I am a liar. I decided to make baked donuts. (You knew I was going to do that, didn't you?) I did it last year, and if I remember correctly, I was not 100% thrilled with it. So what did I do? What I always do when I have a question. I went to Google University. There seems to be a basic "vegan healthy doughnut recipe" (uh, is that an oxymoron to say doughnut and healthy in the same title?). I don't know why I do this. I find several recipes that have slight variations, and I print them all out. To make sure that I don't have the same one as last year, I look it up in my cookbook. Ha! The note on that recipe says they are awesome! yay! Oops. Going to try a new one anyway. So I compared them all and narrowed it down to this one, Better For You Baked Donuts. I did make some changes. Stop laughing! I can't try a new recipe exactly the way it is written!
Here is my version of it:
- 2 packages dry yeast
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 1 tsp flour
- 1/3 c warm water
- 1/4 c Xylitol *
- 2 tsp salt
- (The recipe called for 2 tsp nutmeg. I don't like nutmeg; I left it out.)
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 4 1/2 c white whole wheat flour, divided (I ended up using more. I added about another cup of white flour)
- 1/3 c coconut oil, melted
- 1 1/2 c warm almond milk (or whatever you want to use instead)
- whatever topping you want or filling (find your own recipe; I don't measure when I make icing)
- Proof the yeast (That means you need to put the yeast, sugar, and flour into a bowl. add very warm water, around 105-115 degrees; use a thermometer if you can't tell by touch. Let it sit for a few minutes, about five, while you are busy with the next step.)
- Combine 2 c flour with the other dry ingredients, set aside.
- Melt coconut oil in microwave. Warm the almond milk also. (You can try to do both at the same time, but I didn't want the milk hot enough to melt the coconut oil, which is why I did it like that.)
- Add the melted coconut oil and almond milk to the yeast. Add the flour and dry ingredients. Mix this up real well. (I used a bowl and a fork; not a mixer like the original recipe called for.) Slowly add the remaining 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups flour. You want a smooth dough that has no lumps. If you add the extra flour, and it is still sticky, pour a little oil on the counter, and rub the dough in it on all sides. Viola! You should be able to knead it nicely for a minute or two until smooth.
- Put into an oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel (I soak mine in hot water and wring it real well), and put in a nice, warm spot. Mine sat right next to the stove while I was cooking dinner. Let rise until double in size, about an hour. (If your kitchen is really warm, it may take less time.)
- Punch it down, and divide it into a few workable pieces. I divided mine into four parts. Dust your counter really well with flour. I love this doo-hicky for that.
- Flatten your piece of dough until it is smooth and about a half inch thick. I keep flipping it to cover it with flour, but you don't want too much, or you will get dry donuts. Use whatever shape you want and cut out your donuts. I used a few chanukah cookie cutters.
- Put your donuts on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Let rise about 20 minutes. They don't spread, so you can put them sorta close together. They rise up, so don't put them so they touch.
- Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. You want them to be slightly golden brown at the edges. The original recipe called for 450, but those donuts cooked in like 4 minutes and didn't have time to rise too much. Your own oven temperature may vary, so play with it a little. You want them to rise and not burn at the same time.
Remove them from the cookie sheet. If you are using icing, you can ice them while they are hot. You can dip them in powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.
You can ice them and add sprinkles, like Sheindy did.
And there you have it. These tasted really good. They are not high in sugar or fat. They are not deep fried. IMHO, these are not the worst donuts you can eat. They were actually really, really good, considering the amount of sweetness (not a lot) and that I used white whole wheat flour. Sruli, my kid who is diametrically opposed to anything healthy, ate three of them.
You also need to listen to Benny Friedman while making these donuts. It adds to the ambiance. Sruli was the one who requested this song. It got stuck in our heads, and we ended up replaying it a bunch of times. "Don't let the light go out ... "
"The 8th day of Chanukah is known as "Zos Chanukah" (in earlier times it was called "Chanukas Hamiz'beach") named for the Torah portion we read. The day is mesugal for one to daven for; barren women to have children, for a Refuah Sheleimah, and for one to be blessed with increased Parnassah.(I told the kids tonight, Rosh Hoshana is when Hashem opens the book; Yom Kippur is when He makes the decree, Hoshana Rabba is when he closes the book, and Zos Chanukah is when he puts the book away until next Rosh Hoshana. Shoshana said that it sure does take Hashem a long time to finish up. I told her that this is because Hashem is giving us so many chances to do teshuva and change any decree.)
It is brought in the name of the Arizal, that the last day of Chanukah “Zos Chanukah” is the day of the "Gmar Hadin” the day when the verdict of Yom Kippur is finalized and signed off."
So eat up! Last day for donuts and latkes until next Chanukah!
*I know that there is a lot of controversy around xylitol. Here is my take on it. Sugar is bad. Bad, bad, bad. It is addictive, it rots your teeth and makes you fat. Xylitol is getting a bad rap because it is refined, like stevia. However, it is not addictive, it is low in the glycemic index, and it won't make you fat. You do have to be careful not to eat a lot, because it will upset your stomach. this recipe calls for a 1/4 cup, and you get something like 36-40 donuts out of this recipe. Meaning you will get such a little amount that it isn't worth getting worried over. Unless you are eating the entire batch. Even that much xylitol won't hurt you, but that many donuts is going to get you one humongous stomach ache!
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