Makes 24 mini donuts. Who doesn’t like donuts, especially when you have stacks of mini, bite-size donuts! When my mom was growing up and donut franchises were not so common, she cut canned biscuits into ring shapes and then fried them into tiny donuts to be glazed with a sugary coating or just tossed in a cinnamon and sugar mixture. My recipe takes a healthy twist by baking the donuts and incorporating vegetables into the batter.
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground allspice
⅓ cup canola oil
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¾ cup sweet potato, acorn squash, or pumpkin puree
¼ cup nonfat milk
¼ cup vanilla yogurt
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup pure cane sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a nonstick mini donut pan with cooking spray.
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, ½ teaspoon of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice into a bowl.
In a large bowl whisk together the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, sweet potato puree, milk, and yogurt until smooth. Stir the flour mixture into the sweet potato mixture until just combined.
Spoon the batter into a gallon-size zip-top freezer bag and seal the bag. Snip off a ½-inch tip from a bottom corner of the bag.
Squeeze the bag to pipe the batter into each section of the donut pan. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Transfer the donuts to a baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Let the baked donuts cool for a few minutes.
Melt the butter in a small bowl. Combine the sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a zip-top plastic bag.
Dip the slightly warm donuts in the melted butter and toss them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Serve immediately.
Makes 24 mini donuts.