This recipe is my mom's fault. Okay, maybe not "fault" because who would want to blame someone for inspiring powdered sugar doughnut-muffins? Anyway, she was watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Snack Attack" on The Food Network and someone mentioned Doughnut-Muffins. That's right. Muffins that taste like doughnuts. My mouth was already watering when she said, "You should make a gluten-free version."

Since I try to be a good daughter, I listened to my mom. The doughnut-muffins from The Downtown Bakery (the bakery that serves the gluten-filled doughnut-muffins) are rolled in melted butter and then in cinnamon-sugar. While that sounds divine, I love powdered sugar doughnuts and wanted to try making a doughnut-muffin version.

Taking a cue from Mexican wedding cookies, I rolled the muffins in powdered sugar right after they came out of the oven. It worked! The sugar stuck to the warm muffins. 

The muffins have a bit of crust that gives way to a tender interior. The next time I make them, I think I'll fill them (after baking) with a little jam. Jelly Doughnut-Muffins, anyone?

Dry Ingredients

3/4 cup white rice flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup sweet rice flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking power

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (If you'd like cinnamon-sugar muffins, add 1/2

teaspoon ground cinnamon to the recipe.)

Wet Ingredients

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil.)

1 large egg

For Rolling 

1 pound powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a min-muffin pan (24 cavity) with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
3. Add the wet ingredients. Whisk to combine. The batter will be very, very, very thin. I just use a large fork to whisk it together. There really is no need to dirty your electric mixer for this recipe. 
4. Fill muffin cups about 1/2 full. 
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden brown. 
6. While muffins are baking, fill a 8x8x2-inch cake pan with powdered sugar. 
7. Remove muffins from the oven and place directly into the powdered sugar. The steam from the hot muffins will make the sugar stick to the muffins. 
8. Cover the muffins in powdered sugar and allow to cool. 
9. Remove muffins from the sugar and tap off any excess sugar. 

Makes 24 mini-muffins