Last week, after our initial foray into roasted doughnuts and our doughnut biscotti discovery, I chose to roast glazed doughnuts. I was not planning on making biscotti again; rather, I wanted a more complex caramelized doughnut flavor for another version of our doughnut and white chocolate puree. When I roasted my torn-apart pieces of glazed doughnuts, I noticed that the pieces with glaze still on them caramelized beautifully and developed a sugary crackling crust. The doughnut pieces without glaze were more like our roasted doughnuts. When I ate the roasted glazed doughnuts, I smiled. I was onto something. But these torn-apart pieces of half-glazed roasted doughnuts were not ready to be served. They were headed for version 2 of our doughnut puree. But when I came in the next morning, they were gone. A series of misunderstandings led them to be served at a charity event. That will teach me to leave things out on my speed rack when there’s a party going on.
I reflected on these missteps and inspirations. Roasted glazed doughnuts benefit from being evenly coated in glaze before baking so that a sugary crust forms across the entire surface. This past weekend we did not sell out (a horrible event, but one that inspires interesting uses for leftover doughnuts). I took the extra doughnuts and cut them into quarters. I gently tossed them in a container to begin the re-glazing process. I refrigerated the doughnuts for a few days. When I was ready to roast them, I tossed them again in glaze and evenly coated the doughnut pieces. I arranged the pieces on a parchment-lined sheet pan and cooked them for 30 minutes at 300°F, then turned the heat down to 250°F and cooked them for another 30 minutes. The doughnuts developed the crackling, caramelized crust that I had witnessed from my earlier exploits. This time it evenly coated each piece. Once cool, the pieces were crispy, sweet, rich, and decadent. They are delicious on their own and, boy, are they fun dunked in coffee or cold milk. Our doughnut dunkers have been born. Look for them this weekend at Curiosity Doughnuts.
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