This weekend I was delighted when my friend passed on this recipe for baked apple doughnuts. Baking not only saves the hassle of hot oil, it lightens up the fat content as well (taking away about 30 calories per mini doughnut). Plus, the cute mini size is the perfect portion for a sweet snack without over-indulging. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
For topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Variation: Substitute canned pumpkin puree for the applesauce for an equally delicious fall treat
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Beat everything except the flour together until smooth. Add flour and stir until just mixed. Lightly grease two standard doughnut pans. Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about three-fourths full, using a scant one-fourth cup of batter in each well; a tablespoon cookie scoop helps with this task.
Bake the doughnuts for 12 to 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the doughnuts from the oven and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges and transfer them to a cooling rack. While the doughnuts are still warm but no longer fragile, gently shake them in a bag with cinnamon-sugar.
Yields 24 mini donuts
Original recipe courtesy of King Arthur Flour.
Doughnut Craving
So … I had a craving for doughnuts this afternoon, but didn’t really know how to satisfy it. It made me wish I was in Seattle, where it seemed there were doughnut and coffee shops on every corner. When visiting Seattle about a month ago, I discovered Top Pot Doughnuts, a delightful doughnut and coffee shop that I also heard supplies its doughnuts to Seattle-area Starbucks.
I had the Cinnamon/Sugar doughnut and a soy latte and my boyfriend had the Chocolate Peanut with a coffee, but of course I tried his doughnut, too – both were delish! I could really go for a Chocolate Peanut doughnut right about now.
Anyone have any doughnut suggestions in the Sacramento area? Oh yeah – be sure to check back tomorrow, Sacfoodies has some big news to share!