m&m Doughnuts (baked, not fried)

    I knew someone once who refused to eat the blue m&ms. The artificiality of the blue, apparently, outshone the dubiously more natural shades of green, yellow, and red. This was fine by me, as I would eat up the pool of blue m&ms they left at the bottom of the bag. As a child, I did wonder if any side effects might eventually show themselves, à la Violet Beaureguarde, perhaps. But I seem alright so far. And as is apparent, I unabashedly threw m&ms of every color into these doughnuts.

      Let me say right off the bat: I would not put these in the same category as fried doughnuts. They are their own foodstuff, closer to a sweet yeasted bun. Originally, I intended to make these for the office. I wanted to bake them the night before and bring them the next day. And I thought bringing crispless, day-old fried doughnuts would not quite cut it, so I sought out a baked recipe. As it turned out, I didn't quite get around to making them until the weekend. More for me I suppose! (The office got muffins instead.)

    My other reason for making these doughnuts stems from a preference for yeast-raised, rather than cake, doughnuts. This means that the preparation time is somewhat more involved than your average doughnut recipe, but it makes for a bite of dense, sweet dough, accented with crisp pieces of m&m chips. I began with a basic baked doughnut recipe, tweaking ingredients and steps to make a rather healthy, straightforward base. I then nipped this nutritious trend by kneading crushed m&m pieces into the dough.

These would be lovely with a chocolate or powdered sugar icing, but I left mine unglazed.They're also very good toasted and, if you've into a sweet-salty combination, with melted cheese. 
Adapted from Baking Me Hungry's Baked Raised Doughnuts

m&m Doughnuts, baked not fried

Ingredients:
1 cup milk (I used soy)
1 package or 1 TBSP active dry yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 TBSP oil
1/3 cup m&m candies, crushed

Directions:
--Heat  milk to wrist temperature. Pour over yeast and sprinkle of sugar. Let sit until proofed, about ten minutes.
--Mix together rest of sugar, flour and salt. Add yeast mixture, vanilla and oil and stir until dough begins to form. Add m&ms and knead until dough is smooth, about ten minutes. Cover and let rise 2 hours or so.
--Flour a cutting board or flat surface. Divide dough into pieces that fit into your palm; mine made 14 mini doughnuts. Roll between your palms to make smooth balls of dough. Poke a hole into the center of the doughnuts. Let rise on floured surface while the oven heats.
--Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two sheets with parchment paper or foil. Place doughnuts on sheets and cook ten minutes. Remove from oven; eat warm or toasted.