Feel Good Donuts: Chocolate & Cinnamon

What we're gonna do right here is go back

My chocolate baked donuts are my pride and joy. Here they are from a mini-cupcake pan with a light glaze.

The first chocolate baked munchkins

When I was eight, I cut an ad out of the Sunday paper for a baked donut pan. I didn't know how to order things, but it stayed taped on the kitchen wall for a year or two. Twelve years later I finally got one from Amazon and felt complete.

I baked a bunch of chocolate and cinnamon donuts, and brought them to nearby bakeries to sell. Unfortunately, I probably couldn't have picked a worse time to go (5pm Friday?) and no managers were in all 3 or so that I visited. I dropped off a bag of donuts at Hot Breads, an Indian bakery chain that specializes in eggless cakes, but shamefully carries donuts that are egg-full. The manager called me up very impressed, and wanted to start off with a "small order" of 50 for Tuesday morning.

Only having 2 half-dozen trays and a small oven, it took me about three hours that morning, after preparing all the dough the night before. Thankfully I did not have to glaze or finish them, just come in with a whole lotta naked donuts. Unfortunately, I don't think the icing Hot Breads used was vegan, as they really were just into the whole eggless thing, so I didn't try their final result, but my family swore they were as good as they looked.

So beautiful, I might cry.

Normally I toss my "plain" (nutmeg) cake donut in cinnamon and it's wonderful. I think it's odd to ice it, but if they want to pay me I can't complain.

Christmas? In June? Fine by me.

Sadly, I could not mass produce these babies for the small cents like they wanted, and told me they would call again in the future, after really promoting their new product. I wouldn't have been able to keep up with them anyway, if they ever needed more than a small order of 50. But, thanks to this experience, I can refer to myself as a professional baker without having to cross my fingers behind my back, and that is worth a lot to me.