Baked Spice Doughnuts

I’m about to say something potentially shocking: I’m not generally a huge doughnut fan. On the sweets spectrum, they’re just not as irresistible or appealing to me as other things (like cheesecake or ice cream or pie or…mm, better stop before my drool shorts my keyboard). I certainly don’t dislike them, but when someone brings doughnuts into work, I can usually pass on them without having to use too much willpower. These doughnuts, however, I like. A lot. I think part of it is that they are not overly sweet or rich. The subtle taste of the pumpkin pie spice and the sprinkling of powdered sugar offer just the right amount of flavor. I’ve seen a few recipes online recently for baked doughnuts and I was intrigued enough to order a doughnut pan from Amazon. I’m really happy I did because I think they turned out delicious baked. They were just the slightest bit crispy on the outside, which made the texture a bit reminiscent of a fried doughnut without the heaviness/greasiness that the frying can give them. These are great because they taste healthy (especially when you’re comparing them to traditional doughnuts) but also taste like you’re treating yourself – it’s the best of both worlds! I will definitely make these again and I’m looking forward to trying out some other baked doughnut recipes soon!

Baked Spice Doughnuts

Yield: 6 doughnuts

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour (I used white whole wheat flour because I had it on hand, but you can use all-purpose white if you prefer)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• ¼ cup skim milk
• ¼ cup nonfat Greek yogurt (I used Fage 0%)
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly spray a doughnut pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients except the powdered sugar (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and pumpkin pie spice). Add the cold butter and combine using your hands, breaking up the chunks of butter with your fingers until there are no large visible chunks and the mixture feels like sand. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, beat the egg and then add the Greek yogurt. In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer and then pour it into the bowl with the egg and yogurt. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Put dough into a pastry bag or plastic bag with the tip cut off and pipe into the prepared doughnut pan. Bake for 13-15 minutes.
4. When doughnuts are baked, remove from pan and place on a clean surface (I put mine on wax or parchment paper for easy clean up) and sift powdered sugar over the top using a mesh strainer. If you want to coat the entire doughnut in powdered sugar, you can do so for the same P+ value (I entered everything from 1T to 1/3 c into the recipe builder and each doughnut had the same value regardless).

MyWW SmartPoints per (1 doughnut) serving: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

Green: 8 SmartPoints/ Blue: 7 SmartPoints/ Purple: 7 SmartPoints

Weight Watchers Points Plus:
5 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

NUTRITION INFORMATION:
228 calories, 42 g carbs, 25 g sugar, 5 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 5 g protein, 1 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)

adapted from Eat, Live, Run