Baked Doughnut Puffs

All the warm, cinnamon-sugar joy of a fresh doughnut, baked in a mini muffin pan instead of a vat of hot oil. These puffs come together fast from pantry staples: flour, sugar, shortening, an egg, milk, and a generous grating of nutmeg that gives them that unmistakable old-fashioned doughnut flavor.

Chopped walnuts folded into the stiff batter add crunch to every bite. Once they come out of the oven puffed and golden, each one gets dunked top-down in melted butter and shaken in a bag of cinnamon powdered sugar. That butter-then-sugar move is what makes the coating stick and gives these their signature sweet crust.

Work quickly with the coating step. The puffs need to be warm for the butter to grab and the sugar to cling.

Kitchen Tips

• Grease the muffin cups generously. The batter is stiff and sticky, and these will fight you if the pan isn’t well-greased.
• Don’t overfill the cups. One tablespoon per cup is plenty. They puff up significantly in the oven.
• Use freshly grated whole nutmeg if you can find it. The difference over pre-ground is huge in a recipe this simple.

Variations

• Skip the walnuts for a nut-free version, or swap in pecans for a Southern touch.
• Replace the powdered sugar coating with a simple vanilla glaze for a glazed doughnut effect.
• Add a pinch of cardamom to the batter alongside the nutmeg for a Scandinavian-inspired twist.