Mini Fennel-Spiced Doughnuts

I was planning on these being a post for my Magazine Mondays link-up, however as I've realised it's National Doughnut week, It's actually much more suited to post now! 

These fennel-spiced doughnuts originally were inspired by the sweet puris made in Punjab, as stated in my Sainsbury's magazine (March 2016). I found the recipe in there and thought how different it was to spice doughnuts with fennel, something we haven't much considered here in the Western world. 

This simple and painstakingly easy recipe was written by TV chef Anjum Anand. I honestly cannot convey how easy they are to make. Usually you think words like 'complicated', 'fiddly', 'time-consuming' when you think of making doughnuts. However, I literally started preparing it and 20 minutes later I was finished and sat eating them on the sofa with my husband (yes, we ate them all!)

I reckon this is a really good recipe to adapt, so I may be back at some point with my own adaptation! 

Makes 16 (although I made less as it depends on how big you make them)

Ingredients

100g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp fennel seeds, coarsely ground 

4 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp ground almonds

Sunflower oil (the recipe stated vegetable but I prefer sunflower)

6 tbsp milk or water (try to use milk if you can)

Method

1. In a pestle and mortar, grind the fennel seeds if you haven't already. In a bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients.

2. In a deep, wide pan, heat 3cm of oil to 180 degrees. I'd recommend using a kitchen thermometer. 

3. Once hot, add the milk to the dry ingredients and mix well. The batter will appear very thick - this is normal.

4. With a teaspoon, spoon in little mounds of batter into the oil and fry whilst turning them, for about 3 minutes. Watch they don't burn as they can turn very quick - some of mine did!

5. Drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Sprinkle with extra caster sugar if you so wish. Enjoy whilst hot/warm!

Happy National Doughnut week everyone! Hope you enjoy these! With regards to adapting, what do you all think about putting chocolate chips in with the batter? Let me know!