Baked Lemon Doughnuts

The kids love it when I make doughnuts and beg me to make them more often.  But washing out the dozen or so wells in my pans was always so time consuming, doughnuts were relegated to a special treat in the fall!   So you can imagine my excitement when USA PAN came out with their doughnut pan!   I was able to try it for the first time the other day.  My daughter wanted to get up early and bake something with me, so I thought we'd break it in with this recipe.  She's a girl after my own heart, with her love of lemon.  The doughnuts were delicious!  Very lemony!  And the pan?  Surprise, surprise, it worked amazingly well.  The doughnuts popped right out and the pan looked like new!

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup buttermilk

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Lightly coat 2 doughnut pans with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter, oil, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla, and lemon zest.  Mix well, then add the eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl between additions.  Stir in half the flour, followed by half the buttermilk, then the remaining flour and finally the remaining buttermilk.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, filling the doughnut wells to about 1/4-inch from the top.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.  Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.  To make the glaze, stir together the lemon juice and powdered sugar.  Dip the tops of the doughnuts in the glaze.  12 doughnuts