Gluten-Free Mini Ricotta Doughnuts with Bittersweet Chocolate and Salted Caramel Dipping Sauces
Resistance is futile. Even if you have the willpower to resist the doughnuts, the bittersweet chocolate and salted caramel will likely lure you in with their siren song. Although the doughnuts themselves are pretty spectacular… super moist, impossibly fluffy, with just the slightest hint of citrus. One plain, one with chocolate, one with caramel. Eat and repeat.
The recipes for the chocolate and caramel sauces make more than you’ll need for these doughnuts, so you’ll have plenty for a double batch. Or use any extra to top some ice cream. I’ll throw out another idea for any sauce leftovers tomorrow…
Gluten-Free Mini Ricotta Doughnuts with Bittersweet Chocolate and Salted Caramel Dipping Sauces
Yield: 16-24 doughnuts, depending on size
Ingredients:
Doughnuts:
* canola or vegetable oil for frying
* 1/2 cup superfine rice flour
* 1/4 cup potato starch
* 2 Tablespoons tapioca starch
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* 2 Tablespoons sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* powdered sugar
* bittersweet chocolate and salted caramel dipping sauces
Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce:
* 2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup heavy cream, heated on the stovetop or microwave until very warm
Salted Caramel Sauce:
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup water
* 3/4 cup heavy cream
* 2 Tablespoons butter
* 1 teaspoon sea salt
Directions:
Heat several inches of oil a small, heavy saucepan to 370 degrees.
While the oil is heating, combine the rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, baking powder, lemon zest and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and whisk until blended.
Working in small batches, drop heaping Tablespoons of batter into the hot oil, turning occasionally, until the exterior is golden and the insides are cooked, about 4 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
Lightly dust with powdered sugar and serve with bittersweet chocolate and salted caramel dipping sauces.
To make the chocolate sauce, place the chocolate chips in a microwave save bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals until soft. Stir until smooth. Whisk in the warm heavy cream until smooth.
To make the salted caramel sauce, combine the sugar and water in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil without stirring, washing down any crystals on the side of the pan with a wet silicone or pastry brush.
Boil until the syrup is a deep amber/caramel color. Remove the mixture from the heat and carefully whisk in the heavy cream (the mixture will bubble). Stir in the butter and salt.
Welcome! I'm Cate and Girl Cooks World is my recipe journal from my culinary trip around the world. 
Think I'll try this at a brunch coming up, it'd go beautifully with some luscious strawberries! How many does one batch yield?
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CATE — February 6th, 2012 @ 5:23 am
Oops- forgot to include that… it makes between 16-24, depending on how how large you chose to make them. My batch yielded about 18 and you can get a sense of the sizing from the photos since I used a standard ramekin.
I'm sure they'll be great with strawberries- yum!
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Yum! What a recipe. This looks soo good.
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Made these tonight, they were amazing!!!! Best doughnuts I've had, gluten or not! My guests were digging doughnut crumbs out of the bowl! Thank you!
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CATE — February 27th, 2012 @ 8:44 am
Nicoly- so glad you liked them! I was actually just thinking about making these again since I have a large container of ricotta in the fridge. But I'll need to invite some friends over so that I don't eat them all myself :)
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