Today I’m sharing these baked donut-style rings, similar to Homer Simpson’s donuts! Well, his are fried and loaded with sugar while these remain soft and tasty but certainly much lower in calories.
To make them I dug out an old recipe from a Weight Watchers book and adapted it a little. The result was excellent and at only 4 points per donut you can enjoy one for an afternoon snack or even serve it with tea to your guests.
These baked donuts are also ideal for your children to take to school instead of packaged snack cakes: certainly better to have a little treat like this, wholesome and light, right? And the preparation is very simple — let’s see how I made them.
Other snack treats to enjoy are here:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 6 baked donuts
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: All seasons, Carnival
Ingredients
- 0.8 cup self-rising flour (or 100 g (about 3.5 oz / 0.8 cup) all-purpose flour plus half a packet of baking powder)
- 1 egg
- 6 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 pod vanilla bean
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp corn oil
- 4 tsp skim milk (or plant-based milk)
- 2 tsp skim milk
- 4 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Tools
- Stand mixer
- Sifter
- Donut molds
- Donut molds
Steps
Preheat the oven to 356°F (a little less if your oven is fan/convection).
Prepare a 6-donut pan or 6 silicone donut molds. Alternatively, you can use cupcake or muffin tins, but they obviously won’t come out as rings.
Place the egg, salt, sugar and the seeds from the vanilla bean in a mixer or stand mixer.
Beat well with the whisk for 5 minutes. Add the teaspoon of oil and the sifted flour and incorporate. Finally add the milk and mix until you obtain a batter that is soft but thick.
Divide the batter into the donut pan or silicone molds like mine placed on a baking tray.
Be careful that the batter does not reach the top of the mold’s center hole. If it goes over, the batter may rise above the central part of the mold and the donuts will come out without a hole.
Once the oven has reached 356°F, place the tray in the center of the oven. After about ten minutes check for doneness: the baked donuts are ready when they are lightly golden and firm to the touch.
In the meantime prepare the coating: mix the sugar and cinnamon well, crushing any lumps.
Remove the donuts from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes. Unmold very gently, especially if using silicone molds like mine.
Lightly brush one side of the donuts with the milk and press them upside down into the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Place them on a rack with the sugared side up so they can cool completely.
Here are the baked donut-style rings. A quick and easy recipe, right?
The texture is just like that of donuts but obviously lacks the flavor from frying oil, which you can certainly do without. Needless to say they were much appreciated at my house and disappeared quickly…
Let me know in the comments if you made them too.
Enjoy!
by Giovanna Buono
