Vanilla Bean Doughnuts with a Healthy Twist!

This post is a little late but on National Doughnut Day I figured that eating a doughnut was a must, right? Well awhile back I bought a doughnut pan because I thought for some reason I would be making doughnuts by the dozen. Except I didn't (no surprise) but that impulsive decision paid off when I wanted doughnuts to properly celebrate National Doughnut Day! Why haven't I heard of this day before? Doughnut anything and I'm pretty much on board!

So it was on to Pinterest to hunt down the perfect recipe. I didn't know what all I had on hand that would work so I figured it was best to stick to a simple and safe recipe. Which lead me to vanilla bean doughnuts with a glaze! Sounded good to me so I checked out the ingredients and wasn't 100% happy so I figured I would try a couple swaps to improve the "healthiness". This was partially due to the fact that I didn't have buttermilk on hand which I don't think I ever do unless I know it's absolutely necessary in a recipe I'll be making. Otherwise I can do without it and swap in almond milk. So these doughnuts aren't completely healthy but it was a doughnut holiday and we all deserve a treat every now and then, am I right??

Like I said they're not 100% healthy but I still enjoyed two without any guilt! After all it was Friday and I had worked hard all week so it was okay to give myself a small treat. Fridays are usually my treat days so these doughnuts fit in perfectly! I try to stick to about 80-20 in terms of clean eating and no longer have any problems with allowing myself something that isn't "healthy". It's all about moderation.

The healthy twist for this recipe was that I traded the buttermilk for almond milk and subbed 2/3 of the white sugar with stevia. I kept some of the white sugar to help with the baking. I was thinking of doing away with the butter and trying out greek yogurt but I really wanted doughnuts and wanted to make sure I would get this recipe right on the first try! Maybe in the future I'll work on tweaking it.

Okay here's what you'll need for the doughnuts: (makes 6)

1 cup unbleached flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp stevia

1 tsp baking powder

6 tbsp unsweetened almond milk

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 325 and grease the doughnut pan with non-stick spray

2. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon

3. Add the almond milk, butter, vanilla, and egg

4. Pour the batter into the pan. The recipe I found said to use a piping bag but nobody ain't got time for that so I just used a spoon and did my best to keep it tidy

5. Bake 8-11 minutes. For my oven I think I was closer to 11 minutes but that can vary between appliances. I had no idea what it meant for the dough to be "springy" but I quickly figured it out. When I first checked the doughnuts at around 8 minutes by gently poking one, it sunk in like a cave and just stayed there. After a couple minutes though when I poked it again, the dough didn't cave but reformed itself once my finger came away. If you can't tell already I'm not the most experienced baker so I like to share any little bits of information like this for anyone else who might be new too!

6. Allow the doughnuts to cool for a few minutes as you prepare the glaze.

So for the glaze:

1/3 cup + 2 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp almond milk

1/4 tsp cinnamon

- Mix together the ingredients. Start out with only 1/2 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of almond milk just so you don't make it too watery then add in however much you need to get the right consistency. The original recipe called for 1/2 cup powdered sugar and less extract but when I tasted it, it was like liquid sugar and wayyyy too sweet for my taste! It's totally fine if you can handle it but it was just too much for me. So I decreased it by a couple tablespoons, upped the extract, and added in a dash of cinnamon. For me it created more depth and didn't just taste like liquid powdered sugar. You might have to play around with it like I did to suit your own sweet tooth.

- Dip the doughnuts into the glaze and top with sprinkles!

Next time I make these I think I'll experiment with different toppings. I'm thinking about crushed candy bars, chocolate, nuts, or whatever I have on hand!

***Nutritional Information*** per doughnut with glaze
140 calories, 22g carbs, 3g protein, 0g fat

Recipe adapted from: Averie Cooks