You can bake this batter in standard doughnut pans or mini doughnut pans, and you can easily tweak the vanilla batter to create different flavors.

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 6 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 Tbs. vegetable oil (or other neutral oil)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 packed cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla bean paste
• 12-1/2 oz. (2-3/4 cups) all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature

Directions

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease the cavities of two standard doughnut pans with nonstick spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a hand-held electric mixer), cream the butter, oil, and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed to combine. Mix in the vanilla, and scrape the bowl well.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add half of the milk, and mix to combine. Repeat, adding the remaining flour until incorporated, then the remaining milk until the batter is smooth.
4. Transfer the batter to a pastry bag or heavy-duty ziptop bag with a corner cut off. Carefully pipe batter into each cavity of the prepared pans, filling each cavity to just under the top rim. (You can also carefully spoon the batter into the cavities instead.)
5. Bake the doughnuts until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 7 to 8 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn onto a cooling rack.
6. Finish the doughnuts with any topping, such as confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon-sugar, vanilla glaze, or caramel glaze.