Baked donuts

When I first saw the healthy baked donut from Little Corner of Mine, I was so excited to know that you can bake donut instead of deep-frying it. A healthier choice for my son who loves donut so much. Even more interesting is this recipe uses yogurt instead of milk and yeast. As a novice at baking, I personally find this recipe pretty simple and easy-to-follow. No electric mixer is required either.

Although the taste of the baked donut is distinctly different from the conversional one, my family members still like it very much for its soft and moist texture which is similar to steamed cakes. It is now on the "top hit" list of my family's choice for tummy filler. Although best consumed on the same day, you can keep any leftover in the fridge and reheat them to be consumed the next day.

I strongly recommend the use of donut tube pans in making these lovely donuts. For my first few attempts, I used muffin trays and the donuts turned out like erupted volcanoes! Hahaha!

Recipe adapted and modified from Little Corner of Mine.

Yield: 24 mini donuts

Ingredients:
Group (A)
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup sugar (if you are making plain donuts, then you can increase the amount of sugar but not more than ½ cup)
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Group (B)
1 egg
1 tub (150gm) plain yogurt
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Toppings/ coating (optional)
- use your own creativity! (You can hop over to here and here for ideas)

Method :
1) Preheat oven at 200°C.
2) Grease the donut pan with butter/ oil and set aside.
3) Combine ingredient (A) in a large bowl.
4) Combine ingredient (B) in another bowl and beat lightly.
5) Mix ingredient (B) into (A) by folding in until the batter is smooth.
6) Place the toppings at the bottom (if any).
7) Transfer batter into a piping bag and pipe batter into the greased pans.
8) Don’t overfill them as the batter will expand during baking. Only fill until ½ full if you want to see a donut hole.
9) Bake at 200°C for 7-8 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Test with a toothpick. It should come out clean when inserted near the center of the donut.
10) Remove from oven. Cool for 5 mins. Then remove donuts from pans and cool on wire rack.

Are you looking for a Valentine's gift to impress your loved ones? If you have budget constraints, time constraints........(or whatever constraints), try making these donuts! It worth the efforts.

HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY!!!

Other references:
- Lily's Wai Sek Hong
- My Culinary Journal
- 101 Cookbooks (this one uses yeast)