peach donuts

I’m generally not a doughnut person. I’m usually not a white chocolate person, either. And I don’t often eat peaches outside of a peach crisp (which is a huge travesty, I know, but it is what it is).

But after a loooooooong weekend of painting, toilet-fixing, painting, a few baking failures, painting, eye-twitching, painting, hair-pulling, painting, mind-losing, oh and painting*… all I wanted was a doughnut. With white chocolate. And peaches. And some toasted coconut for good measure**.

Peaches are popping up everywhere, and for good reason — they’re ridiculously delicious right now. They’re juicy, soft, sweet and just begging to be put in anything and everything. Of course, they’re tasty on their own, too, but when you’ve got a doughnut pan and a few free minutes on your hands, why not use them to make doughnuts? That’s a rhetorical question.

Life is more hectic and exciting right now than it has been in a long time. Everything is in transition — and I’m surprised by how (mostly) composed I am in the midst of it all. Perhaps it’s because as each day goes by, more picture frames go up on the walls and I use up more elbow grease in the kitchen, it starts to feel more and more like home. And if there are fresh buttermilk cake doughnuts, studded with peaches and topped with sweet white chocolate and nutty toasted coconut, to greet me for breakfast in the morning — well, I think I’ll stay.

*Seriously. Like 24 hours of painting. I never want to see a paintbrush again.

**And maybe a margarita.

Peach Cake Doughnuts with White Chocolate-Coconut Glaze
Adapted from this recipe

Yields: 6 doughnuts

Ingredients:
For the doughnuts —

1/4 cup unsweetened (or sweetened, though I prefer the former to cut down on the sweetness) coconut flakes
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup cake flour, sifted
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peeled and diced peaches

For the glaze —

1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, diced
1 teaspoon water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place coconut flakes on a baking sheet and bake 8-12 minutes, stirring once, until coconut is toasted. Remove from oven and set aside.

Increase oven heat to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter, buttermilk and egg. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in diced peaches.

Spoon batter into 6 lightly greased doughnut pan wells so they’re about two-thirds of the way full. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the tops of the doughnuts spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in pan for a minute or two, then turn out onto a cooling rack with wax paper underneath and cool completely.

To make the glaze: Microwave all glaze ingredients in a shallow bowl for 10 seconds at a time, stirring between, until melted. Dip cooled doughnuts into the glaze (or spoon it over the doughnuts) and return to cooling rack to dry. Top with toasted coconut.

Doughnuts are best served the day they are made.