Lime Poppy Seed Baked Doughnuts

I'm still trying to decide whether I spell it "donut" or "doughnut"? I'll go with "doughnuts". "Donut" looks like it should read "do not", and we all know that "do not" does not describe what we should be doing with donuts. 

I honestly can't remember when I was last fortunate enough to shove a fried, glaze and sprinkled covered, perfectly warm and crispy doughnut into my face.  I've been okay with this absence of fried doughnuts in my life until I came across this. I want to make that and slowly eat it alone. Just me and the "à la Mode" doughnut. It's that simple phrase "à la Mode" that gets me. There is no messing around when we start putting ice cream on food just for the heck of it. This is serious stuff. Everything good in life comes "à la Mode" and that is a fact. 

After I made these baked doughnuts this winter, I felt like I reached the pinnacle of my life. Surely there cannot be anything as good as warm, cinnamon covered baked doughnuts waiting for me in the future...until I made lime poppy seed baked doughnuts. Turns out, it was not a pinnacle I had reached after making my first batch of baked doughnuts; rather a plateau on which I will be on as long as baked doughnuts are in my life. 

Baked doughnuts are my MO. And these lime poppy seed donuts are my summer MO.

Straight from the oven, the doughnut has a subtle crispiness on the outside but the inside is incredibly moist. This moistness must be a product of the sour cream in the batter. Oh, thank the good Lord above for sour cream; it makes everything moist. Then I dipped it thrice into the tart and extremely flavorful lime glaze, which has grated lime zest and lime juice. Yes. Before eating, and this is crucial, I let the glaze harden slightly so as to make the doughnut have that perfect layer of crunchy glaze, but not letting it cool too much, so the doughnut is still warm. I have this down to a science because, obviously, I take my doughnuts seriously. The doughnuts don't have that much coconut flavor, regardless of the coconut milk in the batter. Next time I might put some shredded coconut either in the batter or on top of the doughnut to give them a little bite of coconut. And then there are the poppy seeds. Some people might not think they have a flavor, but every time I eat poppy seeds I always notice a slight nutty flavor. Maybe it's me trying to make something out of nothing, but I think that the poppy seeds add a litte more than appearance to desserts, and I love it. 

I am smitten with these doughnuts, as you have probably already realized. I could keep going on about them too, but I will contain myself. These doughnuts are light, moist, and are bursting with lime flavor. They make me feel happy about life. Nothing can go wrong with these in hand, or better yet, in your stomach.

Lime Poppy Seed Baked Doughnuts:

From: Steph's Bite by Bite

Ingredients for Doughnuts:

- 1/2 cup light coconut milk- 3 tablespoons light sour cream
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- zest of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds

For the icing:
- Zest of 1 lime
- Juice of 2 limes
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 350. Spray doughnut pan with cooking spray, set aside.

2. In small bowl, whisk together coconut milk and sour cream and set aside. In a separate small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

3. In bowl of stand mixer, beat sugar and butter until pale and fluffy. 

4. Add in egg, lime zest, and poppy seeds and beat for 1 minute.

5. Add in third of flour mixture, then half of milk mixture, beating batter after each addition. Repeat this until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not overmix.

6. Spoon batter into prepared doughnut pan, filling about 3/4 full.Bake for 11-13 minutes, until doughnuts are light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before moving doughnuts to cooling rack.

Icing:

1. Combine all ingredients in medium bowl and whisk until smooth. If icing is too thick, add more milk, but you want it to be slightly thick so it sticks to the doughnuts.

2. While doughnuts are still warm, dunk tops of them in glaze, let excessive drip off, and then transfer doughnuts back to cooling rack. Let glaze harden slightly before dunking them again. 

**You can let the doughnuts cool completely before dunking. Actually, people might say you have to let them cool, but not me. Oh, no. Don't tell me to eat my doughnuts cold. That might make the icing stay on the doughnuts better, but I gotta eat my doughnuts warm if not piping hot. I've never seen a doughnut sign say "COLD NOW". Yeah, I skip the cooling phase and just go for it.