When it comes to baking, I have my good days and my bad days. I knew I wanted to do a baked donut to follow up my previous post. After all, I did have a special donut pan just for such an occasion… a donut pan that I bought about a year ago and never used, mind you. Well, in the last two days that donut pan has seen a lot of activity. Yesterday I made the most putrid things. They looked okay, but they tasted kind of crap. I tried to pimp them up by dipping them in pink coloured white chocolate and topping them with sprinkles. I thought it would be cute with Valentine’s Day coming up. Sounds good right??? It wasn’t!!!! All I succeeded in doing was making something crap into something super crap! It was like putting lipstick on a pig. Sadly, despite my attempt to disguise Priscilla the piglet’s protruding snout with Chanel’s newest colour of the moment, the rich and handsome suitors failed to show up.
“I’m ready for the George Clooney make-out scene! Pucker up sucka!”
Oh my what a mess I made… I got little sprinkles all over the kitchen, in every nook and cranny, and even in between my toes. Something weird happened to the chocolate, it smelled yucky and the texture was kind of wrinkly and gross. It took me about an hour to clean the kitchen. There are few things I hate more than having to clean the kitchen in defeat, without any delicious baked goods to show for my effort.
This morning I started with a completely new recipe. Although these make some mighty pleasant donuts, the truth is that they really do not compare with the fried variety. As they are not bathed in deep fat goodness, they are more like cake, but in donut form. They are really cute, and as they come in at under 100 calories each, they aren’t going to break your diet, BUT… here’s the question: if they aren’t worth breaking your diet for, are they really worth eating? My thoughts on dieting is that the food you eat, when you are limiting yourself, must be extra special, that way you don’t feel like you are missing out even if you are eating less. Eating these, while they are perfectly lovely, would just make me think about how I miss the donuts from my beloved donut cart, n’est-ce pas?
That being said, why not make these your little kiddies? They won’t know any better 
. You can feed these cuties to them without feeling guilty about giving them something that is really unhealthy. While they are preoccupied with their treats, you can go out and buy the good stuff for yourself. If you end up going through the whole bag, well, the diet can start tomorrow. I won’t tell, I’m cool like that!
The following recipe has been slightly adapted from one that I found at Salad in a Jar.
Diet Friendly Donuts
Makes about 20 mini donuts
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
- 1/3 cup fat-free milk
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- a few drops of almond flavouring
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray donut pan with non stick cooking spray.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg together in a medium mixing bowl.
Whisk yogurt, milk, egg, oil and flavorings together in a separate small bowl. Combine all at once with dry ingredients and stir only until everything is moistened.
Spoon batter into pastry bag or quart-size zippered plastic bag. Seal. Snip small corner of plastic bag and force dough out of hole in a fat rope that encircles each doughnut cup. Fill only 1/2 to 3/4 full or you will lose the hole in the middle of your doughnut. Makes 12 donuts and possibly 3-4 “donut holes” in a mini cupcake pan. Bake for 9-10 minutes.
After removing from the oven, immediately flip pan and dump doughnuts out on a towel or rack. Allow to cool. Just before serving, put donuts in a plastic bag with about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Seal bag with doughnuts inside and shake to coat. Leftover donuts will absorb the sugar and need to be recoated if you want them to be white.
I really like the idea of yogurt in a donut. It just sounds like it would add an extra lightness. I wonder if one could use flavored yogurt? I like blueberry donuts, so blueberry yogurt and a blueberry glaze?
Hahah, Priscilla the Piglet is hilarious and -sorry- I had a big laugh imagining the apocalyptic donut scene in the kitchen! This kind of thing usually happens to me just before having guests coming over…
That said, the diet-friendly donuts look really fluffy and good
Oh, how could i missed 2 so important posts! What to do the site has been running extremely slow over here lately. Btw, these baked donuts sounds terrific for your diet. And the best thing was you can eat en extra 1 or 2 more. LOL!
) Oh yeah, they sounded awesome delicious too. Thanks so much for sharing it. Hope you’re enjoying your day with these little sweet donuts.
Cheers, Kristy
i’m pretty much torn on the subject (of indulging) too. usually i say if you’re gonna do it — do it right. might as well enjoy yourself. that said, your donuts look awesome. i’d be all over that!
I agree with your philosophy on food 100%. If you’re going to limit yourself, you’d better make the treats worth it!!!
Great idea for kids, though
As for sprinkles. I’m still finding little coloured pearls all over the kitchen/lounge/dining areas from my Christmas baking. The little critters are everywhere!!!! In fact, I think they’re having baby sprinkles, that can be the only explanation!
P.S. I have a stuffed toy piggy at home that Priscilla could cuddle up to!
Yup, if it ain’t full on, it ain’t worth breaking a diet over. lol These look good though, I wonder if Toot would like these? Hmmm…
You’re as funny as I am peeved at the culinary boutique that ended up ordering me a ’savarin’ pan as opposed to the donut pan I had ordered a few weeks ago. I still am without pan in hand to try making your donuts or any other for that matter. I’ve got Hubby huffing and puffing because I promised him a substitute to your donut cart goodies. As you can imagine…I’m losing the battle up to now.
I realize you’re not tickled pigglet with your first baked donut trys…but please keep at it until you’re thrilled with the results…more baked goodies please ;o)
Ciao for now,
Claudia
I agree with you. I’d rather have one sublime dessert a week than eat “diet-friendly” desserts at every meal. (Of course in an ideal world it would be sublime treats three times a day.)
Happy Thursday!
This is exactly the type of recipe I need!
They look and sound wonderful… can’t wait to try these.
How can somethin’ with a big old hole in the middle not be diet friendly??? I mean….it’s empty…air….zero calories! Heeehehehe!!!
The recipe sounds like a great treat to make when the grandkiddos are here. Thanks sweetie, I’m always lookin’ for another great project for ‘em. Ya gotta keep sixteen hands very busy!
)
God bless ya and have a fantastic day!!!!
Oh these are totally worth it! I didn’t know there was such a thing as diet donut. I like the technique of baking them. Although I must admit nothing will replace the traditional fried ones.
Ha ha! I had to comment here because with almost two months of cassoulet and confit and now my 25 egg, heavy cream laden entremet, that’s me! lol Even though I’m not a huge donut fan, these do look and sound intriguing, and I do need to satisy my sweet tooth minus 25 eggs, heavy cream and chocolate. Wonderful write up as always, my dear HH
I love donuts! My dad got me a donut maker for Christmas and I made these cute lil donuts with it: http://thescenefromme.com/2011/01/08/not-a-donut-dilemma/
When I read the subject, I was thinking …how can a diet-friendly donut be good? But under you, magic happens.
Oh you poor thing, cleaning the kitchen for a baking failure is the worst part of the defeat, I feel your pain, and the sprinkles everywhere…….so been there. Diet donuts are just not for me, but I can see above that all types of diet sites are linking back to you, it seems you have a new calling as a diet guru, who could have imagined
You crack me up! Yogurt in a donut recipe, interesting