Baked Maple Cinnamon Donuts

In high school, I worked at Dunkin Donuts.  I don't know why.  For some reason, my friend and I thought it would be fun to wake up on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 4:00 a.m. to go prep the donuts for service.  It was not fun and I eventually left the job after a few sleepless months.

Since my stint at Dunkin Donuts, I think I've eaten a donut one time.  So, eleven years since Dunkin Donuts, one donut.  Most donuts are not very healthy.  I remember my boss at DD teaching me how to make the donuts.  He squeezed one and literally 1/3 cup of oil just dripped onto the ground.  I'm pretty sure that's why I haven't eaten a donut since.

But, a few months back, I bought this fun donut pan with all intentions of making some donuts.  And baked donuts are a much healthier alternative.  And, since I just HAD to have this donut pan six months ago, I decided it was time to finally use it.  I recently saw the ideal donut recipe on a blog and knew it was time to mix them up.  The donuts were very airy, light-tasting and delicious.  You can easily control the amount of butter you spread on and how much cinnamon and sugar you use.  Ron ate 5, the recipe made 6.  I'd say donut morning was a success.

Baked Maple Cinnamon Donuts
Cooking with my Kid
Yield:  6 donuts
Ingredients

• 1 cup AP flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 1 6 oz container of non fat vanilla yogurt
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 1/2 Tbsp real maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Toss the cinnamon and sugar together and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
4. In another bowl, stir together oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, egg and yogurt.
5. Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the hole.
6. Gently fold everything together until combined.
7. Divide batter evenly into a greased donut pan.
8. Clean off any stray dough around the circle so there's a hole in the middle of the donut.
9. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Let cool for a few minutes and then flip over onto a cooking rack while still warm.
11. Using a pastry brush, lightly spread butter onto your donuts and then dip each donut in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.