Baked Spice Doughnuts

I've been having an off week. Not consistently bad, just... off. So on the days where I've come home feeling rather sour, I've hung up my keys, flung my backpack to the floor, whipped out my laptop, and done the best thing I know to make me feel a little bit sweeter: I've baked. I may have stormed into the kitchen on one occasion, glowering at anything that moved, but what really matters is that I emerged sometime later feeling happy and relaxed.

Sometimes I just know when I need to bake. Sometimes without even thinking, I will gravitate toward the kitchen and automatically begin gathering ingredients from my cupboards like wildflowers. Times like these, I bake not for sustenance, but for peace of mind. I bake because there is nothing better at cheering you up than doing something you love.

But it does help that I love both the baking and the eating, especially when it comes to these doughnuts. They're a lot healthier than normal doughnuts because they're not deep-fried, and have the potential to use some low fat ingredients without compromising taste. Plus, they're light on the butter! Whoo hoo!

They also couldn't be easier to make, which is a good thing, since you may find yourself wanting to make another batch immediately after.





BAKED SPICE DOUGHNUTS
adapted from EatLiveRun

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, sliced
1 whole egg, gently beaten
1/4 cups plain (low or nonfat) yogurt
1/4 cups scalded (skim) milk
about 1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar
about 1 tablespoon (skim) milk


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and pumpkin pie spice). Now, cut in the cold butter, working with your hands to incorporate everything until the mixture feels like sand.

Pour in the egg, yogurt and milk and stir to combine. Be careful not to over-mix!

Pipe** into a doughnut pan and bake for fifteen minutes, or until springy.

Meanwhile, stir powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon milk together in a small bowl to make glaze. You may need to add more powdered sugar or more milk until you obtain the desired consistency. Dip tops of doughnuts into glaze and let harden slightly before serving.

Yields six doughnuts.


* If you're like me and don't happen to have pumpkin pie spice on hand, just use this handy recipe: 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg + 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger + 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

** You can spoon the mixture into your doughnut pan, but piping works much better. You just fill a gallon Ziploc bag with batter, snip off the end, and squeeze. You want to fill the doughnut cavities about 2/3 full or so – not all the way to the top.










This is my doughnut pan, in case you've never seen one before (I hadn't until recently). I got mine here (my printer was out of ink and I wanted free shipping). The great thing is that you don't need to grease the pan before putting your batter in: the doughnuts come out clean and beautiful. They'll just be a little bit more browned on the bottom half, kind of like muffins.