Baked Saffron & Rosewater Donuts

I’ve been loving making baked donuts these days using a silicone donut pan! They have more of a cake-like texture than fried donuts and are a little less sweet. For this recipe, I was inspired by the Persian flavors of saffron & rose. They are exotic and romantic and perfect for a Valentine’s Day treat. Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

For The Donuts:

1 teaspoon saffron threads
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon pure edible rosewater
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch of salt

For the Icing:

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon pure edible rosewater
1 drop natural red food coloring (opitional)

For Garnish:

Edible dried rose petals

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a small saucepan on medium heat, warm the buttermilk and add saffron threads. Stir until milk turns a bright yellow color. Remove from heat and place in a bowl until it cools to room temperature. While waiting for the milk to reach room temp, in a separate bowl, mix sugar and butter and stir until smooth. Add eggs, rosewater and vanilla and mix well. Mix dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Once saffron buttermilk has cooled, add in milk and flour alternating in small parts and folding in until everything is mixed together well.

In a piping bag or large Ziplock bag with a hole cut in the corner, pipe mixture into wells in the silicone mold. Fill up each about halfway. Bake for approximately 10 minutes until fully cooked through. Use a toothpick to test the center of one of the donuts. If it comes out clean, the donuts are ready.

Remove donuts from silicone mold carefully and place on a wire baking rack to cool. While donuts are cooling, make the icing by mixing together all ingredients: butter, confectioners sugar, rosewater and coloring. Once donuts have fully cooled, dip each one in the icing in a swirling motion. Then dip a corner of each donut in dried rose petals.

Let the icing set and serve donuts. They can be kept for up to 5 days in an airtight container on the counter. Enjoy!