Homemade Baked Donuts

I love playing outdoors with my girls. Hiking, walking, going to parks, farmers markets, festivals, farms, dairies, laying on the grass and looking at clouds...the list is endless. We enjoy all seasons, but there is something so magically about fall. It's simply beautiful with fall leaves, and the change to homey rich foods from summers lighter fare. So you can imagine that I absolutely love cider mills with hot apple cider and fresh donuts. We try to eat healthy but believe treats are good too as long as you're eating mostly healthy and staying active. So I was intrigued when my friend Stephanie posted on her Facebook about baking donuts. I finally got around to buying a pan and came up with the following recipe after taking bits from several I saw online. These are so good, just as good as fried cake donuts, and better than many I've tried. I will make them again and again. As an added bonus they are soy and milk free!

Ingredients for 12 donuts
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar, add 1/4 more if you like them really sweet
2 teaspoons baking powder
dash ground nutmeg (optional)
dash or two ground cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup almond milk (we use almond breeze original, they come in milk box size)
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon margarine melted (smart balance light in the tub is dairy and soy free)  or butter melted

Ingredients for 6 donuts

1 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar, add 1/8 more if you like them really sweet

1 teaspoons baking powder

dash ground nutmeg (optional)

dash or two ground cinnamon (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup and 1/8 cup almond milk (we use almond breeze original, they come in milk box size)

1 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon margarine melted (smart balance light in the tub is dairy and soy free)  or butter melted

Sugar Coating

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon margarine melted (smart balance light in the tub is dairy and soy free)  or butter melted

Chocolate Glaze (1/2 recipe for 6 donuts)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips plus a few more

2 tablespoon margarine melted (smart balance light in the tub is dairy and soy free)  or butter melted

1 1/2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoons hot water, add more if too thick

Donut Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a doughnut pan with non-stick spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt with a whisk. 
3. Stir in milk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter. Beat together until well blended.
4. Pour dough into a ziplock bag.  You can place bag in a large mug to make purring easier.
5. Snip of one corner of ziplock bag and fill each doughnut cup approximately 3/4 full. 
6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until doughnuts spring back when touched. They will not be brown, should appear still pale.  Allow to cool for two minutes before removing from pan.
7. Cool completely before adding toppings.

Sugar Coating

1. Combine white sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon in shallow bowl.
2. Melt butter in a shallow bowl.
3. Dunk donuts on both sides in butter then roll to cover completely in sugar.

Chocolate and Sprinkle

1. Combine chips, syrup and margarine.  Melt in microwave for 1 minute at 50% power stirring ever 20 seconds.
2. Add hot water until mixture is thick but not too thick to dunk.  
3. Dunk top of donuts in mixture.
4. Top with sprinkles if desired