Wednesday, February 22, 2012

It's Time to Make the Oil-free Sugar-Free Vegan Donuts


If you're an Internet junkie like me, you are probably well aware of all of the homemade donut baking that is going on these days. Donuts, not a good trend. Homemade donuts, better. Especially if they have no white flour, no added sugar, and no added oil. Oh, and then happen to taste delicious.

If you think that's a good trend, this recipe will work for you.

One word of caution. These donuts are pretty sweet. The sweetness comes from the bananas (a good thing) and also from a new product that I am testing that is made by the NuNaturals company called "MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend." I have never been a big fan of Stevia. I just thought it was far too sweet for even my sweet tooth, and it left a long lasting odd aftertaste.

That's what I thought, until I made these donuts. I think I finally used the stuff correctly.

But the last thing I need is to fuel my own sweet cravings. Better for me to get used to the natural sweetness that is inherent in fruit and even many vegetables. Even so, sometimes a girl just wants to bake. And the upside of the NuNaturals Baking Blend product is that you can actually eliminate most if not all of the added sugar from a baked good and achieve excellent results. Plus, the fiber blend actually improves the texture of baked goods. The results were far better than I expected.

I have tested four different donut recipes with the NuNaturals Stevia products and this Peanut Butter Banana Donut with Date Nut Glaze recipe is by far the winner.



Peanut Butter Banana  Donuts
serves 10-12

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dry ingredients
1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup peanut flour
1/3 cup NuNaturals MoreFiber Sweetener Baking Blend
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

wet ingredients
1 1/2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed (approx. 4 medium bananas)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp flax meal plus 4 Tbsp water, whisked together and refrigerated for 15 minutes to 1 hour)
1/4 cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Prepare flax eggs (see instructions under wet ingredients).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place all dry ingredients into a large bowl and whisk to combine.

Place all wet ingredients into a medium bowl and stir to combine.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Do not over mix.

Lightly spray a donut pan with cooking spray, even if the pan has a non-stick surface. Spoon the batter evenly into the holes, filling each about 3/4 full.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the donut comes out clean. Remove from oven, let cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with second batch if you only have one donut pan.

Date Nut Glaze (optional)

3 medjool dates
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp almond milk (or other alternative milk)
2 Tbsp sunflower seed or peanut butter
4 drops NuNaturals Pure Liquid Vanilla Stevia
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Soak dates in 1/4 cup almond milk for 30 minutes.

Place all ingredients, including soaking milk, into a small food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Using a knife, spread "glaze" on top side of donuts. Place donuts in a single layer on a plate (do not stack) until "glaze" sets.

Refrigerate donuts.

What's been your experience baking with stevia? Have you ever done it? Did you have success? Failure? Do you want to try it?


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