Champagne Vanilla Donuts

I’ve been thinking about baking with champagne for awhile, something about the fizz and the association with celebrations and glamour make me want to put all those feelings in a baked good.

Then today when I started thinking about how National Donut Day is tomorrow, it hit me.  Kind of how champagne does;)  Champagne donuts were the answer to my pondering.

Donuts and champagne are in a way, the perfect pairing.  You only need one hand to consume both and you can dress up donuts however you want, kind of how champagne can dress up any occasion.

I decided to dress up these donuts in both rainbow sprinkles and coconut, but if i had some edible gold leaf you can bet your life I would have used that!

Best part?  These came together in probably an hour.  From first whisk to final glaze.

Donut Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups cake flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/4 cup salted butter, melted
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup champagne (no need for Moet, I used Veuve Ambal which is under $20 at the LCBO)
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla

For glaze:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp champagne
• Any topping you like

Steps

Preheat oven to 425F and grease donut tin with butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together butter and sugar until smooth and combined. In a separate, small bowl, whisk together milk,  champagne, egg and vanilla.

Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Add the milk mixture and mix until combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix, careful not to overblend.

Spoon or use a piping bag to pipe batter into donut pan until 1/2-3/4 full, bake for 7-8 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool.

For the glaze, whisk together sugar, milk, vanilla and champagne until combined. Adjust proportion to taste if needed.

Dip donut in glaze and move around to cover sides.  Allow to set on a rack with parchment paper underneath (or anything to catch dripping glaze).  Sprinkle on coconut, sprinkles, or any other festive topping you can think of!