (in parchment cups), but these will be morning treat in regular rotation here. Thanks so much 🙂
Hi Carol! I’m glad they turned out for you. I made the minis to be sort of like “those little donuts” you get at the Stampede but they taste just as good as full size. Sounds like you’re doing a good job baking. Thanks for letting me know!
They are excellent with 1/2 cup sorghum and almond meal
Thanks for sharing that Jen! There are so many different flour combinations it’s really nice to hear what you tried and how it turned out. Keep on baking!