Mini Whole Wheat Cake Donuts

If you're wondering what my favorite breakfast food is, it's donuts.  Cake donuts with white icing and rainbow sprinkles.  I know, super healthy right?  That's why I never eat them.  And that's why when I do eat them they are oh so good.

If you told me that I could make donuts semi-healthy and have them still be delicious, I'd be all over it. 

Enter, the donut pan.  It's this fabulous muffin-like pan that allows you to bake cake donuts.  Not fry.  BAKE.  What's better is that there are 12 donuts to a pan.  These mini donuts allow for portion control (assuming you can hold yourself back to two or three).  If you're a fellow guilt-ridden donut eater, you need a donut pan STAT.

Finding a donut pan was not nearly as difficult as finding a donut recipe.  Most donut recipes are traditional and of the few donut pan recipes in existence, I have found several that just didn't do it for me.  I even bought donut pan mix at World Market and didn't like it.  So, when I say I have THE donut pan recipe for you, trust that it is tried and true.  PS-I made them with whole wheat pastry flour this time and they were still amazing.

Mini Donuts
Makes 12 mini donuts
Start to finish: 30 minutes

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup 1% milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg white
4 Tbsp butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Combine the wet ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter is melted.  Do not let this mixture get too hot!  Just warm enough to melt the butter.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Whisk until well combined.

Pour the batter into the donut tins.

The batter will be pretty thin but that's ok.

Bake these for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let these cool in the pan for a couple minutes and then invert the pan over a cooling rack.  By tapping the pan with a wooden spoon, the donuts should release rather easily.  If they are stuck on the rim, run a toothpick around the edges to loosen them up.

Once these are cooled it's time for the fun part!  Dressing the donuts.

Topping Suggestions:

powdered sugar

powdered sugar + cinnamon

powdered sugar mixed with milk to make icing + rainbow sprinkles

melted chocolate mixed with milk to make icing + chocolate sprinkles

Put your topping choice in a bowl and coat the donuts like so:

Now get ready to drool over several consecutive pictures of delicious, guilt-free, donuts.