Doughn't Care

It all started off with an innocent enough question: "Should I make doughnuts again?"

And ended like this:

That's right.  Salted Speculoos donuts.

Speculoos cookie butter is a spread made from Speculoos cookies popular in Europe, now available Trader Joe's.  Spicy, rich, and ingrained with crunchy sugar crystals, it tastes like creamed gingerbread and has the texture of Nutella.  I decided to incorporate a few tablespoons of the good stuff into both the dough and the sea salt ganache glaze.

The beta test involved a quick dip in equal parts melted Speculoos and butter, followed by a cinnamon sugar coating.  I now regret making so many of this version because they quickly become stale.

The varsity squad got a rich ganache glaze followed by stripes of piped Speculoos and Maldon sea salt.  And yes, that is an Instagram photo, but I can proudly inform you that there was #nofilter.

Food photography is a funny thing.  The best photos depict scattered ingredients: smears of butter or chocolate on a cutting board, trails of crumbs on the counter, and upended jars of spices.  What's also involved (although not pictured) is cleaning up the mess you made simply for the sake of a photo.  So please excuse my lack of food styling, it's enough that I have to scrub the kitchen once.

I had originally planned to halve the recipe, since it makes entirely too much for two girls and one small apartment (no such thing), but I'm just not the kind of person who does anything by halves.  Especially when "half" involves math and dividing 1-1/3 cups of flour.

A final note: these little guys are baked instead of fried.  Not because I am oil shy--in fact, serve me some duck fat fries, stat--but rather because I've avoided grease ever since Onionstrings-gate 2010, which left my apartment, hair, and clothes smelling like McDonalds for days.

Which is fine.  If that's what you're into.