Mozzarella Donuts

We were reminiscing the other day about going to the funfair. However, we decided that there was something very unfun about the ‘fun’ fair: the sugared donuts.

We made these mozzarella donuts to override this awful memory.

The savoury batter we’ve made is light and fluffy and flavoured with basil. Instead of jam or cream, which you could find in the traditional terrible donut, there is melted cheese which oozes out when you eat it.

Dare to be different with this different delicious donut!

Ingredients

225g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 nutmeg, grated

Black pepper

1 egg

125ml buttermilk (or milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice added)

2 tbsp melted butter

2 tbsp finely chopped basil

100g mozzarella cheese, 1 cm cubed

Oil, for frying

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Place the dry ingredients into a bowl (flour, baking powder, salt, pepper to taste and nutmeg) and stir.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg, buttermilk, melted butter and basil together until combined.

Pour this into the dry ingredients.

Now, beat together to form a smooth batter.

Grease and flour a muffin tin.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin.

Push 2 or 3 cubes of cheese into the batter. You want this to be in the middle so make sure it does not touch the bottom of the tin and is covered at the top.

Bake the donuts in the oven for 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, heat a pan with 1 inch of oil over a medium heat.

As soon as the donuts are out of the oven, fry them in the oil until golden for about 1 minute each side. (This step is completely optional but is key for a true donut taste!)

Drain on a paper towel. They should look like this: