Baked Cinnamon Carrot Donuts: Carrots Blog With Friends

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends themed collaborations. Each month a group of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about his partnership is that it's not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may a recipe, sewing tutorial, crocheting, crafts project, book review, and/or technology post all related to the theme of the month.

This month's theme is Carrots.

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here's a peek at what we all came up with:

I made Baked Cinnamon Carrot Donuts.

Baked Cinnamon Carrot Donuts

Carrots? Yay! My time has come! 

Since I add recipes to most all of my posts, when it comes to these monthly Blog With Friends theme based posts, I've often had to interpret the theme loosely. Often very, very loosely.

But carrots? OK, this is going to be the easiest theme yet.

Or . . . not so much.

See, I've featured carrot recipes on this blog, bunches (so to speak) of times. Pretty much in every way:

With an appetizer: Red Pepper and Spinach Hummus
In soup: Kielbasa Soup, Crockpot or Not
In salad: Layered Thai Shrimp Salad
In a main dish: Shrimp Pot Pie
In a side dish: Pralined Snap Peas and Carrots
In bread: Simple Carrot Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting
In cookies: Cinnamon Toffee Carrot Cookies
And, of course, in cake: Carrot Cake

Jeez? What's left? 

Sometimes inspiration comes with a bit of luck and a touch of necessity. As it happens, I was pondering this in the morning, coffee was brewing, Hubs was scrounging for something to eat and College Boy was walking in the door. That's how it came to me. Donuts.

I quickly put together a recipe in my head based on a basic baked donut recipe, what ingredients I had on hand, and what would go with carrots. 

I started by finely chopping the carrots in my food processor and the cinnamon baking chips in a clean coffee grinder. If you don't have cinnamon baking chips, you should look for them wherever you go shopping, I love them, but for this recipe you can just increase the cinnamon in the dough.

This is an easy recipe. Mix the dry ingredients, whisk the wet, mix them together briefly, 

fill the pans 

and bake.

I could have chosen any topping for these, something with cream cheese would go beautifully, but I chose a simple cinnamon sugar topping, and I'm glad I did. 

Breakfast is served:

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:

Tamara of Part-time working Hockey Mom shares Carrot Muffins. 

 






Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares her recipe for Apple Carrot Salad. 


 




Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Make Your Own Scavenger Hunt. 

 





Melissa of My Heartfelt Sentiments shares Spreading Easter Joy. 

 






P. J. of A 'lil HooHaa shares Carrots from the Eyes of a Mischievous Youngster.

 

Baked Cinnamon Carrot Donuts

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (makes 12 donuts):
1/4 cup cinnamon baking chips, finely ground (I use a clean coffee grinder), if you cannot find cinnamon baking chips, see note in the directions below
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup finely chopped carrots 
1/4 cup milk
3 TBSP butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 egg

6 TBSP butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
*NOTE: If you cannot find cinnamon baking chips, you can omit but increase the cinnamon in the batter recipe to 1 tsp.
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12 donut pan cups.
*Mix together the flour, 2/3 cup sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or 1 tsp if not using baking chips) and the ground cinnamon baking chips.
*Whisk together the milk and egg. Add to the flour mixture, along with the carrots and melted butter and mix just until incorporated.
*Spoon evenly into the prepared donut pans. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the center springs back to the touch and the tops start to brown. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing.
*Mix together the 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon on a plate. Melt the remaining butter in a bowl. Dip the donut tops first in the butter, then in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Allow to set, dipped side up.