Cinnamon Baked Donut with Sugar Glaze

I have no idea why I have decided to start making donuts again...but I have!  My kids are happy about this new found passion for all things donut!

I found a donut tin at Goodwill a couple years back (I need to keep looking for another one there!) Goodwill is a swell place to find lots of great deals on kitchen tools that need a new home. You can save a lot shopping there and chances are high that a lot of items didn't get much love in their old kitchen before landing themselves on a shelf at Goodwill.

As far as donuts go, I am going to call these a WHOLE FOOD treat.  It has WHOLE white wheat flour, it has coconut sugar instead of regular sugar, it has a whole pear in the recipe and is dairy free! And I should mention the obvious...it's baked not fried.

Now, remember I said TREAT, this is not something I recommend you eat daily, but compared to donuts elsewhere there is no comparison to nutrients in this donut! And, in my world, I don't think there is much you should have to live without! 

Cinnamon Baked Donut with Sugar Glaze

Adapted from: JoyTheBaker

Ingredients:

Makes 6 donuts

For the Donuts:

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar (see notes)
• 2 Tbps Extra Virgin Cold Pressed UNrefined Coconut oil (I recommend Barlean's), melted
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pear or apple (grated, minced, or pulverized by the Vitamix)

For the Glaze:

• 1/2 cup coconut sugar (see notes)
• pinch of salt
• 1-3 tsp of unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1)  Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a doughnut pan and set aside.

2)  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, and coconut sugar.  Set aside.

3) In a smaller bowl whisk together coconut oil, vanilla, milk, pear/apple and egg. Add to dry ingredients.

4) Stir together until no flour bits remain and all of the ingredients are well combined.  Try not to overmix the batter.  That might create rubbery doughnuts.

5) Use a small spoon to dollop batter into the prepared pan.  Smooth out and fill each doughnut in the pan three-quarters full with batter.

6) Place in the oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Keep an eye on them and try not to over-bake them.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

While the doughnuts cool, make the glaze.

1) In a small bowl whisk together the powdered coconut sugar, salt, vanilla and milk.  Start out with 1 tsp of milk and add more if needed.

Once the doughnuts are completely cool, use a butter knife to spread each doughnut with glaze.  Allow to rest for 15 minutes in the fridge to harden the glaze.  These doughnuts are best serve the day they’re made.  

Enjoy!

NOTES: When baking with coconut sugar I like to blend the coconut sugar into a super fine powder in the Vitamix. I am sure a Magic Bullet would work great too! Make sure when melting the Coconut Oil not to over heat because you don't want to be cooking that egg when you add them together. 

Coconut sugar is rich in nutrients. It is especially high in potassium, and containing almost 10,300 milligrams per liter of coconut sugar. With the same measurement of milligrams per liter, there are 2,020 milligrams of nitrogen, 790 milligrams of phosphorus, 60 of calcium, 290 of magnesium, 450 of sodium, 4,700 of chlorine, 260 of sulfur and also trace amounts of boron, zinc, manganese, iron and copper